eBay

usgamecollector · ‎01-16-2019

I don't drop ship all the time, but sometimes if there was an error and i'm out of stock or I find a cheaper price I will drop ship an item so I don't get bad feedback. I understand the risks of drop shipping but i've never had problems with it.

I asked an ebay agent a month ago if this was allowed, and he said yes. I talked to someone today who said no and that ebay is starting to crack down on dropshippers.

I found this page https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/drop-shipping?id=4176

It says dropshipping is allowed from a wholesaler, "However, listing an item on eBay and then purchasing the item from another retailer or marketplace that ships directly to your customer is not permitted."

So is this article and the ebay rep correct that they will close your account if you buy from another retailer to send to the buyer?

usgamecollector · ‎01-20-2019

@lacemaker3 wrote:

FYI, arbitrage selling is not allowed probably because it often leads to cancelled transactions and unhappy buyers. If the price difference swings the wrong way, then the arbitrage seller will have to either cancel the transaction or lose money.

Most often, they tell the buyer that"the last item in the warehouse was damaged" and ask if the buyer wants to cancel (to avoid a defect and out of stock cancellation). Based on posts made by complaining buyers, these sellers will copy and paste the exact same excuse every time. I have run into this myself, as a buyer, and since it was a guaranteed delivery item that I paid extra for because I needed it before a trip, I was very dissatisfied when the seller cancelled.

This is a policy that can only be enforced if enough buyers complain about a seller cancelling transactions, so most sellers who do this rarely, for the reasons you described, will not run into issues. If you don't cancel too many transactions as described above, you are not likely to have any issues with this policy.

but that's why they give defects for cancelled transactions, they shouldn't punish people who do things correctly and don't' cancel transactions because of those that do. If the seller keeps cancelling they should be getting defects.

I don't cancel any transactions, and take a loss if I have to, the issue is if ebay does decide to enforce this they may start looking at your tracking to make sure all items are sent from one location. If you start getting lots of different locations you ship from then they may ban people even if they don't cancel transactions.

usgamecollector · ‎01-20-2019

@luckythewinner wrote:
Is dropshipping allowed on ebay?
Yes it is allowed ...

It says dropshipping is allowed from a wholesaler, "However, listing an item on eBay and then purchasing the item from another retailer or marketplace that ships directly to your customer is not permitted."

... and you even found and quoted from the page in eBay policies that clearly states that dropping is permitted. But that article also cleariy indicates that not all forms of dropshipping are permitted, because it saqys you must be "working with" your supplier - which would seem to indicate that the suppliers knows you are doing it and approves.

So is this article and the ebay rep correct that they will close your account if you buy from another retailer to send to the buyer?

The article does not say that eBay "will close your account" if you do this. It simply says that you "may be subject to a range of actions", and one of those actions is supsension.

At any given time, there are millions and millions of listings on eBay that are doing things that are technically not permitted for which they "may be subject" to all sorts of things.

I don't drop ship all the time, but sometimes if there was an error and i'm out of stock or I find a cheaper price I will drop ship an item so I don't get bad feedback.

Whoa. Wait a minute. If you have already made a sale, how would dropshipping to get a cheaper price - which would save you money, but not affect the buyer's cost at all - protect you from "bad feedback"? That does not make any sense.

you know just as well as I do that ebay pages very often have outdated or wrong information, so no, nothing is clear at all. The article did not say they will close sellers accounts, but the ebay rep told me that.

The bad feedback was if I was out of stock or late on the item. I also dropship sometimes if I find a cheaper price, even if i have it in stock that doesn't have to do with feedback.

usgamecollector · ‎01-20-2019

@luckythewinner wrote:
If you buy something to fulfill a sale transaction after the sale has been made, that is technically arbitrage. In your case, you are not doing it to make a profit, but to fulfill your transaction and possibly at a loss, but if the transaction goes bad, it is still arbitrage, and it isn't allowed.

Arbitrage is not forbidden by eBay; only arbitrage that is shipped directly from the supplier is prohibited. Arbitrage itself does not violate policy as long as you purchase the item and ship it yourself.

eBay used to have a policy about product availability that stated in fairly vague terms that you had to have the item "available" for the duration of the listing. But that seems to have disappeared as a hard and fast policy - I suspect under the assumption that out-of-stock defects and late shipments would indirectly take care of those sellers who failed to deliver.

see this is not true at all according to the ebay rep. The ebay rep told me YOU MUST HAVE ALL ITEMS IN STOCK THAT YOU ARE SELLING. If you purchase an item after you already sell it that is not allowed according to the ebay rep.

usgamecollector · ‎01-20-2019

@moo*cow*corner wrote:
---General Reply----
I don't have a huge problem with dropshipping. As long as I get what I ordered, on time, I'm good.

