eBay

botak_us · ‎10-08-2023

A buyer (drop ship) profile says located in "China" but wants us to ship it to a USA address, the final destination.

Why would US buyers buy it from someone located in China and then ship it to them (USA address)?

Don't the USA buyers know there are eBay, Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, etc exist in the USA??? Why go through a middleman? Especially for someone located out of the country, there is plenty of USA seller. There must be reasons that I don't know

Why do buyers in the United States do that? I don't just don't get it.

He is a big-time Chinese eBay buyer,

Maybe something that I don't know.

Any comments,

botak_us · ‎10-08-2023

It took me a while to fathom what was going on here, but if he's listing your items on his own account and then buying them from you when he "sells" something, that's not drop-shipping; it's retail arbitrage, which eBay does not allow.

Thank you for your clarification. It's retail arbitrage. I googled it because I don't know what it means, thu...

I learn something new every day. It is akin to a short sale on the stock and bond market?

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ckimodog · ‎10-08-2023

@botak_us

I agree with you. Drop shipping in my opinion, is a very risky & bad way to do business. And it's not just China. Many other international countries as well. Most don't even know what they're doing and are soon suspended. Many will sell on eBay by then turning around and buying the same product cheaper on Amazon. Basically they have no inventory. Most are caught and suspended permanently. It makes the good sellers look bad . I also believe it is one of the reasons things may be so slow, bad buyer experiences via Drop shipping, maybe I'm wrong. Again, just my opinion.

Have a great day.

botak_us · ‎10-08-2023

Thanks for your feedback, this particular buyer bought 10 fewer items from me, 3 were "defective", and one was never delivered (fell off the truck, I guess). I retested the "defective", and all is in good working condition. I resold all three "defective" items. My 3 buyers were happy and never heard any complaint, there was at least 6 months ago.

retro_entertainment_collectibles · ‎10-08-2023

@ckimodog wrote:
@botak_us
I agree with you. Drop shipping in my opinion, is a very risky & bad way to do business. And it's not just China. Many other international countries as well. Most don't even know what they're doing and are soon suspended. Many will sell on eBay by then turning around and buying the same product cheaper on Amazon. Basically they have no inventory. Most are caught and suspended permanently. It makes the good sellers look bad . I also believe it is one of the reasons things may be so slow, bad buyer experiences via Drop shipping, maybe I'm wrong. Again, just my opinion.

Have a great day.

Back in the day used a drop shipper, place created their own software per se. Public Domain information and a very slick user interface to navigate, access and display the information. They'd perhaps 200 or so titles, maps, history, this/that. They were based in the USA and had a very slick web user interface for approved sellers where you enter the shipping info and make payment, come back with a tracking number cut 'n' paste right in. Didn't sell whole lot of em', I think costing was like $8 a unit and they mandated price at $14.95 somethin' like that.

Never had a problem short of once. Oh my gosh!

This fella ordered up a CD all about Wicca (Oh sheep! LOL). We didn't even know it was an offering as we'd just import a spreadsheet of all the titles into our web storefront and all the images weren't local to our webserver but instead over on the drop ship op's webserver. Well, its an FPO address thought nothing of it ya' know? OH MY GOSH! Turns out its a serviceman on activity duty in Iraq! Far be it from me to know that in advance nor would I probably thought of it but yeah... Wicca and Islam don't mix.

Of course all parcels going into an active military zone are inspected and then one day the phone rings... Oh boy! Of course the soldier denied ever ordering it, can't blame him there. Hoops is hoops and rings is rings but boy was it stressful!

reallynicestamps · ‎10-08-2023

You seem to have handled this right.

With the "defective" claims you sent a return shipping label, refunded and resold.

Should we assume that the "not received " items were sent without tracking? That automatically is a win for the buyer, whatever the truth.

The costs of the failed transaction become tax deductions.

Were they all shipped together?

Were they shipped to a freight forwarder in the USA for reshipping to your Chinese customer?

Is it possible that your Chinese customer is in the USA as a diplomat, student, or on a work permit, but is registered back home?

chpgts · ‎10-08-2023

I agree that dropshippers are a big problem on Ebay, They have no control over what and when the order gets shipped, carry 0 inventory and pay 0 for shipping creating a unfair advantage.

