Same Buyer bought more than 100 same items, and Shipped to Different Addresses

[great-goods-mt]

Yup... let's throw that money away.

I discovered a buyer who is using me to "ship" for free whatever he/she is selling to their customer.  I read some of the past posts concerning this topic, and I was blown away by how caviler some sellers were about this behavior.  If you are offering FREE SHIPPING, whoever that buyer is, they are making PROFIT off of what you pay for shipping.

I talked to an ebay customer service specialist about it, and it is legal in their system to be taken advantage of in this way.  In fact, the rep tried to tell me the person buying from me was not profiting unless they were selling the item for more money.  OMG... don't they know about SHIPPING!  That person profited the entire shipping amount that I paid, and could still offer free shipping to their customer.  But this supposed "special" customer service rep was clueless to this fact, and I guess ebay is too.  They have nothing in place to track scammers like this.

I'd like to know what any of you have experienced with buyers like this, and how ebay reacted.

[toysaver]

Congratulations!  You're a drop shipper for another website.

[kensgiftshop]

@great-goods-mt 

I don't have a problem with another seller using me as a dropshipper.

I get paid what I wanted and if the buyer can make a little extra money, good for them.

[wahlstreetmkt]

Not sure why it bothers you. You're still making the sale for what you thought was a decent price if it was only a handful of people buying it. But if you're bothered, just raise the price a little or take free shipping away.

[shirkie_42]

Charge for shipping, problem solved.

[katzrul15]

I understand the concept of not wanting to be someone else's drop shipper - but aren't your items listed so that you profit from them being sold, regardless of "who" you sell them to or how many at a time?

If you're getting your asking price and you sold 100 items - I understand you are doing the 'work", but on a normal sale, you would still have to purchase shipping and ship it.

I have bigger sellers buy from me at my asking price all the time - they don't even hide it.    

The downside at 60 items is it can desecrate your inventory in a fell swoop and they can leave you 60 negs if you get sideways.  Did you decide to BBL?  Maybe not offer "free shipping" to work to curb this in the future?  

[rebell45]

You have to remember that the buyer/seller is paying FVFs too, so unless they are charging at least that much and more + than they pay you, they are not making much profit.

Anyway, either raise your prices, or block that buyer.

As for eBay, their fine with it as they are making all that extra money.

[inhawaii]

Congratulations to those of you who understand this post. 

I read it 3-4 times and i have no clue what it means. 

[katzrul15]

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@inhawaii wrote:

Congratulations to those of you who understand this post. 

I read it 3-4 times and i have no clue what it means. 

---

You're right - hopefully the OP returns and explains the "angst" a little better.  As long as the 60 sales were to places I would normally ship geographically, I would take 60 sales from this guy today.  If he can promote my items better than I can and I still get what I have it listed for....

[wahlstreetmkt]

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@inhawaii wrote:

Congratulations to those of you who understand this post. 

I read it 3-4 times and i have no clue what it means. 

---

Basically the original poster is unhappy someone else resold whatever it is they're reselling at a higher price.

The free shipping thing is because if the third party sold the item for $12, then bought it from him for $10 (throwing out numbers), he somehow lost out because the item has free shipping (so $10 minus fees and shipping).

Whereas, in reality, the original poster would normally be happy with the profit on said item (I would think at least). And at best the third party made the difference on their sale price and whatever the OPs sale price was minus their fees.

[janet9988]

You are not getting taken advantage of.

What are you losing out on?

[yuzuha]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

I have bigger sellers buy from me at my asking price all the time - they don't even hide it.    

---

Same. In fact, I have a couple who are regular customers. I like them a great deal.

[katzrul15]

Mitoo!  They pay quickly, don't haggle over price and say "ship it to Suzie, no packing slip please".........

Okay.  Works for me.  

[aeparts1]

A staggering number of the items listed on Ebay are people sort of doing the same thing with Amazon. They list the item on Ebay, when it sells they buy it on Amazon & ship it to the buyer's address. I guess there is enough margin on the items that they can make money on it. No outlay of cash to buy stock, no need to buy shipping supplies, no time spent packing.

[titipeo]

Congratulations on becoming another persons supplier. Its a win for both of you. Now, something for you to think, should you increase your price? Good luck.