It's drop-returning that causes problems for me. If my purchase is dropshipped from Amazon, and I need to return it (for whatever reason), I'm not going to be happy at all if the seller tries to get me to send it back to Amazon. Unless it FBA, then I suppose that might work. The problem is that is so hard to tell a FBA order from a under-the-radar dropshipper. *shrug*

why do you care if you have to return an item to amazon vs return it to a seller? Both situations you put the item in the mailbox and forget about it, why do you care where it goes?

usgamecollector · ‎01-20-2019

@gamersbaystore wrote:
To put it plainly, yes, ebay hates drop shippers, and for good reason. They're often unreliable, as the seller has less control over how their goods are packaged and delivered. The other problem dropshipping creates is spam! The last thing ebay wants is 100,000 people selling the same toaster oven for a million different prices.

Not to say that a lot of people don't dropship on ebay, I'm sure they do. Ebay just doesn't like it. Even if one did manage to get away with it for a while, it wouldn't last as eventually those suppliers will deliver everything late and ebay's response will be to close your account.

yea I disagree with that, there are ways to dropship safely and reliably without items being cancelled or late. If you only arbitrage with high rated sellers they aren't going to ship your items late otherwise they wouldn't be high rated sellers. It can easily last if you do it correctly.

If everything is going smoothly why would ebay hate that? They are getting their ebay fee and the customer is happy. If there wasn't arbitrage then the price on ebay would be much higher and ebay would lose buyers to the other store.

usgamecollector · ‎01-20-2019

@aspen_leaves wrote:
This is so true! Nothing makes me madder than paying the high selling prices on eBay and getting a shipment from The Prime. I leave feedback referring to the every single time!

if you hate it so much why don't you check amazon prices before buying on ebay? Seems silly to leave someone bad feedback who delivered the item as promised because of your mistake or ignorance.

rainbowcolorz · ‎01-26-2019

@mam98031 wrote:
Yes you can be a dropshipper on Ebay. And yes it can be a tricky thing to do properly.

First to comply with Ebay rules for dropshipping, you must have an agreement [it does not have to be in writing] with your supplier to be your source for whatever product it is that you are seeking to drop ship.

Some sellers on Ebay do use Amazon as their drop shipper, that many times is because the seller here on Ebay actually has some of their inventory stored in Amazon facilities.

If you are going to do drop shipping you need to make sure you have an agreement with your supplier. Drop shipping is not an easy job for a seller. IT is not a way to make quick money. Contrary to some peoples belief, it is a lot of work to do it responsibly.

I won't deal with a company to act as my drop shipper unless I get a daily exception report. Stuff that has moved into inventory, out of inventory, price increases and price decreases. That is my personal rule. I go over that report daily to adjust pricing, up, down, out of stock or back into stock.

If you don't have that, you risk being OOS [out of stock] with your vendor when you go to place an order from a customer you got on Ebay.

Be very careful and do it the right way if this is something you are seriously considering. Be responsible and be willing to do the work so that you can be a seller your buyers can depend on.

Very good info mam, I must have missed your post the other day. I saved this info to my documents in the event I come across someone who is interested in how dropshipping on eBay works.

Good to see you back!

javaexportscom · ‎05-12-2019

I also have same question, can we dropship by buying and selling among ebay users? means, there will be same tracking code for two ongoing orders.

I tried to ask the reps but no answers given yet. I'm new to ebay seller.

Thanks for your help guys !

lja440 · ‎05-12-2019

Dropshipping is frowned on more by the buyers than it is by eBay.

In my opinion if you are "out" of an item then it shouldn't have an active listing.

That said I Dropshipped ONE item in all my years on eBay. The item was a book, nothing special that met with an accident, spilled coffee, I have since started putting my cup on the counter by the sink while packing boxes on the island. I blow dried the book and sent it with a note of apology that I would find and send a decaffeinated copy. Which I did find and send through Amazon. The buyer was amused and sent me a message that her local Senior Center was requesting books, she donated the second copy stating the book was racy enough for the seniors without adding caffeine to the mix.

myjunqueyourtreasure · ‎05-12-2019

@javaexportscom wrote:
I also have same question, can we dropship by buying and selling among ebay users? means, there will be same tracking code for two ongoing orders.
I tried to ask the reps but no answers given yet. I'm new to ebay seller.
Thanks for your help guys !

