HAS EBAY BECOME THE WORLDS LARGEST DROP SHIPPER?

[harleyman49-us]

Several years back when I first began selling on EBay I had the satisfying feeling of running by own business and operating my own store and thought of EBay as simply being a platform to do so. But lately I have begun to think otherwise.

 All of the changes recently have changed my opinion about the platform we sell on, and I will provide some examples of what I am talking about. EBay has now made it so if you don't get on board with things such as free shipping, free returns, guaranteed delivery, price guidance, etc... your active listings can and will be suppressed from search and browse results. Then you have the case of forced returns even when you have provided accurate product descriptions, pictures, and detailed return policies.

 Sellers have now been informed in a recent update that there will now be a reduced number of return policy options and that no restocking fees will be allowed. This being coupled with other changes over the last couple of years such as no direct contact with customers, image policy changes regarding company watermarks, and the desire to make all of our listings look the same with the use of the EBay product catalog has made me wonder, are we still business owners and store operators? or simply suppliers for the worlds largest drop shippers.

 I found this description of a drop shipper on Wikipedia.

  Drop shipping is a supply chain management method in which the retailer does not keep goods in stock but instead transfers the customer orders and shipment details to either the manufacturer, another retailer or a wholesaler, who then ships the goods directly to the customer. As in retail business, the majority of retailers make their profit on the difference between the wholesale and the retail price, but some retailers earn an agreed percentage of the sales in commission, paid by the wholesaler to the retailer.

I won't speak for everyone just simply saying, if looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it's probably a duck.

whether you agree with this or not, we are very interested on hearing others opinion this.

[luckythewinner]

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@harleyman49-us wrote:

 I found this description of a drop shipper on Wikipedia.

  Drop shipping is a supply chain management method in which the retailer does not keep goods in stock but instead transfers the customer orders and shipment details to either the manufacturer, another retailer or a wholesaler, who then ships the goods directly to the customer. As in retail business, the majority of retailers make their profit on the difference between the wholesale and the retail price, but some retailers earn an agreed percentage of the sales in commission, paid by the wholesaler to the retailer.

I won't speak for everyone just simply saying, if looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it's probably a duck.

whether you agree with this or not, we are very interested on hearing others opinion this.

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I disagree entirely.

A dropshipper collects the payment from the buyer, pays the supplier for the product and for the shipping, and then pockets the difference.

eBay does not collect the payment from the buyer, does not pay the supplier for the product or for the shipping, and the difference is pocketed by the seller, not by eBay.

eBay provides a venue for an advertisement, and collects a fee from the advertiser for that service.

My local newspaper provides a venue for an advertisement, and collects a fee from the advertiser for that service. Does that make my local newspaper is a dropshipper?

[lilgre_2]

eBay doesn't sell anything...

[goodluckselling]

Your first few complaints are not new?  eBay has said for a number years now that not all listing will appear in all search results for this item.   The only thing this has to do with your list (Free shipping, free returns, etc) is that eBay has extra tabs for buyers to click on to refine a search results better and buyers can click on for example a tab called free shipping inside the search results and get just listing with free shipping for this same search result.  This is an example of your item not showing in a search result for the same item.

I am not sure about what you are calling forced returns?  eBay allows sellers to have a no return policy that prevents a buyer from returning something for buyers remorse.  Other than that eBay has for more than a  decade allowed buyers returns for items not as described for all transactions.

The return policy time frames are not really an issue.  They still allow you to have a no return policy and different specific time frames as well.  Not sure why this is an issue?  Restocking fees I think (not positive) is still available for free returns listings where the item is not returned in the same condition.

The image policy and watermarks is because eBay buys external search engine ads (google shopping) on behalf of its sellers at no extra cost to the seller and google does not allow watermarks in the pictures.  This is a very important advertising area for eBay and very effective as well, so it make sense for them to add the no watermarks or added text to pictures.

You can communicate directly with your buyers once a buyer commit to buy both before payment and after payment.  They allow it during this time frame because you have already been charged your FVFs so there is no fee avoidance issues to worry about.

I completely do not understand anything you are saying disparaging about drop shippers?  It is allowed on eBay.  Drop shippers have to meet the same seller standards as everyone else, so I am not understanding your communication about drop shipping?

Good Luck Selling!

