Yes, I also have the same assumption as you, Dortmund's performance at the beginning of the season did not look too promising, they were still below the top five in the standings, but as time went by it could not be predicted that it turned out that they could now crawl up to enter the top five and now their position is in fourth place in the standings, honestly I think this is quite consistent, last season they were the only team that gave strong resistance to Bayern Munich, always chasing in the race for the top of the standings but well as we know they were not lucky enough so that the trophy was again won by Tuchel's squad. For the problem of the business of selling players that they always go through, honestly I will not fully say that it does not interfere, obviously the entry and exit of players is quite a heavy task and of course they need time to start adapting, and I think that adaptation is a tough task for Dortmund, that's why sometimes they are difficult to appear consistent, but well it's not always like that and now Dortmund have proven that they are able to rise to join the title race as usual.
Yes, maybe the business activities that they always do are one of their goals to keep their finances stable and also of course with a little profit, that's possible.
You're right they started very poorly but currently they've picked up and are doing well, currently they're in the 4th place on the table and are having same points with Bayern Munchen who're in the 3rd place, with just 2 points separating them from the league leaders Leverkusen, just like last season Dortmund are very strong contenders, though they're not very strong like they were last season due to the lose of their star player Jude Bellingham, if he were still in the club I believe they would had been in a better position and probably win all their matches so far.
They're still one of the team that's kept an unbeaten record so far and if not for the 2 draws they had they would had probably been at the top of the league, Dortmund are doing fine and are on the right track in their domestic league but have a very poor performance in the UCl and I doubt if they'll move to the next round.