If you get another ebay seller to send the item to your buyer, you won't be able to enter the same tracking # anyway. You would have to change the ship to address to your buyer's address when you purchase.

Reality is the leading cause of stress.

mam98031 · ‎05-12-2019

@javaexportscom wrote:
I also have same question, can we dropship by buying and selling among ebay users? means, there will be same tracking code for two ongoing orders.
I tried to ask the reps but no answers given yet. I'm new to ebay seller.
Thanks for your help guys !

No. That would breach the rules. Your fellow sellers are not likely wholesale suppliers that you have an agreement with PRIOR to your sale to be used as a drop shipper for you.

As for the tracking number. That would present a problem for you as well. The seller you purchased from would enter the tracking number into the order you purchased from them. So the system would not allow you to enter the same tracking number on the order to your customer. That would be another problem as well.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

jeannicho22 · ‎05-12-2019

@usgamecollector wrote:
@aspen_leaves wrote:
This is so true! Nothing makes me madder than paying the high selling prices on eBay and getting a shipment from The Prime. I leave feedback referring to the every single time!
if you hate it so much why don't you check amazon prices before buying on ebay? Seems silly to leave someone bad feedback who delivered the item as promised because of your mistake or ignorance.

Actually it is a violation of eBay policy to order from Amazon as a buyer and have it drop shipped to an eBay customer as a seller. It is also a violation of Amazon policy to use a Prime membership to "gift" ship items to a buyer on eBay. It is also a violation of eBay policy to drop ship from Walmart or Sam's Club. As others have indicated, you can dropship from a manufacturer or supplier of a product. eBay doesn't want buyers to feel stupid about the transaction and eBay doesn't want buyers receiving things in Walmart, Sam's Club or Amazon boxes as this just encourages the buyer to go there next time.

Why shouldn't the post leave feedback about their "experience" on the transaction. Please note, the poster did NOT say they left bad feedback as you indicated. While it may be a buyer's mistake for not shopping around at other venues, it does not leave a buyer with warm fuzzies to know they could have gotten a better deal.

Additionally, many buyers do not WANT to support other venues which is why they are purchasing from eBay in the first place. Imagine avoiding purchasing from Amazon just to receive your item in an Amazon box. There is so much "to do" about Chic-fil-a lately... imagine driving past Chic-fil-a to an independent burger/chicken joint just to receive your order in a Chic-fil-a wrapper.

jws-imports · ‎03-08-2020

I am planning to dropship. My big questinos is, I have to put that item i shipped where I am or where my wholeselelr is? Sic eI am planing on expedited delivery and fo course tracking will show that item is not shipepd from where I am, both the buer and eBAy, if they check, will see that items is eing shipped from somewhere else. Can anyone guide me correctly to be able to dropship correctly? Since one can only make a listing and making a listing with an ebay team member on the phone would be very difficult, and they ill say one thing one day, and another another day, as I have seen here in many replyes.

thank you in advanced

parkersparrow · ‎03-08-2020

@jws-imports wrote:
I am planning to dropship. My big questinos is, I have to put that item i shipped where I am or where my wholeselelr is? Sic eI am planing on expedited delivery and fo course tracking will show that item is not shipepd from where I am, both the buer and eBAy, if they check, will see that items is eing shipped from somewhere else. Can anyone guide me correctly to be able to dropship correctly? Since one can only make a listing and making a listing with an ebay team member on the phone would be very difficult, and they ill say one thing one day, and another another day, as I have seen here in many replyes.

thank you in advanced

You have to put the location i.e. zip code, your item is shipping from in each of the listings. This is to make sure shipping is calculated correctly as well as the delivery est. to be correct.

jws-imports · ‎03-08-2020

I put free shipping. What mean, since I have had known people register in USA, and put shipping from China, and account was cloased, people putside USA, saying they are in USA, and ship from USA, but ship from china, and account closed, since trackign shows that item is not shipped from USA. As por shipping privce I arrange with my supplier, since it is expedited fia fedex or dhl it is same price to all US, at least lower states, where I plan to sell and hsip. So how exactly I am suppose to list, and how would I let eBAy know that I am actually dropshipping?