How to stop drop shippers?

[ejp1985]

I've bought 2 items recently from different ebay sellers that've turned up via Amazon. It's happend in the past too. I'm well aware of the whole drop shipping practice but my issue is that I am specifically buying from ebay as I do not condone the morals/ethics of Amazon's business practices.

It's therefore very frustrating when someone goes about doing this. Also the fact they're handing my name and address to Amazon without consent.

Is this type of drop shipping against Terms of Service?  Is there a way of preventing in future? I may just ask sellers to cancel the order if they're intending to do this...

[four_mid_able]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/drop-shipping?id=4176

[sam_tall]

Amazon offers itself as a delivery service without knowing the items that you brought then you may have just received the item through the way they sent it. a way you can check for drop shippers is to look at the account before you buy or search for what you are buying on other websites like Amazon or ali express 

[thesmokingrunner]

Essentially an eBay seller who drop ships from Amazon most probably has an Amazon Prime account. Anything they list on eBay will be at a price higher than on Amazon (they may even add p&p) and that covers their commission/profit. It's usually pennies, but the item is shipped as 'a gift' from their Amazon Prime account and they don't pay shipping costs.

It's not against eBay's Terms of Service (eBay get commission on a sale - they're not bothered where the item is either located or from where it is shipped) and there is no way of preventing it in future. The only possible check you could do is check the price of the item on Amazon, but if you don't have a Prime Account you'd have to pay Amazon's shipping cost in addition to the item price if you bought.

There's little point in checking the account out before you buy - I don't think I've ever seen an eBay drop-shipper declare that they ship from Amazon.

[plpmr]

to comply with eBay rules the seller must be a registered business seller and hold stocks.

the seller cannot buy the item after selling it on eBay to fulfill the order.

[sam_tall]

Thats true unless they buy it from websites that are made for businesses to buy from i believe.

[thesmokingrunner]

"to comply with eBay rules the seller must be a registered business seller and hold stocks."

Of course there are absolutely no business sellers trading on private accounts on eBay, are there? eBay wouldn't allow that, would they? Everybody knows eBay cracks down immediately on any business operating from a private account ... 

"the seller cannot buy the item after selling it on eBay to fulfill the order."

How on earth do eBay know whether a seller holds stock, buys the item after selling it or even uses a drop-shipper? After all, eBay never see the item, they're only a platform etc etc. Of course a seller can buy an item after they've sold it. To state otherwise is fallacious.

[4_bathrooms]

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@ejp1985 wrote:

I'm well aware of the whole drop shipping practice but my issue is that I am specifically buying from ebay as I do not condone the morals/ethics of Amazon's business practices.

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You're not; you're buying from a seller who advertised an item on eBay. Your payment goes to eBay but eBay are just acting as an intermediary - your contract for the sale is with the seller.

eBay is akin to Amazon Marketplace where you are buying from a specific seller. However, unlike Amazon eBay do not act as a retailer as well as a marketplace (however blurred that line may be). 

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@ejp1985 wrote:

Is this type of drop shipping against Terms of Service?  

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It depends. Drop shipping is allowed on eBay but retail arbitrage is not. The seller is doing nothing wrong if they and the Amazon seller are one and the same entity and they are simply using Amazon to fulfil their eBay order. They are also not breaking eBay's policy if they have an existing agreement with an Amazon seller who is fulfilling the order for them. However, if they are simply finding items on Amazon then listing them on eBay without any pre-existing agreement with the Amazon seller in place they are engaging in retail arbitrage - this is definitely not allowed.

Another policy involved is eBay's item location policy. The item must be shipped from the location stated in the listing; eBay really do clamp down on sellers who fall foul of this policy.

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@ejp1985 wrote:

Is there a way of preventing in future? I may just ask sellers to cancel the order if they're intending to do this...

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You would need to ask the seller before you committed to purchase indicating you are not prepared to purchase the item if the delivery will be fulfilled by Amazon. If you ask if the order will be "Fulfilled by Amazon" and the seller tells you it won't be then you have a case for the item not being as described if it subsequently is.

[4_bathrooms]

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@thesmokingrunner wrote:

"the seller cannot buy the item after selling it on eBay to fulfill the order."

How on earth do eBay know whether a seller holds stock, buys the item after selling it or even uses a drop-shipper?

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There have been a few recent threads where eBay has issued MC011 restrictions to a seller then asked for purchase invoices and tracking information before reinstating their account. I believe this mainly happens when eBay suspects retail arbitrage; something they appear to be paranoid about.

eBay also seems to hate it when buyers receive things in smiley boxes. I remember a thread from a while ago where a seller had reused an Amazon box but had turned it inside-out before packing the item. They still got slapped with a selling restriction whilst eBay waited for purchase invoices and tracking information.  

