mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
@wardpro wrote:I guess that I feel both ways about the practice of Drop Shipping. If someone will sell my entire inventory at the price I am asking, please go ahead. I would rather that they use their own pictures but they are really the one taking the risk of not actually viewing the items before they sell them. My descriptions are always accurate but I do have policies on certain items where by the customer pays for return shipping unless the item is misrepresented.
You do get extra exposure with the drop shipper also listing your item and we all know more exposure results in more sales.
Have I under-priced my items? If a drop shipper is hitting them maybe I should up the price a little to see just how close I can push the Drop shipper and make a little more.
I would also notify the drop shipper in an e-mail from the Ebay message board that I will not accept returns from them that are sent back from their customers for any reason, and make the relationship official. Also, add a statement in your rules that the Drop shipper assumes all risks related to the sale. To me that would be a stronger deterrent for a Drop shipper than Ebay punishing them any another way. This is kind of like the Global Shipping Program.
Finally , the Drop shipper deserves to get paid something for the efforts they expend. I get the original sale and they all of the risk.
So would someone tell me where the problem really is?
It is unfair to lump all drop shipping into the same bucket. They don't all steal other seller's listing information. Certainly some do, but so do other sellers of the same stuff, ones that aren't drop shippers.
Actually if another seller is buying your stuff to drop ship to someone else, they lose their coverage under MBG. So the only way they could return the item to you is if you agreed to it. Ebay doesn't allow those that breach the rules of drop shipping to then be covered under the MBG.
No need for you to add that term as Ebay would back you and the other seller would likely get sanctioned by Ebay.
While some other responses seem to indicate this is a major violation of policies, I'm not exactly convinced for the following reason - eBay specifically allows you to purchase an item and immediately provides a link/method for you to immediately list and sell the item you just bought.
It is a violation to steal someone else's listing design / details, but it isn't a "major" violation. To violate the Drop shipping rule by doing retail arbitration is a violation of the rules, but again I don't think it is a "major" one. As to the Ebay sending a link so a buyer can list the item they just bought. I can't say as a buyer I've ever received one of those and I do buy off Ebay too. Interesting. When you get another one of these, would you please share it so for those of us that haven't seen one, we can understand what you are seeing.
Not exactly the same, I know, but I don't know that it's (philosophically) a problem that someone's product source is another eBay seller.
It is according to Ebay's Drop Shipping rules IF one seller is selling something they don't have a PREVIOUS / Current agreement with another seller and/or company to act as their drop shipper. If you buy the item FIRST and then sell it to someone else, there is no issue at all. Members do that all the time. But you are not suppose to sell it first and then go purchase it from another seller to have them ship directly to your buyer without a prior agreement with that seller to act as your drop shipper.
You also don't offer any proof that they don't maintain any inventory - they may have some inventory that if sold would offer a lower margin of profit than buying yours and re-selling it.
Not physically stocking your own inventory is NOT in and of itself a violation of policy on Ebay. Some large sellers have their stock that they own stored at some business that they pay to stock and ship their inventory. Some have the inventory they own stored at an Amazon FBA site. They pay Amazon to store and ship their inventory as they instruct them to do.
Keep in mind that if this seller ends up canceling sales because they don't have inventory it's a major problem as to do so adds 4% to the final value fee in most cases as an eBay penalty.
That only happens if the seller gets too many defects for filing OOS cancellations. One isn't going to do it. These stats and requirements can be seen on the Seller Dashboard.
Let's say hypothetically that you don't ship internationally, charge for shipping and don't accept or restrict returns. Maybe the other seller has policies that garner them sales for the product that you can't or don't offer. Remember - a buyer is not just buying the item, they are buying everything the seller is selling, including the examples mentioned.
If a seller is committing retail arbitration by purchasing from another seller and having them drop ship to their buyer without prior consent from the other seller, the only return policy that matters is the one of the seller that is committing the Retail Arbitration. The seller that broke the Ebay rule would not be covered by the MBG.
What would I do? If you don't want to sell to them block them as a buyer. Refuse to change shipping to any address that's not a confirmed shipping address for the buyer. Or take the money and run, why do you care who buys the item as long as they are paying what your asking?
Why do you think the seller would be asking the seller with the product to "change" the shipping address. The seller with the product may not even know they are being used as a drop shipper for them. Anyone buying something has the right to designate the ship to address when they submit payment. So chances are that the seller with the product will even know in many cases.
@d.c.enterprises wrote:Well, you make some good points, tiny bit off base on a couple and misunderstand my point in yet others. First , no disrespect but.....it's "arbitrage", not "arbitration". The problem with retail arbitrage is that in most cases because you are not an authorized seller of the item, you cannot offer a warranty from the manufacturer and as a result cannot offer it as new. There's actually a list available on eBay of the companies and manufacturers and tons of info that eBay agrees to protect with this provision
Next time you buy an item look for the link that "Sell This Item", like many things eBay it's hard to spot, but I've seen it many times. And ignored it the exact same number of times. If you go to your Purchase History, find any item you've purchased, on the right side there "Return This Item" big blue button, under that is "View Order Details" and under that is "More Options" - it's one of those options. See attached
Understood about needing to have multiple defects for the FV fee penalty, just didn't want to explain the entirety of it since that's common knowledge. I think.
I routinely get lowball offers on items I have for sale. I then check the offerer's account and see that they just sold one of the same for much more than I was asking and have another listed for more $$$ as well. If they bought mine at the price I was asking I could not care less about what they were doing with it.
