EBay is overrun by Amazon dropshippers and destroying my business

[mixedbagmosaic]

Try this:  Search "iridescent stained glass sheet". 

When I did that search just now there were 86 results.  72 of the listings were items dropshipped from Amazon or other online venue.

Then I searched "stained glass mosaic tiles" and 1110+ and the odds got a little better, but approximately 1/3 of the listings were dropship items.  I believe that is because of several hang-on sellers like me that have been doing this for a while.

Some of these dropship sellers had huge inventories of all types of items.  One in particular was a top rated seller with 6900+ items listed in their store, 99.4 positive 11750 FB.  However, when you read the negative and neutral feedback, many of the complaints mention items that came from Amazon some with an Amazon gift receipt,  no tracking number or bogus tracking number, incorrect items shipped, slow or no shipping and lost items.

The photos and descriptions are almost always the exact same as the Amazon listing.  Some get clever and put a banner in copied photos to make it their own.

I tried reporting items and every response message thanked me for my report and said this was a bot message and soon I received another message saying there was no violation of eBay policy according to their bot.

This has really gotten out of hand on a huge scale.  EBay needs take the initiative to get this under control.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

---

@mam98031 wrote:

---

@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:

Mam, you have sold on Amazon as have I, and you've never seen it mentioned?

Amazon does not want 3P sellers selling below their AMZ price on any other site.

---

That is something Amazon has no control over and it likely isn't legal if they tried to enforce that.  Amz IMHO comes dangerously close to price fixing far too often as it is.

---

They do with their so called Fair Pricing policy but they apparently can just blow off the FTC.

[broto_64]

---

@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

No way that Walmart likes it either. I have seen the customer service line in the local store stopped when a customer wants to return their Amazon purchase, is angry about being offered a refund substantially below what they paid, and the clerk has to go find a manager to explain to the buyer they were scrooged.

---

Hahaha yes and that's IF they even allow the returns!

In most cases it becomes a matter of you don't have a store receipt, you bought this product online and no, we can not accept the return. I won't even get into what it feels like to have to spend an hour of my time standing in line all over some $20 item, not to mention driving back and forth, just the effort and travel expenses are worth more to me than the item is worth.

[mam98031]

@broto_64 

Yes, sellers that are misbehaving can try being clever and try to work the system.  Ebay is very much aware of this and is cracking down on sellers that abuse the cancellation system.  Ebay does not consider a seller reaching out and asking a buyer if they would like to cancel the transaction because they have some type of issue as the buyer asking for the cancellation, even if they respond yes to the seller.  

Buyers can report sellers that are abusing the cancellation system too and I've always encouraged them to do just that.  It is very easy and only takes a moment.

https://www.ebay.com/help/action?topicid=4022

So while it can take a little time to catch them, Ebay is working on it.  But the more buyers report sellers that are selecting incorrect reasons to cancel a transaction, the better.

As to the buyer being negatively affected due to too many cancellation requests, IDK of anything Ebay is doing with that or if they even do anything with that.  But if this is a concern for you, make sure you report sellers that have filed for a cancellation incorrectly.  

Yes if you are running close to your limit on a credit card that can be an issue, but I'm not sure how you would avoid that other than to get your limit raised.  

There are bad drop shippers out there.  They always has been.  But there are good ones too.  I did drop shipping for years.  I stopped only because it was so much work keeping my inventory correct.  Done right, there are cancellations for OOS [out of stock], but it is a lot of work.

[mam98031]

---

@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:

---

@mam98031 wrote:

---

@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:

Mam, you have sold on Amazon as have I, and you've never seen it mentioned?

Amazon does not want 3P sellers selling below their AMZ price on any other site.

---

That is something Amazon has no control over and it likely isn't legal if they tried to enforce that.  Amz IMHO comes dangerously close to price fixing far too often as it is.

---

They do with their so called Fair Pricing policy but they apparently can just blow off the FTC.

---

OH YES, that policy is beyond annoying and often wrong.  I've experienced it first hand far too many times.  I'm not at all sure how they get away with having this policy at all.  It is price fixing IMHO.  Just for their site, it doesn't extended beyond that.

[mam98031]

---

@broto_64 wrote:

---

@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

No way that Walmart likes it either. I have seen the customer service line in the local store stopped when a customer wants to return their Amazon purchase, is angry about being offered a refund substantially below what they paid, and the clerk has to go find a manager to explain to the buyer they were scrooged.

---

Hahaha yes and that's IF they even allow the returns!

In most cases it becomes a matter of you don't have a store receipt, you bought this product online and no, we can not accept the return. I won't even get into what it feels like to have to spend an hour of my time standing in line all over some $20 item, not to mention driving back and forth, just the effort and travel expenses are worth more to me than the item is worth.

---

I have not experienced issues with this, I'm sorry you two have.  However I don't go into the store to try and return something without first filing for the return on the website.  And I've found the website easy to use for returns and/or authorization to return.

[technoshoptotalwireless]

To be sucesfull in any business you have to be able to be flexible, adapt/pivot. 

