Is dropshipping allowed on ebay?

[usgamecollector]

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?

[beardedbovine]

My interpretation is that's the case if it's a regular practice for all of your listings. If you're only doing it once in a while to fulfill an order for an item that got damaged, lost, etc then I don't think there would be a problem.

[gew6463]

I have to warn you, this is a bit of a tricky subject. There was a thread not so long ago concerning sellers who drop-ship from a large Ebay competitor (sometimes referred to as 'the River'). There are pretty strong feelings for & against drop-shipping in general, and from certain specific sites. 

I think it doesn't help that sometimes Ebay customer service Reps (the agent I believe you are referring to) will give conflicting information, depending on who you talk to. Call tomorrow, and you may get a different answer.

Obviously, there are a lot of drop-shippers on Ebay. Who does it correctly within the rules, and who does not, I have absolutely no idea. Just be forewarned: some customers don't like getting items they order on Ebay, delivered in a competitors box (such as the River). They may complain, and even leave feedback of what they think of it. Whether that is right or wrong, just be aware it can happen. 

[eleanor*rigby]

"  . . . a large Ebay competitor (sometimes referred to as 'the River')."

" . . . a competitor's box (such as the River)."

In other words, Amazon.  

[gew6463]

And I thought I was being so clever... 😉

[rainbowcolorz]

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@gew6463 wrote:

I have to warn you, this is a bit of a tricky subject. There was a thread not so long ago concerning sellers who drop-ship from a large Ebay competitor 

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And there's also another thread I just read with the subject:  eBay threatens to remove Top Rated Status with the assumption seller is a dropshipper but I am NOT

[membersinceaug2001]

Nearly every new item I look for on here is drop-shipped, usually from amazon.

Little guys don't run variety stores filled with new goods of every kind, drop-shippers do.

[usgamecollector]

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@gew6463 wrote:

I have to warn you, this is a bit of a tricky subject. There was a thread not so long ago concerning sellers who drop-ship from a large Ebay competitor (sometimes referred to as 'the River'). There are pretty strong feelings for & against drop-shipping in general, and from certain specific sites. 

I think it doesn't help that sometimes Ebay customer service Reps (the agent I believe you are referring to) will give conflicting information, depending on who you talk to. Call tomorrow, and you may get a different answer.

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yes one day an ebay rep will tell me one thing, the next day someone will tell me something else. Each rep says the other one was wrong and promise they are telling me the right info.

Do you have a link to the dropshipping thread? I didn't see much when I searched. I did see the top rated seller loss thread, but i'm not a top rated seller so that shouldn't affect me.

[usgamecollector]

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@membersinceaug2001 wrote:

Nearly every new item I look for on here is drop-shipped, usually from amazon.

Little guys don't run variety stores filled with new goods of every kind, drop-shippers do.

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yes i've seen many drop shippers on here and most use the same template, they are pretty easy to spot.

If eBay is cracking down on dropshipping they are going to lose a lot of items and I would think sales, but I don't know.

[mam98031]

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.

[mam98031]

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@usgamecollector wrote:

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@membersinceaug2001 wrote:

Nearly every new item I look for on here is drop-shipped, usually from amazon.

Little guys don't run variety stores filled with new goods of every kind, drop-shippers do.

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yes i've seen many drop shippers on here and most use the same template, they are pretty easy to spot.

If eBay is cracking down on dropshipping they are going to lose a lot of items and I would think sales, but I don't know.

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I don't think Ebay is "cracking down" on dropshippers.  Well at least not ones doing it the way that is within the Ebay rules.  The other thread that was mentioned about a TRS seller that has been warned.  That thread appears to be a bit more complicated.  But certainly an interesting thread.

[usgamecollector]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@usgamecollector wrote:

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@membersinceaug2001 wrote:

Nearly every new item I look for on here is drop-shipped, usually from amazon.

Little guys don't run variety stores filled with new goods of every kind, drop-shippers do.

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yes i've seen many drop shippers on here and most use the same template, they are pretty easy to spot.

If eBay is cracking down on dropshipping they are going to lose a lot of items and I would think sales, but I don't know.

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I don't think Ebay is "cracking down" on dropshippers.  Well at least not ones doing it the way that is within the Ebay rules.  The other thread that was mentioned about a TRS seller that has been warned.  That thread appears to be a bit more complicated.  But certainly an interesting thread.

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a large majority of dropshippers on ebay ship from amazon. According to the ebay page it is against ebay rules since it is a merchant and not a wholesaler.

[lacemaker3]

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@usgamecollector wrote:

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?

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The problem here is that you are mixing up two different business models.

Drop shipping is allowed, but retail arbitrage is not allowed.

Dropshipping means that you have a contract with a supplier to fulfill your transactions for you. That is not the same as retail arbitrage, which means buying and selling an item at the same time to take advantage of a price difference on the two transactions to make a profit.

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.

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.

[luckythewinner]

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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. 

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Thanks lacemaker! You shared my thoughts exactly about retail arbitrage.

It hit really big a couple of years ago when someone started advertising a tool that would do it automagically. It attracted a bunch of monkey-dos who were more interested in making a quick buck with no effort than they were in happy buyers.