eBay flagged me as a dropshipper, but I am NOT a drop shipper

[mulletshop]

I was labeled as dropshipping by eBay. I went from a top rated seller down to above standard because of this. As a result my traffic and impressions are way down. Traffic is down from about 19k per day (average over a month period) to about 6k per day (average over a month period) . The 60% happened literally overnight. It dropped the same for my impressions as well. My promoted listing dropped by 90%. From about 150 views per day to now about 5-10.  I have about 200 listings, average sale price of $100.

I talked to eBay and they acknowledged that I was flagged as a drop shipper and my Top Rated status was removed. I think I understand why I was flagged, and it makes sense why it was flagged.

     - I am in California where I own and am in possession of my product. I shipped from California (used a couple of different post offices locally).  I was going to go on vacation to Utah for about 2 weeks and put myself on vacation mode. I sourced some product while driving to Utah and listed them for sale using the Utah zip code. The items I sold I shipped from a Utah address, but my primary address was always California.

     - My wife stayed behind in Utah for an additional few weeks while I came back to California. For about a week period of time I was shipping items in my possession from CA, she was shipping items she had (that we acquired along the way and were in possession of) from UT. Once she got back to CA, shipping resumed exclusively from CA.

     - There was an item that was sold but not paid for. I went out of town for a funeral in Idaho. Since I was going to be gone for about 4 days, I took the item with me. They buyer paid a few days later when I was in Idaho, so I shipped the item from Idaho.

     - I always used the USPS portal through the website to create my own labels. 

     -All items I sold had custom pictures and images (sometimes with different backgrounds)

     -My shipping times are 100%

     -Few returns/issues (within their limits)

     -I do not have/use any 3rd party sites for listings/shipping

    -Dropshipping seems like a huge hassle for me, and I have 0 interest in it.

Has anyone else had this issue, where they were flagged as a dropshipper, but weren't? If so how was it resolved or how did you get it corrected? eBay reps are little to no help saying, "there is no appeal". But as we all know, there is always a process. I have since focused my selling efforts elsewhere instead of with eBay. I want to sell more on eBay (like I used to), but since I have been flagged, by sales are down over 60%. My commission bill with eBay in August was over $2500, for September it was only $800. I love a big bill from eBay, because that means I sold a lot and hopefully made money as well.

Any advice, feedback, opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[greg5000]

Sorry this happened to you.

I would call eBay Customer Support and ask to speak with a U.S. based Supervisor.  Explain what happened, and hopefully they can resolve this for you.

Let us know the outcome if you call?

[mam98031]

You have a very interesting situation.  None of which should have labeled you a Drop Shipper.

Now what is important when you were shipping like you were is it is required that your listings accurately states where the item is shipping from.  So when you were in Utah and shipping from there, your listings should have said Utah.  Now if your listings didn't say that.  That would be a policy violations, but should not have flagged you as a drop shipper.

Drop shipping is NOT against Ebay policy.  If you have a supplier that you have an agreement with to act as your vendor and you set up your listings to state the proper location of the item.  You are fine to drop ship.

What you aren't allowed to do is sell stuff that you do not have this type of drop shipping agreement with a vendor.  Like you shouldn't have a listing on Ebay that you plan to purchase from another site and have them ship it to your buyer and there is no agreement in place between you and that vendor.  

I've known some sellers on Ebay to purchase from other sellers on Ebay to fulfill an order for them.  That is a no no too for a seller.

Are you sure you have been labeled a Drop Shipper?  Did you get an email or something?  How did you discover you had been labeled a drop shipper?  If it was via email, would you mind posting the body of it here so I can see exactly what they said to you.  It may help to get this figured out for you.

[mulletshop]

I totally agree I shouldn't have been labeled as a drop shipper. I was accurately putting my listings as the zip code when I was in Utah for a few weeks. I think that is where it was flagged. I had some items in Utah, some items in California (all of which I was in possession of), and shipping from both places. I even had one person call me out on it stating, "the items says it will be shipped from Utah but it states you are in California" (maybe he reported me?).

