Sellers selling amazon prime goods

[luckykey3]

So I get my package of window curtains today.  The box was about to fall apart.  Even the Amazon PRIME tap holding it together was barely sticking to the box in some areas, and not at all in others.  The curtains were ok, but I'm just curious why amazon goods are being sold on eBay.  Is this ok?  

[rebell45]

You have found an Amazon drop shipper, and yes, eBay lets them get away with it.  I always do a web search before buying something new on eBay, that way I find out if it's a drop shipper, usually with an inflated price. They usually use the same or a very similar title as the real supplier so it will pop up quickly in a search.  Do your homework before you buy.

[fab_finds4u]

It is not ok to purchase something on Amazon and have it sent to the buyer. "Gift" purchases are not allowed. If that's what they did the packing slip would say gift.

It is ok for a seller to use Amazon Fulfillment to store, pick, pack, and ship the seller's own items. 

[*lady*madonna*]

Report the seller to Amazon.

It is NOT ok for a seller to use their Prime account to order an item that they have sold on Ebay and then have it shipped directly to the Ebay buyer.

[reallynicestamps]

The box was about to fall apart. Even the Amazon PRIME tap holding it together was barely sticking to the box in some areas, and not at all in others.

What addresses were on the box?

Because it sounds to me like the seller either had the boxed curtains stored (badly)  for some time and shipped in the old broken down box or used the first box that came to hand, ignoring its weaknesses.

Was there an Amazon packing slip with your name on it? Or with the seller's name? Or no slip at all?

If not Amazon did a terrible job of packing.

[luckykey3]

I knew I should've saved the packing slip dog gone it to check out things ya'll pointed out.  It looked like this box was shipped to the buyer a long time ago, so long ago that the glue on the tape quit working.  Plus the box was in horrible shape.    As a seller, I reuse boxes all the time when things are shipped to me, but when I do I black out the name (example, WalMart) so people won't think WalMart sent it.  I don't buy from amazon because they don't allow paypal.  Actually, I personally don't care if they buy it from amazon and then ship it to me if it is a good price.  I was just wondering if it was ok with eBay when they do.   Thanks for your replies.

[needitlikea0inthehead]

It sounds like the seller reused a box to me.

[luckykey3]

If they just reused the box, you'd think they'd use tape that had glue on it.  The PRIME tape was mostly not working.  Looked old as did the box.  But the curtains were excellent.

[scstool]

Many do not realize that Amazon offers fulfillment services for sellers from Ebay and other ecommerce sites. You could have sales venues set up on multiple sites including your own web store and they all get funneled to Amazon. The sellers ship their inventory to amazon and Amazon distributes it to centers all over the country. It is a good way for sellers to get product to customers quickly with good shipping rates. It is also great for small sellers as they can go on vacation while keeping their stores open and having Amazon ship orders. So a package from Amazon might be perfectly legit.

But if someone is abusing a prime membership and drop shipping using a prime membership that is not OK.

[bcharmah]

I recently had an experience with a drop-shipper. I admit, I had no idea this was going on, until my situation spurred me to look into it. You learn something new every day! 🙂

Last Sunday, I purchased an item. Seller asks for three business days to ship, which was fine with me. On Tuesday, the buyer sends me this message:  "Please note that your order was handed over to the carrier however, I got an update that the package was lost in transit by the courier. Therefore, I have now initiated a refund request via eBay."

Huh? As far as I could tell, the item hadn't even shipped yet (no notice, like I usually get, when someone creates a shipping label).  Plus, since when would a carrier "update" a shipper, to let them know an item was lost, after only one business day? I've had plenty of packages be held up in shipping, and they are never pro-active about notifying you about lost packages. You have to inquire yourself, if something is taking a very long time.

This inspired me to check the seller's feedback (yeah, I normally check ahead of time, but this was an inexpensive item, and not one of a kind, and blah blah...), and I found out that many, many buyers had the same problem. The seller canceled right away, due to "lost in transit," but the apparent real reason, is because the seller is a drop-shipper, using Prime, and if Amazon is out of stock (as in my case), they claim lost in transit (again, after just one day?). Other buyers noted that their packages arrive from Amazon Prime, as "gifts." And from what I understand, this is forbidden.

I asked the seller for the tracking info, and was given a bogus tracking number from BlueCare Express. It was bogus, because when I entered the number it came back as "expired." Valid tracking numbers do not expire after just three days. 

I got a refund, so it's not about the money, or the item, at all. I don't care about that. But I do care that this is allowed. You would think a seller with 800 negative/neutral feedback comments would be suspicious, and eBay would do something about them, especially with so many buyers noting the same thing: drop ships, items come from Amazon as a "gift" or item is "lost in transit."

I would contact Amazon but I don't see an easy way to do that. Suggestions?

[reallynicestamps]

You would think a seller with 800 negative/neutral feedback comments would be suspicious, and eBay would do something about them

Ah yes, feedback.

First, eBay does not use Feedback as a measure of a member's account.

Less than 40% of transactions get any feedback, and most of that is left by sellers.

It's voluntary and it's an opinion.

Second, ratios.

If a seller has 800 negs and 10,000 sales, that's a 92% FB rating. Many buyers would still consider that a A rating.
If his unhappy buyers were actually using the real complaints system he  would probably have many lost Disputes and Claims, which are used as a measure of accounts, and be closed down.
If a seller has 800 negs and 100,000 FB, he has  99,200 happy customers and a 100% FB rating (because: ratios).

But from the additional information the OP has left, either the seller was reselling something bought some time ago from AZ, or reusing a not very sturdy box , or was using AZ's fulfillment program to sell non-AZ goods. None of which are against the eBay policy, which forbids taking an order on eBay for goods that are not in hand, then buying from AZ and having the AZ seller ship.

My two takeaways are:

The shipping box was ugly, but the product arrived in good shape.

The OP could have got a better deal directly from the real AZ seller  and is now annoyed with eBay.

[widow238]

I'm  a mail carrier. Amazon really sucks at packing. This is one of the boxes I got for my route and it is not uncommon to get something like this everyday. Mind these are dropped off daily  by Amazon. We do not touch them before they are delivered  to the delivering PO.

 also I deal in records. The packs of ploy sleaves are 12"x12"x1/2" yet they will ship them in a huge box.