Can I sell in this manner?

[frank-weimann]

Hi all,

I want to start an eBay store selling some products from my country.

I was actually thinking about listings products from my country which have the potential of being popular on eBay. However, I plan to take pictures only of the products and upload them on my eBay store, but not buy any of the products at this stage.

Then, as and when orders are received, I buy the product from the shops in my country and pack the product and post it to the buyer. Of course, I add a profit to the value at which I buy the product from the shop.

In this manner, I do not take any risks buying products which might end up not selling, and leading to my loss.

Can anyone tell me whether this is allowed?

Please help me, as I am new to selling.

Thank you for reading!

Regards

[alturi69]

It's allowed, but what if the buyer buys an item, you go to purchase it, and your source doesn't have it?

[buyselljack2016]

@frank-weimann 

Some suggest that you should not sell anything that you do not have in your possession.

Where sellers run into a problem is when they sell something that they do not have, and need to cancel, or delay because they can not fill the order, but as long as these items are readily available to you I see no problem with doing that.

[crimsonred123]

This is fine.  Make sure the condition of the product sold matches what is advertised.  Make sure you do the shipping yourself.  Be sure your supplier is going to have enough product available before your advertise the product or you will have to cancel your ad and accumulate an out of stock defect. Ebay doesn't like dropshippers, it may allow it but with limitations.  What you described isn't drop shipping so its fine.  See link https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/drop-shipping?id=4176

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

Regardless of anything else, if you're a new seller your funds received will be held for a time, so you better be sure you have the funds available already to "go buy" and ship the product you sold.

[luckythewinner]

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@alturi69 wrote:

It's allowed, but what if the buyer buys an item, you go to purchase it, and your source doesn't have it?

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Just to elaborate ...

If a seller has to cancel a transaction because he cannot fill the order, he received an "out of stock" defect. If you accumulate more that 4 of these defects and more than 2% of your transactions have a defect, it may affect your ability to sell here.

[mg152]

My friends are incorrect. Ebay policy is you have to own the item before you list it and they are cracking down on this. There’s risk in life. You have to take the risk like the rest of us.

[mg152]

Actually it’s not allowed and eBay is cracking down on this

[nykayde902]

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@mg152 wrote:
My friends are incorrect. Ebay policy is you have to own the item before you list it and they are cracking down on this. There’s risk in life. You have to take the risk like the rest of us.

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How are they going to "crack down on this"?  Drop shipping yes, but what this poster is asking about is not something that eBay would even know is being done.

[ms.rodriguez*]

You will not succeed. Buyers want to see exactly what they are buying. If I order a dark blue hat and you send me a medium blue hat, you will have a problem. What if the fabric is different? Or you can’t locate the size? Or the color is different. Sales are hard enough for U.S.sellers. Shipping is very expensive too. I personally only buy from u.s. sellers.

[orangehound]

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@mg152 wrote:
My friends are incorrect. Ebay policy is you have to own the item before you list it and they are cracking down on this. There’s risk in life. You have to take the risk like the rest of us.

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@mg152 

What the OP is proposing is allowed on eBay.  He is "fulfilling orders directly from a wholesale supplier" ... what's more, he will have the product in hand, and he will be shipping it. 

What eBay is not allowing is retail arbitrage, where one purchases from a retailer and has the retailer ship directly to the customer.

Here is the eBay Policy:  click me

[luckythewinner]

@mg152 wrote:
Ebay policy is you have to own the item before you list it and they are cracking down on this

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Can you please cite the current eBay policy that requires you to own the item before you list it? 

I can't find one.  

I think you may be remembering the old "item availability policy" which is no longer incorporated in eBay policy. 

Current policy says only this: 

"Listing an item on eBay and then purchasing the item from another retailer or marketplace that ships directly to your customer is not allowed on eBay"

As long as the item location is accurate and the item is not being shipped by another retailer or marketplace, I can find no policy that prevents a seller from purchasing an item after a sale to fill the order. 

[mountainmommie]

Maybe you can sell to buyers who don't "quite" have the money in their account, either.

[dhbookds]

Do research the items before you try to sell them......to be sure there aren't alot already on the site........  Check the solds and see if the prices that people are selling for is one you a beat or at least equal..........

[femmefan1946]

What you are suggesting is allowed, but very risky.

Remember that the location of the product must show on the listing, not your own location.

You seem to be registered  in the UK, but are you actually in one of the former French colonies? I'm going by the only seller who has left you feedback, and who sells stamps, mostly French Empire.

If your plan is to sell stamps, you will be in a slow selling category with a lot of competition. And philatelists are very fussy about getting the exact item they paid for.

Sourcing and buying products is not difficult. It is not even expensive since it is a sensible move to list low value items until you build feedback /trust.

Shipping, now. Shipping is difficult. You can lose all your profits very quickly by guessing at postal rates. And even more if a poor description leads to a Not As Described dispute.

If you are in the UK, you can use the Global Shipping Program for international shipping. This is a Seller Protection program which allows you to ship to a central plant in the UK and the Program handles all the rest of the delivery including customs and sales taxes.

As a new seller, you will be restricted to a low number and value of items that you can list.

For example, when I opened a new account recently I could only list 10 items with a total value of $500.  (Or one item with a value of $500)

What this means is that you can afford to buy enough product to make your first few listings and ship them, even if you don't get paid for 21** days.

** Non-US sellers have their customers cleared payments Held for a full 21 days, while US-based sellers can get the payments much sooner.  You can use the Held funds to buy shipping labels however.