Can't list products from outside my home country (Vietnam)

[david_ecommerce]

My suppliers are mostly in China with some of them in the USA. I live in Vietnam and have a citizenship in Vietnam. I want to be able to list items that is located in the China and sell to customers within the USA. However, when I try to list an item in China, I get the following error message:

"You're based in Vietnam, and the item location of this listing is outside of Vietnam.

All eBay accounts registered by Vietnam-based users need to apply for approval to use forward-deployed inventory (i.e., where your item is shipped from an overseas warehouse to a buyer in a country that is different from where you're located). For more information, please see the Restrictions on Forward-Deployed Inventory for Vietnam Based Sellers.

If you'd like to apply for approval to use forward-deployed inventory, and your account is actively managed by eBay, please access your seller dashboard to submit an application for approval. Your application will be considered based on your account’s business performance and record of compliance with the Warehouse Service Standard for Forward-Deployed Inventory.{e208414-1175398x}"

The "seller dashboard" (link provided by the error message) doesn't have any button to request an application for FBI. So I sent an email to eBay customer service, they told me to make my application to an email. After making the application, this is what they told me

"Hi, David.

Good day!

Thank you for reaching out to us regarding dropshipping on eBay. We appreciate your interest in utilizing our platform for your business needs. However, we regret to inform you that we are unable to provide support for dropshipping on eBay. Our current policies and resources are aligned with other business models and strategies, and we are not equipped to facilitate dropshipping operations on our platform.

We understand that dropshipping can be a valuable and profitable business approach for many entrepreneurs; however, our focus is on providing a consistent and reliable experience for both buyers and sellers, which may not align with the dynamics of a dropshipping model. We encourage you to explore other opportunities and strategies that may better suit your business goals.

Thank you for considering eBay for your business needs, and we hope to continue supporting you in other ways.

Regards,

eBay Team

eBay SEA Seller Growth Management"

Is anyone else having the same issue as me? I've looked at other tutorials and they were able to list products from China just fine. How do you guys fix this issue? I've been stuck for weeks on this and unable to list any items at all!

[klhmdg]

Sorry, you dont "fix" it.

Sellers who drop ship items from China dont last long.

They also provide a buyer experience that is not great for buyers. There are many issues with "drop shipping" and it tend to upset and turn buyers away from shopping here.

The email nicely says eBay doesnt want this type of seller. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     Your account has only been active since 5 January 2024 and the response from eBay is pretty self explanatory. You are attempting to dropship items and that is not allowed on eBay and is a poor business practice. Most sellers who attempt to dropship do not last long before eBay permanently suspends their account. 

[david_ecommerce]

I don't get it. On their website: https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/drop-shipping?id=4176 . It says that "Drop shipping, where you fulfill orders directly from a wholesale supplier, is allowed on eBay.". I'm working with a legitimate wholesaler that sells exclusively to business and resellers. I've sent a response to them regarding this, they haven't gotten back to me yet about it. I understand there are many issues with dropshipping, but this seems counterintuitive given the number of guides and tutorials out there that shows explicitly how to dropship on eBay. How is it then that dropshipping is not wanted?

[dhbookds]

You are getting a current definitive response from ebay.........which may be a change from past policies on which the guides,etc were based.  I would believe what they are telling you.........

[klhmdg]

@david_ecommerce  "Guides and tutorials out there" have many in other countries convinced this is the way to get rich quick.

These are not put out by eBay.

Many in foreign countries are fooled by these "guides" and try the whole drop shipping thing.... 

It is sad in a way because they are so sure they are going to be making money AND they end up owing eBay and get banned.

If you can find items that you OWN, in your country, and it is stuff we cant buy in the US, That may be a better way to go. 

Good luck!

[toomuchstuffagain35]

Seems self explanatory to me.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

Have you applied for approval as the email states?

Maybe your "legitimate wholesaler" is actually only a supplier to dropshippers?

[kensgiftshop]

One thing Ebay doesn't need is more sellers dropshipping more junk from China.

Why not sell items from your country?

[12345jamesstamps]

Living in Vietnam selling items from China to the USA....if a buyer wanted to return an item how would that work for you? This is a major reason buyers do not want drop shipping and luckily eBay doesn't allow it.