No seller is obliged to change the shipping address or agree to change one, not even at the buyer's request. The buyer must register the address with eBay and probably Paypal. I just dealt with this this week. I don't ship internationally. Buyer based in Russian Federation. While I don't print or purchase the shipping label I see the buyer wants it shipped to a mail forwarding place outside London. I call eBay and they tell me it's OK to do so as long as I don't change anything, double check the postage, advise of potential customs issues, etc - all good advice. I invoice the buyer and get no response so open unpaid items case. Turns out, and I confirmed with eBay, that this buyer has multiple confirmed addresses, they just forgot to pick the one in the US. They helped hiim get that straightened out post-invoicing and that package is on the way.
Game 7 is starting, gotta go !
Thanks for your correction, but I didn't call it arbitration unless I did a typo somewhere. I know the difference between arbitrage and arbitration which I believe my posts show.
Being an "authorized seller" is different. A drop shipper does not have to be an authorized seller for any given brand or product. To be a drop shipper within the rules of Ebay you need an agreement prior to selling with a wholesaler to sell what they offer and for them to drop ship for you.
A definition for Authorized retailer or seller is: A retailer or manufacturer who is authorized to sell directly to the consumer and in order to become an authorized retailer you will need to be appointed by the manufacturer or distributor. An example of an authorized retailer is someone who will sell a brand of mobile phones in their store.
A drop shipper can be defined: Drop shipping, also known as product sourcing, is when you buy stock from a supplier and work with them to send items directly to your buyers without ever handling them yourself. Drop shipping, where you fulfill orders directly from a wholesale supplier, is allowed on eBay.
There is no need for a drop shipper to experience multiple OOS defects if they are staying on top of their inventory. An OOS defect can happen to any seller from time to time, but it is particularly problematic for a drop shipper IF that seller is not staying on top of their inventory on a regular basis. Drop shipping is not as simple as placing orders. Not if you want to do it right. It is hard work and takes quite a bit of time to do it responsibly.
Awe, I never noticed that "sell this item" option before. So Ebay isn't soliciting you to do that, which is what I understood your previous post to say, my bad, but they give you the option. I would imagine that makes it much easier for those sellers that buy stuff on Ebay to resell on Ebay. Whenever I've done that, I've always just created my own listings in TurboLister.
You keep using the word "change" for the shipping address. A buyer has absolutely no need to ask you to "change" a shipping address. If a fellow seller has purchased something from you and what it shipped to another address they do NOT need to reach out to you and ask you to "change" anything. All they have to do is when they are creating the payment to go to you for the product to put in the ship to address they want you to ship to. That address does NOT have to be the same as their primary address.
We are allowed to have multiple ship to addresses and to select whichever one we want during the payment process. I've purchased many things over the years and had the item shipped to a kid away at college, a family or friend in a different state.
So there is no need for the seller of the actual product to deal with a "change" in address. Just ship to the address on the payment notification.
International shipments would be different. You can't be forced to ship to an international address for a US shipping price. You won't be made to ship internationally.
On the particular situation you bring up. If your listing was set up with no international shipping, your buyer should not have even been able to purchase the item if they were an international buyer with an international ship to address.
But if they were an international buyer with a US ship to address, that is fine because you are still shipping in the US which would match with your listings.
I'm glad Ebay was able to help you get that situation all worked out.
@mossman1960 wrote:If you continue to supply them, as that`s what you are doing, make sure any parcel has their address on for returns and not yours. It would also be an awful shame if something went wrong with a few transactions so they got bad feedback. Good luck with this one, it`s not going to be an easy one to stop.
As I said before, if a seller is using another seller as their drop shipper without permission, that is against the Ebay rule for Drop Shipping and therefore the seller that is breaking the rule would not have coverage under the MBG.
@corvettestainless wrote:Seems like it would be real easy to stop. Simply do not change the shipping address per this 'buyers' request. It must go the address of the buyer. Now they are not 'drop shipping' unless they are changing their address every time they purchase. If they are changing their address, the original seller is covered and makes a sale. Really no harm, no foul?
This is a real misunderstanding on this thread. Seller #2 has NO NEED to "change" any ship to address. Seller #1 only has to put the address on their payment that they want the item shipped to just like any other buyer does when purchasing from any seller.
There is NO REQUEST by seller #1 to "change" the ship to address. It simply isn't needed. Seller #1 just needs to make sure that the ship to address on their payment to seller #2 is the address they want it ship to. To be covered by Ebay seller protection and by PP seller protection, a seller just needs to ship to the address on the payment notification.
Buyers or in this case seller #1 can designate any ship to address they desire when submitting payment.
@corvettestainless wrote:I'm seeing the OP stating that this 'buyer #1' is "asking to ship to another address" in their opening post. I use PP tied to my Ebay so when I purchase, I don't see anywhere I can change the 'ship to' address, but if there is one, then I am wrong about everything I said.
You can add alternate ship to address that you need in either Ebay and/or PP. I've had to do it a few times. Especially when my children were away at college. And for my mother that didn't live close to me at the time. So yes you can add different ship to addresses. It does not have to be the same as your primary account address.
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/postage-delivery/changing-delivery-address-method?id=4028
@yoonix1 wrote:Respond to your summary: Yes, the drop shippers came up with a way to make money and get a FREE RIDE, while the other retailers invest their own money.... sometimes occurring losses. This doesn't make it right.
Have you ever been a drop shipper? Do you know what it takes to do it successfully? There is a right way and wrong way to do this. What this thread has mostly been about it the wrong way.