I understand Drop Shipping is NOT against policy, but you can't be a Top Rated seller doing it. That is where the problem is. SALES, traffic, impressions down over 60%. Promoted listings traffic/impressions down 90%. I don't have a vendor, I do all my own sourcing and acquire it from multiple places.

I was notified by email and a customer service rep confirmed it. I even had a customer service rep state that it was a mistake and it would be removed when I followed up. A week later I spoke to a different rep and they stated I was still flagged. Below is the main body of the email.

Your Top Rated Seller status will be removed: Selling practices - drop shipping policy

Hello,

We’ve determined that you haven’t followed our selling practices - drop shipping policy therefore, we will be removing your Top Rated Seller status until your account is in compliance with the policy.

There is evidence on your account that you are purchasing items from an online retail or marketplace site after you sell the item on eBay and having that retailer ship the item directly to the customer. This is a violation of the terms and conditions section of our Selling practices policy, which states:

·Items you list must be in your inventory or you must have an existing agreement with a third party to fulfill the delivery of the item under the terms of your listing.

I am just at a loss on what to do. Wondering if anyone else has been in a similar situation and had the issue resolved. Again, I love selling on eBay and do it as a hobby (and make a bit of money doing it), I like paying the huge eBay bill at the end of the month because that means I made a lot of money. 

Appreciate the feedback!

[mulletshop]

Appreciate your advice. I wonder how hard I should push. Talked to 3 different reps over the past month. Perhaps I should just call daily until they get annoyed with me and either a) fix it or b) ignore my calls

[carlqsportscards]

Tagging some ebay employees to see if they can help.

brian@ebay 

tyler@ebay 

[parkersparrow]

Try asking for a supervisor that sometimes helps in getting results. Be persistent, the rep might try to blow you off. You just have to be firm in saying you want a supervisor.

[misfitfun]

You need to find someone to whom you can send invoices to showing you own the inventory

[mulletshop]

I did speak with one supervisor, but perhaps a few more will get the trick done. 

[mulletshop]

Valid point about the invoices. I probably have over 100 receipts that I could provide. I take pictures of all my products with a similar and consistent background. A reasonable person could tell I actually own and am in possession of the product just by looking at the images. They aren't the stock images pulled off of a website like a lot of dropshippers use. I also always use the portal through eBay to print off all my shipping labels. By being a drop shipper I wouldn't be doing that.

[mam98031]

I was going to tag the guys to pop in and help you, but someone beat me to it this morning.  They will be the best to help you out.  Somewhere a mistake was made [not by you] and it just needs to get fixed ASAP.  

What you have described here should not have triggered this flag nor should it have triggered the severe sanctions brought against you.  So hopefully one of the guys will pop in today and lend a little helping hand in this matter.

[mulletshop]

Resolution: I have been dealing with this issue for over 6 weeks to no avail. Posted my issue on here and something was done. I got a random email from eBay today letting me know I am now (again) a Top Rated seller. 

I really appreciate everyone's input, suggestions and comments. Hopefully I can help out someone in the future. Again, THANK YOU!

[mam98031]

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@mulletshop wrote:

Resolution: I have been dealing with this issue for over 6 weeks to no avail. Posted my issue on here and something was done. I got a random email from eBay today letting me know I am now (again) a Top Rated seller. 

I really appreciate everyone's input, suggestions and comments. Hopefully I can help out someone in the future. Again, THANK YOU!

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This is FANTASTIC news.  I'm so happy to know you have gotten things back to normal for you.

I hope your holiday season is the BEST EVER !!!  CHEERS !!    

[zamo-zuan]

Awesome to hear that they've fixed your situation!

It's also great to hear that they're finally actively (trying) to crack down on those who break this policy. Sorry to hear that you got stuck in the middle and incorrectly punished!

But it's a good thing for eBay, buyers, and sellers if there's actual punishments for violating policy.

[mam98031]

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

Awesome to hear that they've fixed your situation!

It's also great to hear that they're finally actively (trying) to crack down on those who break this policy. Sorry to hear that you got stuck in the middle and incorrectly punished!

But it's a good thing for eBay, buyers, and sellers if there's actual punishments for violating policy.

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They announced several months ago that they were cracking down on those that were breaking the Drop Shipping rule.