Wish there was a way to filter out dropshippers

[jonathankirkland]

I am getting to get tired of ordering stuff on ebay and receiving "gifts" from "A"...

And then a few days ago I purchased something and tracking info has now been uploaded to one of those awful "TBA" numbers which, according to a brief web search & search of these forum archives, is apparently provided from "A" and cannot be tracked at all.

This is the first time I've had a "tracking" number provided to me that I wasn't actually able to track. I know people will argue "as long as you got the item you wanted at the price you wanted, what's the big deal buddy?!?!" but all dropshipping nonsense is just starting to get really annoying and frustrating for me. It is starting to make me feel like I have very little control over something I spent "MY" money on. 

Also, should I be concerned about sellers using Prime to ship things to me from A for free? Isn't that a violation of A's policy? This whole thing just bothers the heck out of me, I can't help it!

[lewisburggold]

We agree with you.  We have had the same problems.  It is nice to track a item.  In fact sometimes its fun.  They always find a way to take the fun out of simple things.  Best regards

[emerald40]

There is a lot of it in the fine jewelry categories.  Sellers who copy data bases of diamonds as they obviously do not have that much stock in hand.

The way I eliminate drop shippers is I put them in my excluded seller list.  They are pretty much easy to identify with their 10,000 listings, with limited description and the same stock photo.  Then I save these searches in my email.  Wish ebay gave you more room to add all of them.

[thallidguy]

It sounds like your problem is not with dropshipping as such, so much as with not being able to track your packages coming in. I understand that this is a special problem with Amazon because they don't have open tracking for their own delivery service, but it could also happen with sellers who ship their own stuff but just don't use tracking.

I'm going to make an educated guess that Amazon Multichannel Fulfillment also uses Amazon's delivery service — and I don't consider that to be dropshipping, because the inventory is the seller's own; they're simply subcontracting certain functions to Amazon.

If you could go to Amazon's site and track your shipments through them, would that square things with you?

[freeshipusa1]

AMZN would ship item to friends and family of its Prime members as GIFT,so you are his firend and he is giving you a gift.

BUt AMZN recently has kicked out a few hundred of its members for exceesive returns,these members could be dropshippers using AMZN to dropship items they sell on other sites.

There are some Prime members dropshipping 55 inches TV set and the buyer returns them back to AMZN.

[freeshipusa1]

I would think EBAY would do something aboiut these A dropshippers,as it is free advertising for A,next time you will go to A and buy direct from them.

[muttlymob]

It is starting to make me feel like I have very little control over something I spent "MY" money on.

What kind of control do you think you have?  Or do you want?

The good news is that buyers with control issues fare much better on eBay than sellers with control issues.

The bad news is, what happens if you start to think about where some of the things you order from small sellers who sell out of their homes?  You are putting faith in complete strangers that they practice basic hygiene and keep their homes, or at least their eBay storage and work areas, somewhat clean and safe.  Think about that long enough and you may grow to like dropshippers.

[emerald40]

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@muttlymob wrote:

It is starting to make me feel like I have very little control over something I spent "MY" money on.

What kind of control do you think you have?  Or do you want?

The good news is that buyers with control issues fare much better on eBay than sellers with control issues.

The bad news is, what happens if you start to think about where some of the things you order from small sellers who sell out of their homes?  You are putting faith in complete strangers that they practice basic hygiene and keep their homes, or at least their eBay storage and work areas, somewhat clean and safe.  Think about that long enough and you may grow to like dropshippers.

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That is why I would never buy used clothes here, any type of personal hygiene item, anything to be ingested by me, my family or my fur babies.

Judging by some of the dirty packaging I have received lately, I am buying less here.

But what does that have to do with drop shippers.  They are not mutually exclusive.  

When I buy something I expect to get the item in the photo.  And I expect that as a seller you have seen that item and can vouch for it.

[jonathankirkland]

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@emerald40 wrote:

There is a lot of it in the fine jewelry categories.  Sellers who copy data bases of diamonds as they obviously do not have that much stock in hand.

The way I eliminate drop shippers is I put them in my excluded seller list.  They are pretty much easy to identify with their 10,000 listings, with limited description and the same stock photo.  Then I save these searches in my email.  Wish ebay gave you more room to add all of them.

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Very good idea, I guess I can start doing that. This particular seller had about 1.5M feedback and of course thousands of listings.

[missjen831]

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@freeshipusa1 wrote:

I would think EBAY would do something aboiut these A dropshippers,as it is free advertising for A,next time you will go to A and buy direct from them.

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You keep saying that. Do you not realize that eBay is making money here? Why would they care who’s name is on the box? The sale originated on eBay. Seems a seller should understand this.

[jonathankirkland]

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@freeshipusa1 wrote:

I would think EBAY would do something aboiut these A dropshippers,as it is free advertising for A,next time you will go to A and buy direct from them.

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That was part of my thinking as well.

[jonathankirkland]

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@muttlymob wrote:

It is starting to make me feel like I have very little control over something I spent "MY" money on.

What kind of control do you think you have?  Or do you want?

The good news is that buyers with control issues fare much better on eBay than sellers with control issues.

The bad news is, what happens if you start to think about where some of the things you order from small sellers who sell out of their homes?  You are putting faith in complete strangers that they practice basic hygiene and keep their homes, or at least their eBay storage and work areas, somewhat clean and safe.  Think about that long enough and you may grow to like dropshippers.

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As I said, when I buy an item with tracking I expect to actually be able to track it so I know when I can expect it, not receive some non-trackable number. I hope this doesn't become a regular thing now.

As far as buying from someone's personal home, I can only thing of maybe two instances in the last 5 years, buying hundreds and hundreds of items, that I received an item that was disgusting. One was a Sega game system & games that were completely caked with cigarette odor and film. Another was an Xbox system, controller & games that appeared to have had pop or some sticky liquid spilled on them. In both cases the sellers were extremely apologetic and offered me partial refunds (not even at my request, this was their offer), and I was then satisfied with the price I paid compared to what I received. And yes I was able to clean the items which took time but it turned out fine.

Anyway, all of that is completely irrelevant.

As I said before, there is just something about this whole process I don't lreally ike, and if these sellers are indeed violating the policies of another site it kind of makes me feel like an unwilling "accomplice". It's just not a nice feeling that's all.

[cherry*fizz]

Yes, but eBay is still making money on it, so they probably don't care too much. 

[thallidguy]

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@freeshipusa1 wrote:

I would think EBAY would do something aboiut these A dropshippers,as it is free advertising for A,next time you will go to A and buy direct from them.

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eBay doesn't want to control where we get our items to sell. That's a can of worms they don't want to open.

[southern*sweet*tea]

I filter out dropshippers by using Ebay as it was intended - for pre-owned/vintage/antique items. Other than a few shipping supplies, I don't buy new stuff on Ebay. There are too many other places with lower prices and fast delivery that I can buy from.