Some have managed to get around that...but eventually these sellers do get caught as well. 

[buyselljack2016]

Big changes getting applied to eBay policies pertaining to the bad buyer experience (BBE) that eBay is working on eliminating.

I do not have a link to that, but there have been posts about it from sellers that are affected by the policy.

The account "metrics" are applied differently and can take an account down quickly.  The policy may also be limiting what can be done on the accounts falling under the BBE policies.

[maxine*j]

A couple of comments:

U.S. and Canadian sellers, who are most of sellers who post here, sell and are evaluated under different criteria than you.  This is new, and it results from many difficulties and problems that non-US/CDN sellers -- and their buyers -- have encountered.  Read this:

https://export.ebay.com/en/regulations/ebay-policies/bber/

The message from eBay that you received is clear, and arguing with it is a waste of your time and energy.  Instead, put that effort into developing a business plan that would be acceptable to eBay.

Be grateful that you cannot do what you want to do, because on this forum we listen to an endless stream of sellers from all over Southeast and South Asia (and even a few from Europe) who crash and burn trying to have an eBay business based on dropshipping from China.  When you dropship, you have no control over availability, quality, authenticity, packing, or shipping, but you are responsible when there are problems with any of these -- and the problems are unending.

On the eBay forum for buyers, we listen to an endless stream of unhappy people who paid for items dropshipped from China and never received them at all or, if they did, are totally dissatisfied with the quality or authenticity of what they finally got after a long wait.

Find another business model.

-

[maxine*j]

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@david_ecommerce wrote:

I don't get it. On their website: https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/drop-shipping?id=4176 . It says that "Drop shipping, where you fulfill orders directly from a wholesale supplier, is allowed on eBay.". I'm working with a legitimate wholesaler that sells exclusively to business and resellers. I've sent a response to them regarding this, they haven't gotten back to me yet about it. I understand there are many issues with dropshipping, but this seems counterintuitive given the number of guides and tutorials out there that shows explicitly how to dropship on eBay. How is it then that dropshipping is not wanted?

---

There is all the difference in the world between a seller who has a dropshipping contract with a manufacturer or wholesaler within his own country.  Such contracts are usually limited in number, and they include clear obligations on both sides to protect both the seller and the supplier.

Those tutorials and shows you refer to are created by:  (1) The outfits in China that want to lure you into dropshipping their stuff, which they are also supplying to hundreds or thousands of other dropshippers AND to discount stores everywhere.  (2) People who couldn't make it on eBay themselves as sellers and are trying to make money, instead, by "creating content" for YouTube, etc.  (3) People whose motives are unknown to me, but cannot be good, given the hazards of dropshipping.

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[ebeths_eclectic_collectibles]

I don’t imagine you will find much sympathy or help here.  Plenty of threads here from drop shippers with seller performance issues and not much sympathy for sellers drop shipping from China with subsidized uncompetitive shippjng rates

[lacemaker3]

@david_ecommerce,

The first link that you posted, from the email you received, explains what you need to do to be able to get past this restriction.

https://exportnews.ebay.com.hk/sea/annoncement/18

If you don't have an account manager assigned to your account yet, then you can't apply. I suspect that you may need to get some eBay experience selling other types of items, that are not restricted, in order to be assigned an account manager.

Technically, the "Forward deployed inventory" they are telling you about, is NOT dropshipping. Forward Deployed inventory is where you ship your items, which you already own, to a warehouse that is located in the country where your buyers are going to be located. Since you were specifically told by eBay that they don't support dropshipping in your situation, you should look into another type of sourcing business model.

Sellers in the USA and Canada do not get account managers, by the way. Almost all the regular responders here are based in the USA and Canada, with a few from Europe. So most will not have any experience with this type of thing.

Some sellers in the USA/Canada are able to succeed at dropshipping, but it is not easy, and most sellers do not succeed. That means they lost money trying to do it. That is why responders are advising you against it.

But, in your situation, it appears that eBay doesn't allow it at all, which means that other sellers from your region who tried it had even more difficulty and caused a lot of bad buyer experience.