[broto_64]

---

@mam98031 wrote:

@broto_64 

Yes, sellers that are misbehaving can try being clever and try to work the system.  Ebay is very much aware of this and is cracking down on sellers that abuse the cancellation system.  Ebay does not consider a seller reaching out and asking a buyer if they would like to cancel the transaction because they have some type of issue as the buyer asking for the cancellation, even if they respond yes to the seller.  

Buyers can report sellers that are abusing the cancellation system too and I've always encouraged them to do just that.  It is very easy and only takes a moment.

https://www.ebay.com/help/action?topicid=4022

So while it can take a little time to catch them, Ebay is working on it.  But the more buyers report sellers that are selecting incorrect reasons to cancel a transaction, the better.

As to the buyer being negatively affected due to too many cancellation requests, IDK of anything Ebay is doing with that or if they even do anything with that.  But if this is a concern for you, make sure you report sellers that have filed for a cancellation incorrectly.  

Yes if you are running close to your limit on a credit card that can be an issue, but I'm not sure how you would avoid that other than to get your limit raised.  

There are bad drop shippers out there.  They always has been.  But there are good ones too.  I did drop shipping for years.  I stopped only because it was so much work keeping my inventory correct.  Done right, there are cancellations for OOS [out of stock], but it is a lot of work.

---

I would love to believe (and for some time even did) that there is a large group of "good" dropshippers and only a small percentage of "bad" dropshippers, however my experience with any dropshipper when things go south has never been what I would call a "positive" buyer experience.

I will be blunt, if you as a seller are having an issue with your inventory and you can not ship the item to me there is absolutely NO reason why you need to ask me for permission to cancel. What you do in that instance is cancel for reason "out of stock," take your defect like a responsible seller should, and if you want to tell me why you cancelled my purchase that is fine but maybe spare me the "warehouse" line or any other sort of cry-me-a-river excuse because that's not helping matters.

You want to tell me you are sorry but you can not ship me the item because it is no longer available, fine.

No sob stories, no asking me if it's ok and absolutely never EVER cancel such a purchase for reason "buyer asked / problem with my address" when the truth is that your supplier dropped the ball (and I don't care if that's not "your" fault, you are the seller, it is your responsibility to ship me my purchase) so please spare me the sad excuses and the run-around and accept responsibility when the fault is on your end and don't try to blame it on me.

Now I don't know how else to explain it, but if you pull a stunt on me you absolutely will be reported but you should also know it's not an easy straight forward report so most buyers would not know they can or even need to do it, thus those dropshippers do in fact avoid the defect while placing the blame on the buyer with little to no actual repercussion.

[robbie31415]

One of the big issues in my opinion with people drop shipping with Amazon is the reliability.

eBay takes delivered tracking very seriously, however Amazon knows they make a lot of mistakes, and if you buy from Amazon you will get an easy refund.

When you get a miss delivery because at least in my area they utilize Uber/Lift drivers, not reliable.

Well they get that delivered tracking and it's auto lose INR claim to the buyer. You will most likely lose a chargeback too.

The nice seller could inform Amazon (because they are Amazon's customer) and get a refund and then provide it to the buyer BUT they never will.

The only way to get refund is to say it's INAD and send an empty box.

Also, eBay will continue to suggest you contact the 'carrier' which typically is 'Blucare Express, or Aquiline'. They aren't even carriers, and they will give you the Amazon TBA # and tell you to contact Amazon. Amazon will tell you it's a privacy violation that you aren't the account holder.

So basically its a really bad situation, and because of it I loathe Amazon "Dropshippers'.

Sorry for my rant!

[mam98031]

I never said one way or the other on how many good drop shippers there are and how many are bad.  Those are not stats I would have any access to.

No need to be "blunt", I agreed with you about sellers should be filing cancellation for the correct reason.  Not quite sure why you are suggesting or talking to me as if I don't understand your issue.  My post was clear or at least I thought it was.  Nor do I understand why you felt you needed to explain it again.  

[mixedbagmosaic]

They are all sold showing the exact same item and photos and descriptions and several of dropshippers listings even shows the Amazon sellers brand name Like "Paljolly".  Why would Paljolly list items on eBay with so many different seller names?

I checked a large number of these sellers' FB and there are negatives, neutrals, and believe it or not even some positives saying the items were shipped by Amazon with a gift receipt.

The prices are always significantly higher than Amazon.

[mixedbagmosaic]

Because it is against eBay policy, and I'm an honest person.  Call me dumb.

[mixedbagmosaic]

Not just my cost structure.  China made stained glass is a fraction of the cost of US glass.  I know the prices other US stained glass sellers charge because I keep myself up to date on it.  Many eBay glass sellers (there used to be way more 10 years ago when I first sold it on here) have moved to Etsy because they're a little better about not letting this happen.  But Etsy is a PIA with there rules now a days.  Like answering messages within a short time-frame and getting burned if the message is spam and you don't answer.  Like sellers having to do tons of personal marketing make Etsy's badges that you can't sell much without.  So I don't sell on Etsy.

The listings on ebay that are being dropshipped from Amazon are very clear.  The way the photos are taken is a huge giveaway.  The text is easily recognized as someone's 2nd language.  I've just looked at them so much I see the signs.

[mixedbagmosaic]

That's because, as you've said, you're smart enough to check.  A majority of people, in my experience from what I see being sold then checking FB , aren't.