[harleyman49-us]

As we asked for your opinion, we will definitely be respectful in our responses. Ebay currently does not collect payment but will be soon with Adyen. When item ships for free as eBay highly recommends, there is no paying the supplier for shipping. As far as fees for advertising our items, that is paid by store and listing fees. The final value fee they collect is the same as a commission a drop shipper would collect. Thank you for commenting on our post.

[harleyman49-us]

Exactly 

[goodluckselling]

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@harleyman49-us wrote:

As we asked for your opinion, we will definitely be respectful in our responses. Ebay currently does not collect payment but will be soon with Adyen. When item ships for free as eBay highly recommends, there is no paying the supplier for shipping. As far as fees for advertising our items, that is paid by store and listing fees. The final value fee they collect is the same as a commission a drop shipper would collect. Thank you for commenting on our post.

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eBay will not be collecting payments when Ayden starts (actually it has already started).  Ayden is a company like paypal just a different processor and name.  eBay can not start collecting payment until the agreement with paypal has expired which I think is 2020?

Good Luck Selling!

[harleyman49-us]

Examples of forced returns can almost be found daily here on these boards. A recent example I just saw had a seller receiving a half Used tub of Vaseline in return, instead of the high priced smart phone he had sent. All because he had no other choice to accept the return or receive a defect against his account. Thank you for your comments.

[goodluckselling]

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@harleyman49-us wrote:

Examples of forced returns can almost be found daily here on these boards. A recent example I just saw had a seller receiving a half Used tub of Vaseline in return, instead of the high priced smart phone he had sent. All because he had no other choice to accept the return or receive a defect against his account. Thank you for your comments.

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And the money back guarantee that the buyer used also has protections for the seller built into it.  In the case you talked about the seller should be filing a report with eBay saftey and trust.  Buyer have rules and policies they have to adhere to also. 

When eBay finds a seller did nothing wrong and the buyer still demands refunds ebay will pay the refund to the buyer from an eBay account.  That is what the guarantee is all about.

Good Luck Selling!

[lilgre_2]

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@harleyman49-us wrote:

As we asked for your opinion, we will definitely be respectful in our responses. Ebay currently does not collect payment but will be soon with Adyen. When item ships for free as eBay highly recommends, there is no paying the supplier for shipping. As far as fees for advertising our items, that is paid by store and listing fees. The final value fee they collect is the same as a commission a drop shipper would collect. Thank you for commenting on our post.

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Wrong. Aiden is a payment processor just like PayPal.

[luckythewinner]

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@harleyman49-us wrote:

When item ships for free as eBay highly recommends, there is no paying the supplier for shipping. As far as fees for advertising our items, that is paid by store and listing fees. The final value fee they collect is the same as a commission a drop shipper would collect.

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eBay advertises my item on their platform, and in return for that service they collect a fee that is based in part on the value of the transaction.

You can try to dress that up and put lipstick on it and pretend it is a dropshipping agreement, but it is not.

[luckythewinner]

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@harleyman49-us wrote:

Ebay currently does not collect payment but will be soon with Adyen.

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No they won't.

Ayden is a payment processor and PayPal competitor that has agreed to give eBay much more control over the payment flow. But eBay will not be collecting the payments and distributing them.

[readabouthorses]

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@goodluckselling wrote:

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@harleyman49-us wrote:

As we asked for your opinion, we will definitely be respectful in our responses. Ebay currently does not collect payment but will be soon with Adyen. When item ships for free as eBay highly recommends, there is no paying the supplier for shipping. As far as fees for advertising our items, that is paid by store and listing fees. The final value fee they collect is the same as a commission a drop shipper would collect. Thank you for commenting on our post.

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eBay will not be collecting payments when Ayden starts (actually it has already started).  Ayden is a company like paypal just a different processor and name.  eBay can not start collecting payment until the agreement with paypal has expired which I think is 2020?

Good Luck Selling!

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Didn't that announcement about Ayden say they would start on a small scale in North America during the second half of 2018? Then expand in 2019? I also read that the Ebay employees would begin testing it on their selling accounts sometime in July so I guess that means "soon" ??

[harleyman49-us]

I agree you can dress it up and put lipstick on it, but a final value fee is just like a commission fee a drop shipper recieves. Thanks for your comment.