[bravergrace]

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@ejp1985 wrote:

It's therefore very frustrating when someone goes about doing this. Also the fact they're handing my name and address to Amazon without consent.

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While this is true, they aren't really giving Amazon any more information about you than they would give to any other delivery company - most delivery companies nowadays ask for the name, address, e-mail address and telephone number of the person they're delivering to.  

I used to work for delivery companies in the old days, when they didn't ask for all this information, and to be honest it did make it hard when there was a delivery problem (road closed, address mistyped, nobody at home in the mornings...), because it took so long finding out the buyer's contact details, that the parcel couldn't possibly be delivered that day.

I agree with you about Amazon - I hate the company and do my best to avoid boosting their profits in any way, but I have never found a way to be 100% certain my seller isn't going to deliver via Amazon.

[ojewellery]

Just one other scenario which I don't see mentioned in the many permutations already covered.  If a seller holds stocks at Amazon fulfilment centers.

I have over the years twice shipped from Amazon to an eBay customer - on both occasions I made communication with the buyers before doing this, as I also hate that feeling slightly ripped off feeling of receiving a smiley box when I've ordered off eBay.

On one occasion, Royal mail had returned a parcel as address undeliverable and buyer was frustrated as Amazon always manage to deliver - so I said I can deliver via Amazon if that would suit.  They (Amazon) delivered,  happy customer.

Another time a customer had broken an item and I agreed to exchange.  I was out of stock from my standard fulfilment sources so said I can direct one from my Amazon stock and they were also fine with that.  I could have shipped to my office then onward but it would have caused a delay.

Amazon do now offer multichannel fulfilment in non Amazon outer packaging so in theory if the sellers were using their own stock from Amazon this is what they should be doing.

[returns_andexdisplay]

You can usually spot drop shippers with the random pricing of items, one in stock and usually thousands of items listed 

[billythecardy]

I often ship parcels using Amazon Shipping. They get collected from me by my parcel service and sent on to Amazon to deliver. Generally cheaper than Royal Mail for most things except lightweight large letters. Only problem is that Amazon will leave any parcel on a doorstep so I only use it for low value items. 

Just because a parcel arrives with an Amazon label on, delivered by Amazon doesn't mean it's been sold through  Amazon. They're just another delivery service. 

[sheba-knows-best]

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@ejp1985 wrote:

 Is there a way of preventing in future? I may just ask sellers to cancel the order if they're intending to do this...

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Just a thought...to address not the morality of drop-shipping but just the fact you want to avoid Amazon (which I tend to agree with incidentally)...

Couldn't you check the seller's delivery service? If it is Royal Mail etc, doesn't that mean it won't be Amazon? If it still arrives by Amazon you would have the right to leave a negative - or return as SNAD - as the item was not as described (ie it was not described as profiting Amazon when actually it did, which is what matters to you).

[4_bathrooms]

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@ojewellery wrote:

Amazon do now offer multichannel fulfilment in non Amazon outer packaging

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I wonder why 🙂

[kkatstuff]

Thankyou for boycotting Amazon. So few people seem to care about their tax evasion, exploitation, slavery, sale of seriously dangerous products, support for fake charities, the theft and repeated sales of customer's personal data, their cruel treatment of warehouse staff, their use of child labour and the hundreds of other despicable practices. 

I absolutely agree...if this happens to a buyer, they should have the ability to report it to eBay and unless they are fine with all that, of course, those sellers should lose their eBay accounts. They can go and sell their rubbish on Amazon if they like it so much 

[kkatstuff]

THIS👆👆 absolutely. Amazon deliver to the doorstep, dump it and without even bothering to knock, are away.. nearly as quickly as the thieves that follow them round and steal the items they just dumped and nobody knows a thing about it. 

I watch them doing it nearly everyday. I know they are paid peanuts, so naturally, you are going to get monkeys 

[kkatstuff]

Could it be something to do with their outstanding contribution to decentralised commerce and humanity on the whole? As if they're not making quite enough billions repeatedly selling their customers personal data. (When I say "personal", beware...I discovered the details from one of my debit cards floating freely on the web. The only place I had used it was... guess!!)

[toys-in_the-attic]

I sell on both Amazon and Ebay.  Selling new items on Amazon FBA.    If the item is a little slow on sales I also list on Ebay.  As the item is being stored by Amazon, the item will be delivered by them.  but it is not dropshipping.