eBay

shoppers_corner · ‎11-14-2017

Hello. This is my very first posting, so I do hope my question is not one that potentially violates any rules.

I'm working with a supplier of warehouse goods. While he has good merchandise that sells very well, he is awful with communication and has shipping arrangements that are ruining my feedback rating. He contacted me from work we did back in 2009, in which time I stoppd for the very same reason, bad communication and iratic shipping.

I love working as a seller and am very good at it. I do go the extra mile for my customers. Just yesterday I rented a car to pickup an item that this supplier wouldn't ship. I took it to a post office and paid shipping with insurance for a Puerto Rican buyer due to closed stores in her area.

How can I find a partner/drop-shipper that I can afford that will offer the items that sell?

rixstuff · ‎11-14-2017

Yep - stop dropshipping. When you leave it to some other person to make YOUR customers happy, they will probably disappoint both you and the buyers. NEVER EVER list an item that you can not lay your hands on and that you have not actually seen with your own two eyes. I think that many sellers here are finding that the Amazon shippers arent exactly on the ball and not always honest or accurate about what they have or have shipped out. When the dropshipper sends the wrong item - or NOTHING - then YOU get the hit. I bought it from YOU and YOU have my money so I will be coming back to YOU when THE DROPSHIPPER screws up. And there wont be much you can do to fix it either.

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*help_no_brakes* · ‎11-14-2017

Ah...the joys of drop shipping!

I'm sure sellers with a reliable source of inventory will rush to share them with you.

soh.maryl · ‎11-14-2017

You have exactly outlined the very reasons that most smart sellers do not do drop shipping. Your reputation is depending entirely on someone else's reliability and his failures become your failures.

Plus there's the fact that there are hundreds or maybe thousands of sellers using the same drop shipper you are. There may be good drop shippers available, but those who have found them are not anxious to tell you who they are -- why increase the competition?

aproudparent2010 · ‎11-14-2017

Stay away from dropshipping and actually sell products you have on hand.

Your feedback is already looking bad and makes potential buyers want to avoid you.

phcd1 · ‎11-14-2017

Most Drop shippers on eBay fail, BIG TIME. Not only do they fail at drop shipping, but it typically costs them their eBay seller account too (banned from selling for LIFE!). If you don't have it in your hot little hands, you shouldn't sell it on eBay. Too much could go wrong and most buyers are not satisfied with only a refund now a days.

rixstuff · ‎11-14-2017

Yep - stop dropshipping. When you leave it to some other person to make YOUR customers happy, they will probably disappoint both you and the buyers. NEVER EVER list an item that you can not lay your hands on and that you have not actually seen with your own two eyes. I think that many sellers here are finding that the Amazon shippers arent exactly on the ball and not always honest or accurate about what they have or have shipped out. When the dropshipper sends the wrong item - or NOTHING - then YOU get the hit. I bought it from YOU and YOU have my money so I will be coming back to YOU when THE DROPSHIPPER screws up. And there wont be much you can do to fix it either.

mistwomandancing · ‎11-14-2017

shoppers_corner wrote: ---I'm working with a supplier..........awful with communication..........shipping arrangements that are ruining my feedback rating...........erratic shipping.......... drop-shipper..........

You have just put your finger on the very reasons that drop-shippers are viewed with a lot of suspicion, disdane, and skepticism. THEY have ruined many a potentially fine eBay seller, and I'm not kidding!

IF you truly believe the merchandise from this supplier is what you want to deal in, is profitable to sell here, etc... then I strongly advise you to order it in quantities you can store on your own site, modest though it may have to be, and you list only that merchandise you actually have on hand.

You can order more from your wholesaler when you're running low of your supply, but it doesn't make you into the lousy seller who doesn't fulfill orders very well, very smoothly, in a very timely manner, etc. When you have the merchandise on hand and can ship it immediately, you become the best of the best, and it helps your business thrive here, and especially against the other sellers who handle the same merchandise as you. Good luck.

nawlinsron2 · ‎11-14-2017

"Doc...it hurts when I do this."
"Don't do that"

siayan · ‎11-14-2017

Just yesterday I rented a car to pickup an item that this supplier wouldn't ship. I took it to a post office and paid shipping with insurance for a Puerto Rican buyer due to closed stores in her area.

Why don't you do this before you list. Go buy the items, then list. Seems like what we all do.

____________________________________________________________________
Prov 20:14 It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.

femmefan1946 · ‎11-14-2017

Buy the stuff from your wholesaler.

Have it shipped to your house.

When it arrives, list it.

When it sells, package and ship it.

nawlinsron2 · ‎11-14-2017

I speed read where he sent an item to Puerto Rico...the one he rented a car for.
Is FEMA now delivering mail?

southern*sweet*tea · ‎11-14-2017

@nawlinsron2 wrote:
I speed read where he sent an item to Puerto Rico...the one he rented a car for.
Is FEMA now delivering mail?

Mail has resumed in PR http://about.usps.com/news/service-alerts/resident-weather-updates.htm#toggle_pr

The easier you are to offend the easier you are to control.

We seem to be getting closer and closer to a situation where nobody is responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did. - Thomas Sowell

papyruspapillo · ‎11-14-2017

Do not use a drop-shipper. You need as much control as possible over transactions. I've never used a drop-shipper, but as a buyer I bought an expensive and bulky item from an ebay seller who did use a drop-shipper, and had to wait forever to receive it (and this was an item that I needed quickly for my business). Never again. Also, "going the extra mile" for your customers means that you would not use a drop-shipper and place buyers at a disadvantage. Protect your feedback and your reputation.