Items re-sold on Amazon

[floralys]

There's someone buying a lot of my stuff under at least 8 different names and selling them on Amazon for 3 or 4 times the price.  I know its the same person from the notes attached to the sales which always says, "don't include the price, blah, blah, blah... Or "this is a gift blah, blah..."  Once in a while they get confused and use the wrong paypal that was already used for a different name with like 10 bought items sent to 10 different people.

Once they asked me if I have to put the correct value on the customs form.  Duh???

And I've looked at Amazon and they copied my entire listings word for word, all photos even!  Even thank you notes I collected over the years from customers.  Makes me feel like I am being impersonated.  And worse, people might think I sold something for $30 when it was only $5.95 on ebay....  Imagine that.  How dishonest.

Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas for me?

[nowthatsjustducky]

I actually had it work both ways back then.  There were also plenty of things that did quite well here that would go for a pittance over there.

[ozarkjoe]

I hereby grant permission to all of you to buy and resell my items.  

I would get upset at someone copying pictures and description.  I've had that happen to me at least once here and it just seems wrong.  

[mraley]

Depending on what it is you're actually selling, sometimes you might even see "offer bots" operating on behalf of certain Amazon sellers. In the beginning, I was thinking "wow, someone REALLY wants this & I'm getting quick and easy cash on this sale"! Listen, this is NOT the case. Large firms work through Amazon and skim items from ebay. This might not be a big deal on the surface, but let me just give you an instance. I like to drink diet ginger beer. I used to buy from a local grocery. Soon, I found it was also sold through Amazon for a comparable price. One day, while walking around in Wal-Mart, I noticed it significantly cheaper on the shelf. $2-3 savings just by walking into a physical store. Now I know that part of the Amazon convenience is that you don't have to do anything to get a product delivered except for buying it (at a markup). However, many people don't actually SEE that there is a markup & simply accept that the price they see at Amazon is the best price because it is the best marketplace to get competition at. Now, let's revisit what I said in the beginning of this post. My items were getting offers within SECONDS of being posted. I started comparing what I was being offered versus what the sale price on Amazon was. My offers were 1/4-1/3 what the same items sold on Amazon for. Same product, different price point. What I realized was that the companies making the bids REFUSED to offer anything higher than what their analysis suggested maximized profit in the Amazon-set price point world marketplace. I initially took many of these low-ball bids. Soon I noticed that the offers started slipping even lower. If one only examines the average selling price of that item on ebay, you might think that you're getting an "average" sale. YOU'RE NOT! These businesses are much larger than most of us & can afford to purchase thousands of items each day. If they can do that, they can drive average prices down on the ebay marketplace and not affect the price on Amazon whatsoever, only what they can take in profit. Over the long-haul, we are being duped, folks. We see only what we want to see.

Anyone who can actually afford to do so, I heartily encourage to stand against these bot-bids. I'd even prefer to drop ship for someone simply because MY margin is bigger than selling to an Amazon reseller! Yes, the company I'm dropping for is still making the lion's share of the profits, but at least it isn't as big as what the mega-buyers who resell on Amazon are making.

This is a free marketplace. Let's not lose sight of that. Let demand drive the price of products, NOT Amazon. Let's try to make buyers aware that there are alternatives to Amazon out there where they actually CAN get quality goods at lower prices.

Rant over. Thanks if you've made it to the end. Feel free to comment if you've seen similar trends in your market arenas.

[thingsoldandnew10]

There are two sayings I keep in mind when selling: "Out of adversity comes opportunity." and " The market determines the price."

The adversity in your situation is another seller is selling your items for 3 - 4 times the dollar amount that you sell for coupled with the fact that seller is using you as a drop shipper where you are doing all of that seller's shipping for them.

The fact that that seller is able to sell for 3-4 times the dollar amount shows the market of your item(s) on Amazon is successful - the market has been determined  at least on Amazon. Where do you make more profit in selling? Is it on being the drop shipper for an Amazon merchant or on the sales from e$bay. Keep in mind you have to have 3-4 sales or more on e$bay to equal one sale to the Amazon reseller and 3 -4 more shipping and the associated costs.

@floralys wrote:

Yes, I understand but I'll feel bad charging exorbitant prices for what it's really worth.

