Is this considered drop shipping?

rcracer · #1 05-10-2011

For the past 5 years I have been selling on Ebay. I used to work at a Hobby Shop and now just purchase parts from them wholesaler. I list quite a bit of their inventory on Ebay but do not purchase any of the products from my wholesaler until it sells. Essentially I have no inventory or overhead and only buy an item and ship it until a sale has been made on Ebay.

Im not using a third party for shipping as I am my own shipper. I currently have a mandatory minimum amount of $2500 in my account and a rolling reserve of 3% of each days sales that get released after 120 days. This was due to a website server issue last year that lead to a high number of disputes.

Basically Im trying to appeal to get my reserves and miniminum amount changed but they want invoices from my supplier. Showing invoices from my supplier from everyday transactions would pretty much indicate a red flag?

What do you guys think?

jeffweico · #2 05-10-2011

I don't know about the red flag, but anytime you are selling merchandise that is not in your physical posession, eBay considers it drop-shipping.

Is this local to you?

My one thought was that eBay usually only asks for a FEW invoices. So, showing lists of items purchased may NOT red-flag the account as you could make the argument that you replenish your inventory as it sells.

I would have left well enough alone. Rolling reserves and minimums are very common, even on merchant accounts. 3% does not seem so bad to me.

rcracer · #3 05-10-2011

The store is 5 mins down the street from me. I have access to their inventory so I know exactly whats in stock. 3% doesnt sound that bad but when you get close to $6,000 that is deemed "inaccessible" you kind of want to find a solution while not screwing yourself over. Just kinda in a pickle at this point.....

Omgoozle · #4 05-18-2011

If you're that tight with the store owner why not just have them make you up a ⊗⊗⊗⊗ receipt where you bought 200 of everything in the store?

Fax it in. They can call the shop to verify and it'll fly. Then they have no f'ing arguments.