Arbitrage

[forrest_cat]

Does eBay allow selling items you don't own? The seller listed an item they don't have, received the payment then bought the item from a seller on Amazon and had that Amazon seller ship the item to the buyer on eBay. I couldn't find anything about this in the eBay policies. 

[chariot_badges]

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@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:

Its also possible the seller did have the item but either misplaced it or broke it so found it elsewhere and had it sent to you to avoid an OOS defect.

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I have done that before.

I don't go outside of eBay to do it though.  I wouldn't buy it from Amazon but from a different seller here on eBay.
Sometimes at a loss ... but not able to afford the ding on my account.

It usually works out just fine.  

Usually.

It's worth the shot anyway, nothing to lose.

[winterpalace25]

It's easy to do that because along with the "A Gift for You" note, there is a note with instructions for returning.  When you send an Amazon Gift," these return instructions are automatically included.  For some people it would be a toss up whether to follow these instructions or go back to eBay and file it through the sale.