mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
@leanparts wrote:Some sellers use third party fulfillment networks ("3pls") that may warehouse the same SKU in multiple locations. Typically, the 3pl will decide which location to ship the item from based on the customer's address.
What should sellers put as "item location" on their listings in these cases?
eBay seems to consider item location misrepresentation as a serious offense (it's one of the guidelines in the selling practices policy). But a seller using a 3pl cannot say that the SKU they are selling will certainly ship from a certain location.
Thank you.
You are correct, if you are using a company like Amazon as your dropshipper, you can then have multiple locations. Ebay nor buyers like that much. They like a firm location in which the item is coming from as delivery ETAs need to be calculated and if the item location is not correct, nor with the delivery ETA be correct.
I'm not sure what the proper answer to your question is, sorry.
@hillbillymedia wrote:Ebay is doing this to combat dropshippers, as they should. Of course my post is opinion based but, in ebay doing this, they can more accurately estimate delivery times and cut down on the amount of seller transaction cancellations.
Ebay doesn't mind dropshippers as long as the seller does their job properly. If Ebay wanted to "combat" dropshippers, they would make a rule against dropshipping. They have no such rule. There isn't anything at all wrong with being a dropshipper, the seller just needs to do it in a responsible way.
@hillbillymedia wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
@hillbillymedia wrote:Ebay is doing this to combat dropshippers, as they should. Of course my post is opinion based but, in ebay doing this, they can more accurately estimate delivery times and cut down on the amount of seller transaction cancellations.
Ebay doesn't mind dropshippers as long as the seller does their job properly. If Ebay wanted to "combat" dropshippers, they would make a rule against dropshipping. They have no such rule. There isn't anything at all wrong with being a dropshipper, the seller just needs to do it in a responsible way.
OK, let me rephrase, it`s my opinion that ebay wants to combat bad droppshippers. An example of what I consider a "bad droppshipper" is one that cancels transactions on a regular basis claiming the buyer requested the cancellation to avoid a defect and marking items shipped (or providing phony tracking numbers) when in fact the item hasn`t been shipped. Transaction cancellations and improper shipping practices seem to be a big beef to buyers and as a buyer, I don`t blame them for having a beef with these practices.
Yes, I could not agree more. And they want to battle bad sellers in general.
Bad dropshippers tend to cost themselves their accounts in time as too many defects get them closed down. But along the way they can annoy many buyers and that is a real problem. Often times it is a seller here using Amazon as their drop shipper. I've fallen victim of that myself.
Some of the stuff I sell I do via dropshipping. But I go over an inventory exception list daily in the hopes of keeping my inventory as accurate as possible. Still on occasion I mess up. But when I do, I own the problem and I do everything I can to fix it for the buyer. I've even been known to ship them a larger size at no additional cost to them. But I am human and I do make mistakes, I just try to own them when I do.
