Selling on Ebay via Amazon

[brewsterbm]

Hi, I recently bought an item from what I thought was a genuine private seller who has basically ordered the item from Amazon on my behalf and had it posted directly to me (at a small profit to himself obviously!).  This is annoying for me personally as I have chosen not to use Amazon for various reasons but is it an infringement of Ebay policy?  Is it OK to sell something you don't have, I can't find a definite answer about this on the guidelines...  As a seperate issue, the same buyer is now hassling me about the (honest) feedback I have left.  Presumably this is also something I should be reporting him for?  Any thoughts?

[captain*obvious]

brewterbm

Amazon offer eBayers a fulfilment service.

Large volume sellers, who list on both sites, are more and more commonly using it.

What you're assuming has happened - probably hasn't.

A fulfilment service is where the seller sends their stock to an Amazon warehouse and then it's picked and dispatched by Amazon when it sells on either site.

It works out cheaper for high volume sellers to do that than employ people and pay for storage.

As part of Amazon's fulfilment the item is put in Amazon packaging.

Now, there are sellers who do what you're thinking your seller did, but your seller isn't one of them - it just wouldn't make economic sense for them to do that. The times it does make economic sense are when people abuse prime to get free postage then list on eBay at significantly higher prices than on eBay.

Please google eBay fulfilment by Amazon and read about it as it'll help reassure you about what is more likely given your seller's history.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with any eBay seller using Amazon fulfilment - eBay even allow their seller dashboard to integrate for efficiency. 

It is against the rules to list an item on eBay then buy it from Amazon after it sells on here - but I honestly don't think that is what has happened in this case.

Given that, I think you should reconsider your feedback, that seller also sells on Amazon so it's clear what version is applicable here.

[john1297576]

Read here about "Drop Shipping" - https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/drop-shipping?id=4176&st=1...

[*vyolla*]

If your eBay seller has listed an item they don't have and have then ordered it from an Amazon seller to be sent to you that's not permitted. eBay are clamping down on dropshipping. 

It's also against the GDPR to pass your personal info onto a third party who you;'e not in transaction with, without your permission.

Was there any paperwork from the Amazon seller in your package?

[brewsterbm]

Good point about the GDPR, yes there was paperwork. Will try and contact Ebay, that doesn't seem the easiest thing to do though...

[papso22]

So you have evidence that your seller bought from another seller, after you bought it from them, and the other seller then posted it direct to you? This would prove they were not using the perfectly legal fulfilment service.

[*vyolla*]

The million dollar question is, is your seller buying from another seller they're not connected with on Amazon and drop shipping to you, or using their fulfilment centre? If you have paperwork from a different seller in your package they may be doing the former.

Their T&Cs state "As we ship either directly from our suppliers or from one of our fulfillment centres, No local pick up is available and packaging may contain advertising/logos from 3rd party companies." that indicates to me that they may be buying from other companies.

Also " This means that we have to pass on the information to our couriers and sometimes 3rd party suppliers in the event that we have to source somewhere else" indicates that they may be buying from other sellers.

[angelah1847]

---

@brewsterbm wrote:

 what I thought was a genuine private seller

---

They are a registered business seller, what made you think they were a private seller?

They probably sell on amazon aswell as ebay and use amazon's fullfilment centre to complete sales.

Thay have broken no rules and can probably get the negative feedback removed.

Also did you not read their feedback before buying?  There are at least 2 other negative feedback comments mentioning amazon.

[brewsterbm]

OK, yeah private seller wasn't the correct terminology, I meant genuine as in "not dodgy **bleep** who's going to pass my sale onto Amazon". No I didn't read their feedback, obviously now that I know about this sort of thing I will but really who has time? Probably will just avoid ebay too. Pretty sure feedback can't be removed as I've not said anything that isn't true.

[ruby*tuesday]

The Seller is No Scammer. It says on his listing that Delivery is from a Fulfilment Centre. Which is perfectly legal. His Stock is stored and Shipped from there.

[corred]

@ruby*tuesday

Not if there is paperwork suggesting the seller used their Amazon Prime account

In my books shipping direct from Amazon breaches GDPR as the seller is passing the buyer details onto Amazon.....indeed if that is what happened & Amazon found out then they would close down the sellers Amazon account

[angelah1847]

If the seller sells on amazon aswell as ebay I really don't see there is an issue.

[corred]

@angelah1847

If.......but that's a big IF

[angelah1847]

Personally I don't see it as a big 'if'.

They're a registered business seller, the chances of them also being an amazon business seller are pretty high.

[corred]

@angelah1847

Last two I reported were both business sellers, both claimed not to have sent from Amazon, both sent using Prime accounts & neither sold on Amazon......so for me is a big IF....in addition neither mentioned fulfilment centres in their listings

Both also received negative feedback for dropshipping

[red_magpie]

They had feedback of over 100,000, and you thought they were a private seller??

Apart from being annoyed, is there a problem with the item, or are you happy to keep it?

If you want to return it, as a business seller they're required to accept returns by law, but you would probably have to pay the return postage. Do NOT be talked into returning it to Amazon. Your contract was with the eBay seller, and it must be returned to them. Even if the seller doesn't like it!

If you want, you can use this link to report the seller for using Amazon (which is a retailer, not a wholesaler) to fulfil your order: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/report-trading.html

On the subject of your feedback, all I would say is that feedback isn't just for leaving negs. If you're going to leave negative feedback when you're unhappy, please play fair and also also thank sellers for good service with positive feedback.

[brewsterbm]

OK, alright I've already said, I obviously used the wrong terminology. Private / Business.... I'm not down with the Ebay lingo, but what I meant was they aren't Amazon! To be honest if this is how ebay sellers are doing business, whether within the rules or not, it still seems pretty vague to me (drop shopping / fulfilment etc.) I simply won't buy new from ebay anymore. No skin off my rosy nose.

[captain*obvious]

Please ignore the comments about not returning it to Amazon, if the seller is using eBay fulfilment by Amazon then their return address will be Amazon.

You send items back to the address on the returns label provided.

When people get their heads around the idea that a lot of eBayers are paying Amazon for storing and dispatching their eBay sales for them, then perhaps advice will be more considered.

The fact is, Amazon offer a red hot fulfillment service, that gets items delivered quickly - they charge the seller more for an eBay sale but it's still worth it for the significantly faster delivery times that they're able to offer.

As stated in my reply to you, please search google and read about it then reconsider your position.