Your opinion only. Amazon buyers' opinions indicate it worth 3- 4 times your price.

It is your call, but that banging on your door is called opportunity. Maybe don't go hog wild in increasing your price but certainly a3X increase might be worth the effort,

There is another interesting little selling fact that has been observed. Whenever an item is selling for far less than what the market supports, many buyers shy away from purchasing. Why? I know not the answer but believe many buyers seeing the cheaper price automatically ask themselves what's wrong with it -, is it damaged or is it a knock-off.

Good Luck in making a decision.

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@floralys wrote:

Yes, I understand but I'll feel bad charging exorbitant prices for what it's really worth.

And yes, a sale is a sale.  What they do with it is their business... But I'm the one who ships it to the "victim of the high-way robbery" lol.

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[lmaryab_31]

You're making money, stop complaining

[mraley]

I forgot to mention that the item at Walmart online is priced very near the Amazon price rather than slightly higher than the in-store price. Now try to tell me that Amazon isn't running the show if even Walmart follows them!

[luckythewinner]

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@dirk12955 wrote:
What is EBAY doing to bring those Amazon buyers back to this website to spend their money?

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On this board I read many, many more stories about eBay sellers who drop-ship from Amazon that I do about Amazon sellers who drop-ship from eBay . So I guess I would argue that neither eBay nor Amazon are doing a good job at bring those buyers "back" ... if those buyers even "left" in the first place.

I shop almost exclusively on eBay. My wife shops almost exclusively on Amazon. I think many people just shop where they are most familiar and comfortable. It's hard to bring someone "back" to a venue they have never been to in the first place.

[yuzuha]

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@thingsoldandnew10 wrote:

There is another interesting little selling fact that has been observed. Whenever an item is selling for far less than what the market supports, many buyers shy away from purchasing. Why? I know not the answer but believe many buyers seeing the cheaper price automatically ask themselves what's wrong with it -, is it damaged or is it a knock-off.

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I know I certainly do.  If I see an item that usually sells for $30 being offered for $8, my first thought is going to be that there's something wrong with it and that's why the seller isn't asking $30 like everyone else, so I won't even look at it.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@thingsoldandnew10 wrote:

There is another interesting little selling fact that has been observed. Whenever an item is selling for far less than what the market supports, many buyers shy away from purchasing. Why? I know not the answer but believe many buyers seeing the cheaper price automatically ask themselves what's wrong with it -, is it damaged or is it a knock-off.

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I know I certainly do.  If I see an item that usually sells for $30 being offered for $8, my first thought is going to be that there's something wrong with it and that's why the seller isn't asking $30 like everyone else, so I won't even look at it.

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Yes, the old too good to be true may be exactly that, and you wonder what aren't they telling you~why is it so cheap.  Sometimes in a case like that, you can look at the pictures, though, and see why~and that the condition is driving the price.

[mraley]

But not on Amazon!

[scan.and.deliver]

I wouldn't say it's exorbitant or highway robbery if that's what people are willing to pay. Markets are made of people and what those people will pay is what determines the market value. If you sell for less than that, someone may come along and buy it to sell for what it's really worth. 

[mr_lincoln]

@floralys  wrote: " ... Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas for me?"

___________________________________________________________

Yes, raise your prices, offer international shipping too ... the Buyer is simply using the "Buy low-Sell high" theory and you happen to be their supplier .. no reason you can't eliminate them as the middleman ...

[scan.and.deliver]

That's true. Amazon has much higher fees too so the sellers have to charge more. 

[gopetersen]

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@floralys wrote:

There's someone buying a lot of my stuff under at least 8 different names and selling them on Amazon for 3 or 4 times the price.  I know its the same person from the notes attached to the sales which always says, "don't include the price, blah, blah, blah... Or "this is a gift blah, blah..."  Once in a while they get confused and use the wrong paypal that was already used for a different name with like 10 bought items sent to 10 different people.

Once they asked me if I have to put the correct value on the customs form.  Duh???

And I've looked at Amazon and they copied my entire listings word for word, all photos even!  Even thank you notes I collected over the years from customers.  Makes me feel like I am being impersonated.  And worse, people might think I sold something for $30 when it was only $5.95 on ebay....  Imagine that.  How dishonest.

Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas for me?

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If your items sell for so much more on Amazon, what should YOU be doing?