I especially do not understand why Ebay buyers get upset when buying from a dropshipper and the item is cancelled, damaged, wrong item is shipped or sent to the wrong address.

Usually there are hundreds sometimes thousands of feedbacks from explaining the seller is a dropshipper with many selling problems. Multiply each dropshipper that are among the thousands and it may actually result in hundreds of thousand of buyers that never return to Ebay,

I do not understand why people see feedback explaining the seller is not fulfilling what is expected and then gets upset when there is problem with their order.

I also believe that many buyers do not return to Ebay because of it.

I will not buy anything on Ebay from a dropshipper.

In addition Ebay's policy that dropshipping is not allowed from retailers such as Amazon, Walmart etc.

I think Ebay just has blinders on when it comes to sellers that dropship from retailers.

But of couse it been said many times on this forum that Ebay does not care about anything expect making money.

ckimodog · ‎10-08-2023

@retro_entertainment_collectibles

The holidays are upon us...I'll be expecting some of your witty poems that I loved so much last year.

Have a great weekend!

botak_us · ‎10-08-2023

That particular seller has 214 Positive feedbacks within 30 days, which means he bought at least 214 items from eBay. Please keep in mind, that not all sellers will give you positive feedback, my feedback is automated, and as soon as the buyers pay, they get positive feedback. So, the actual item he bought is more than 214 items within a month.

You are right, he gets a cut from every sale and carries zero risk. When a defective return is filed, sellers lose money on shipping 2 times(ship to and ship from). All my so-called "defective" returns are bogus because I retested them and they are all in good working condition. I assume eBay knows about this "falsified" return but can prove it. It is their words against yours. As long as the money doesn't come out of eBay's pocket, eBay is okay with it.

This drop shipper is doing good business and eBay is racking up their commission. This is a win-win for them, and a lose-lose for us. Maybe I should be a drop shipper? Nah, I can't do it, it is against my principles and ethics.

retro_entertainment_collectibles · ‎10-08-2023

@ckimodog wrote:
@retro_entertainment_collectibles
The holidays are upon us...I'll be expecting some of your witty poems that I loved so much last year.

Have a great weekend!

Halloween! Halloween!
Spooks and Goblins!

Candy, Joy as young one's frolic!

This house! That house!

Creepy and cool!

Laughter, fun tis' the nights rule!

Wonder! Wonder!

Soon and here!

Sales, can we afford it oh my dear?

ckimodog · ‎10-08-2023

@retro_entertainment_collectibles

Excellent!!

toomuchstuffagain35 · ‎10-08-2023

Are you sure it was a drop shipper, buying from a US source (you) and having you ship it to their customers in the US, or are we talking about someone in China using a Freight Forwarder in the US?

If he IS using you as a drop shipper his buyer claims/returns should go back to him not to you.

"If a product doesn't sell, raise the price" - Reese Palley
"If it sold FAST, it was priced too low" - also Reese Palley

chpgts · ‎10-08-2023

It is against my principles and ethics also. Plus it nothing but aggravation.

slippinjimmy · ‎10-08-2023

@botak_us wrote:
A buyer (drop ship) profile says located in "China" but wants us to ship it to a USA address, the final destination.
Why would US buyers buy it from someone located in China and then ship it to them (USA address)?
Don't the USA buyers know there are eBay, Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, etc exist in the USA??? Why go through a middleman? Especially for someone located out of the country, there is plenty of USA seller. There must be reasons that I don't know
Why do buyers in the United States do that? I don't just don't get it.
He is a big-time Chinese eBay buyer,
Maybe something that I don't know.
Any comments,

Is the shipping address in Oregon*? If it is your buyer from China wants it shipped there because they are using a forwarder.

They do this for several reasons but the primary reason is that it will cheaper and more secure than having you ship to them directly, It may also be because most of your listings do not ship to China so if this buyer wants the item they need to provide you with a US address.

I'm not sure what this has to do with drop shipping?

* A lot of forwarders that serve China are based in Oregon (tax free State). Some are still located in California and then some buyers may be using a friend/relative as a forwarder and they could be located anywhere in the US.

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep