eBay

hustlestoreus · ‎06-03-2023

Hello All,

Recently, We've been experiencing a significant issue with eBay. EBay has reduced our listings' impressions due to "violating the item location policy."

In short, we have four different warehouses in the US, and some items are stored simultaneously.

We did this to offer always free shipping and a five-day delivery period. However, eBay claims that regardless of a company's size and warehouse base, every item must have only one ship-from location.

This rule is unreasonable. As you may understand, we keep some items in multiple warehouses to deliver faster and cheaper to every customer.

For example: if our customer is from California, we will ship their item from our warehouse in WA. But if the buyer is from Tennessee, we ship from the Florida warehouse.

Have any of you experienced a similar issue? Please share your experience.

Thank you.

Alex

inhawaii · ‎06-04-2023

Recently, We've been experiencing a significant issue with eBay. EBay has reduced our listings' impressions due to "violating the item location policy."

The screenshot you showed does not say anything about reducing listing impressions.

Also, the screenshot is referring to drop shipping. I thought you said you weren't drop shipping?

Papa Was A Rolling Stone - The Temptations

hustlestoreus · ‎06-04-2023

That's a great wondering. I would love to hear someone.

fashunu4eeuh · ‎06-04-2023

You are concerned with fast shipping for your customers, and rightly so. But in order to do that, you have run afoul of eBay’s item location requirement and your account has been penalized for it, as backwards as that is.

My observation in 15 years of selling here is that eBay doesn’t make exceptions to assist sellers in reaching goals that do not align with its policies. You will have to make the adjustments to your practices or suffer the impact of continued eBay penalties, which can ultimately lead to permanent restriction without appeal.

hustlestoreus · ‎06-04-2023

That was a great answer! Thank you so much. This may be the reason our account wasn't in their radar for 4 years.

hustlestoreus · ‎06-04-2023

The screenshot clearly shows how ebay has power over the listings positioning. Please read carefully the last paragraph.

When it comes to drop shipping - I got familiar with this policy lately. Ebay put this to the table when they restricted my items' visibility.

However, arguing now with you is pointless for both of us.

Thank you for your time.

Alex

valueaddedresource · ‎06-04-2023

@dhbookds wrote:
@valueaddedresource

Thanks for the info.......as I said, it was a "memory"........but wonder what Amazon Fulfillment people do now......

@dhbookds in my experience, this is one of those policies that usually doesn't get enforced until/unless there are other concerns that pop up on eBay's radar.

I suspect the API and other options eBay was testing to try to make multi-location listings a reality never panned out for technical reasons and were put on the back burner...and because of that eBay has kind of accepted that there are legitimate sellers who are following dropship policies by using allowed wholesale suppliers or who use 3rd party fulfillment centers (Amazon FBA or others) which are also allowed but since eBay doesn't have any way to allow those sellers to honestly show multiple locations within the current listing process they let it slide as long as there are no other problems (real or perceived).

However, if eBay has reason to believe you are violating dropship policies or thinks you are not providing a good buyer experience (negative feedback, excessive returns, consistently not meeting estimated delivery times etc.) or any other red flags, then they will step in and use the location policy as a tool to enforce standards or justification to take action against that account.

That's why I think there may be more going on in this situation than just the location policy - that may be what support has given as the reason for any action that has been taken but it's likely there are other things eBay is looking at as well.

maxine*j · ‎06-04-2023

eBay's item location policy is based on wanting sellers to be in control of what they are selling -- availability, quality, authenticity, handling and shipping -- so that buyers will get what they ordered.

Dropshipping of the sort you are doing means you lack those controls over the merchandise you sell, and eBay has warned you of the consequences. The fact that you feel you must use "private listings" and the nature of the negs you have received are more warnings.

If this is the only business model you have, or want to have, you may need to find another venue.

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hustlestoreus · ‎06-04-2023

You know...that's a very good point. I may stop offering free shipping. But since I was a top rated plus seller for 1/4 of my store's lifetime, I loved it. And I got used to be the number one search result for most of the related searches on ebay.

Anyway, we removed most of the listings here and will sell them on our website. But the best quality products need to be shown here, lol. I have done my job and now 90% of the listings will be shipped from the exact mentioned location.

@fab_finds4u, your time spent on this concern is very much appreciated 🙏🏼.

inhawaii · ‎06-04-2023

Slightly off topic but...

I just looked at your #41 chain link for $5.32. Ships from Kent, Washington.

That chain link weighs about one once.

Shipping to me in Hawaii (96706) is $630.00 for one.

I was thinking about buying two of them but there is no discount.

Shipping on two of them would be $1,260.00.

Just curious how that will ship?

Also I was able to locate that same #41 chain link elsewhere on ebay for $7.40 for five of them with free shipping.

(2) #41 chain links for $1,265.32

-or-

(5) #41 chain links for $7.40

Slight difference in price but i'm sure yours are much better quality.

Papa Was A Rolling Stone - The Temptations

hustlestoreus · ‎06-04-2023

Please assist me with setting up shipping rates for over 300 items. I would be willing to grant you limited access to my account as an assistant, and I will compensate you for your work.

As for the shipping costs, I calculate them on a case-by-case basis for customers in your state and adjust the invoice accordingly. This is way more convenient regarding the number of buyers from HI, AA, PR, etc. The customers from these states are different from my target, as it is for eBay, too. Even the eBay Global Shipping Program doesn't seem to care about these territories. Such a shame...

Please reply if you are ready to work for me as an assistant. Otherwise, have a pleasant weekend.

Best regards,

Alex

ittybitnot · ‎06-04-2023

the number of buyers from HI, AA, PR

@hustlestoreus

Hawaii, Alaska are actual states in the United States. Puerto Rico is a protectorate that uses US currency, and has a US zipcode. There would be no need to use Global Shipping (which is being discontinued anyway) or other such service if you are shipping from the US to the US from any of your four warehouses.

maxine*j · ‎06-04-2023

@hustlestoreus wrote:
Please assist me with setting up shipping rates for over 300 items. I would be willing to grant you limited access to my account as an assistant, and I will compensate you for your work... Please reply if you are ready to work for me as an assistant...

If you weren't playing location games, you could use eBay's handy Calculated Shipping, which would show the buyer the cost to ship an item from your Zip-code to his.

Yet another problem with dropshipping of the type you're doing. You can't use a handy and effective tool provided by eBay to sellers, because your selling set-up is not one that eBay is designed for or approves of.

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