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Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

Hi Guys,

I have a question hope you guys can help.
I reviewed the forum and could not get a conclusive answer.

Is it allowed to constantly buy items off ebay and resell it in a dropship mode, meaning, buying different items and ship it to a different addresses? won't I get flagged or banned? I prefer not to establish stealth accounts but to do a legit (by my eyes) business.

Thanks!!!

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

How will you pay - with PP?

Are you dropshipping to OTHER buyers on eb?

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

Are you suggesting that you buy an item, then sell it, then have the seller from whom you have purchased the item post it to your buyer?

If so that is a recipe for disaster

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

Usually fails.

It's not the better method of drop-shipping.

ebay will not see this as legit, even if you do.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

Wow! very fast responses thanks so much!
Yes I plan to buy using PP but drop-shipping on my own web-store using other ebay seller (only picking the 99.9%) what do you think?
Also, will PP ebay will have an issues with that?

Thanks

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

OK... So, you have a website and you want to sell items. The plan is to buy them cheap on eBay and sell them for more on your website? Instead of receiving the items yourself, you will instead use your customer's address as the shipping address when you buy on eBay?

YIKES!!!

The first problem I see is a lot of complaints. You buy a book on eBay for $1 + $3 shipping and sell it on your website for $10. The eBay seller is willing to ship to a different address than what is on file with PayPal and agrees to do so. Your customer gets the book and sees on the packing slip that you paid $4 for it and complains. While that is not illegal or anything and you could even argue it is just taking advantage of an inefficient marketplace, your customer probably will see it as being ripped off.

Another problem will be that many sellers will only ship to the address you have on file with PayPal, since there is no seller protection if they ship to an alternate address.

Basically, you would be using eBay sellers as your drop-shippers - unless I am misunderstanding something?

I don't see this as being a workable situation or a sustainable business. There are too many pitfalls here.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

Thanks jeffweico!

Regarding the 1st problem, I will ask the buyer to ship the item without any invoice or packing slip, I'm pretty sure most of them will be willing to do so, the ones that will refuse I will stop using them from that point.

About the 2nd problem, I'm pretty sure you are able to change the delivery address in PayPal during the checkout process, so the address will be verified.

I may be wrong...

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

I see.

One of those threads where the asker is going to do their own thing despite all the issues.

Good Luck

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

I really would not advising changing the delivery address each time. It would be better to have it delivered to your address and then ship it yourself if you must go ahead with this.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

Thanks James,
But it will massively increase the delivery time to my end user, you suggest that because you think ebay won't like it or because the 2nd problem jeffweico covered?

Thanks

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

eBay and PayPal will in the long run likely have issues with it.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

Ok James this was really helpful it does put this project at risk.

GreenBean - I wasn't trying to waste anyone time, just to fully understand the consequences, I really wanted to get feedback regarding how ebay and PP see that.

So now I have more info than I started

Thanks Everyone!

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

I hear you.

BUT: changing info on paypal flags accounts.

You have to try to operate without being flagged.

You can not think sellers are going to be 'nice' to you. You might accidently end up being reported by a seller if you ask about a different address.

Most sellers want safe sales.

Most do not want to sell to buyers who want a variation of address. These are things that prevent your concept having a chance to work.

:peace:

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

I had this idea a few years ago. It would cut down on shipping cost and would work fine.
But it didnt. Things got lost in the post. The hassle of explaining why you don't want any shipping information included.( there are only so many times you can tell people it's a present). Refunds. The list went on and on. People was more the problem than eBay or PayPal.
It might work for you and I wish you luck but there are many pit falls.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

I appreciate this, thanks GreenBean!

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

Thanks Andy!

Did you choose the right ebay sellers? like 99.9 positive?

I might be wrong but I figured if someone is able to sell an item or many items through me as I'm reaching for him new markets, than I won't need to hide that I'm doing reselling (hiding the price) it's a mutual win win situation.

I'm not naive, I'm selling on ebay myself for many years just figured by opening my own website I'll be able to increase my own SKU's by adding more suppliers (ebay suppliers).

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

Yes they all had good feedback.
When someone want to return something that's where the problems start.
The buyer don't want to send it back to someone else when they bought it off you.
Then you have to return it to the original seller. Then he has to refund or replace it. It takes lots of time and effort.
Maybe drop shipping could be the answer for you?
Unless you move lots of stock quickly it's a lot of money to keep stock sitting there.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

I didn't thought about that, the refund and replace stuff, it would be a big hassle :-(
What do you mean drop shipping could be the answer? You mean conventional drop shippers? does anyone has a good source they can share?

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

This is where the help might stop....People are not going to be willing to share their sources.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

Unless there are people here that are wholesalers/drop-shippers owners/sales people.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

If there are these people on the forum....I've never met them, and I've been on the forum for a while but I could be wrong.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

People here will give you great advice about loads of stuff. But nobody would share the way they make money. We all all here to earn some so the more people know how we do the less we earn.
Google drop shippers and compare them if that's the route you choose.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

Maybe this problem is unique to books, but I thought I'd share it.

I sell out of print books, that is my main line of "products". I buy books both online and offline for resale. When looking for "like new" and "new" books on eBay, I have noticed that many sellers use their own definitions of these terms.

For example, a student selling their "brand new" textbook stated in their ad "I only used this for part of the semester and only highlighted the first chapter, so really the book is brand new". "Like new" could mean anything. People categorize their books as "like new" but when you read their description it says "book has a lot of shelf-wear and a crease in the cover".

So, I see a lot of complaints for items being not as they were described. Add to that the claims of having never received their items, feeling ripped off, having their item delayed, etc. I see all of this as being hugely problematic with what the OP wants to do.

In theory, this could work. In the real world, well... that is a different story.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

eBay do NOT like people who dropship, if it ever gets to the point where they ask you where you get your stock and they can't prove otherwise DO NOT say you don't have the stock in your possession because they will just suspend you indefinitely

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

Well, you are correct, but the issue is that the OP wants to sell on his website and fill the orders using eBay. I don't think eBay would have a problem allowing that, but we are pointing out the potential negatives of doing so.

That is a part of what we try to do here - come up with new ideas and then try to think of the positives and negatives involved.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

It is possible BUT...what is the source of your dropshipper...China? counterfeit-related countries? Personally, I would keep the pp separate - one for buying - one for receiving.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

He will need massive amount of accounts, it doesnt worth the time and the money, unless your dealing with 1k+ items im not an expert there.
For me it all sounds like a bad idea of someone who doesn't have enough experience.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

I agree with everyone else: Just too many risks but one major one that no one seems to have mentioned. About changing the delivery address to the buyers address.

How many people on here have paypal accounts with an address you could never add to a seller account but still use for buying off ebay?

You want to link that address to your account?

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

Hi Yago,
I did it for a while. There are advantages and disadvantages for doing these type of transactions. First, I never got suspended because I was buying from one member and shipping to another member. So let’s get this clear. The advantage of buying from one and selling to another one works well as you built feedback from two accounts from one transaction fast and easy. At the time I was doing, it I was doing it from the same paypal account and same ip because I was verified. Unfortunately, when I got one account down the other went down one month later. A disadvantage for going this route is that you cannot use the same tracking information for postage because ebay will recognize it as already been used in another transaction. I hope this help when making the decision.

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

Yo, this is stealth, do wat u want man. Its not in ur name or addy, test and spend some money, u will defo recuperate it

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

I have buyer only accounts in use

Re: Is it allowed to buy Off eaby for reselling?
 

I do this a lot (for international buyers) and i have yet to have a problem. I even told a ebay rep i do this and she said that's smart.