eBay

musicyouneed · ‎01-26-2019

I came across this today on youtube covering drop shipping and how the rules have changed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd4ZHViFt6U

It doesn't concern me but is good info for some sellers who do dropship.

Anonymous · ‎01-30-2019

Oh. I tried to use it back when they changed the look of our seller pages here on eBay and it took me to a link that I read as being available only to professional sellers. Clearly I misunderstood. Since I was talking about the bulk listing feature here on eBay in response to Tyler's suggestion, I thought that would have been clear. I am very happy that we can still use it but I thought when they referred to professional sellers they meant a subscription. momcqueen, I have always found you to be very helpful and yes I should have been more clear, "they" is pretty generic so I'll be more careful about using it. Thank you for clarifying we can still use the bulk listing feature.

Anonymous · ‎01-30-2019

tyler@ebay
Please allow me to clarify as I have obviously caused confusion and that's my fault.
Printful is a print on demand site that allows designers to upload their artwork to be printed on items ranging from clothing to household items to cell phone cases. They offer the ability to integrate your products to sell on other platforms, including Etsy & Amazon and more recently eBay. You create your item in Printful then allow their system to "send it over" to your shop on whichever platform you're using. I have an Etsy store and I have started sending my items over to my store here on eBay.
Once the items are listed over here, Printful, according to their customer service, no longer has any control over anything that happens here on eBay, such as the ability to edit. Hence my reason for reaching out to eBay for help on being able to check off that box that says "pay immediately".
I'm sorry for not explaining this properly, that was my bad.

I'm also going to reach out to Printful's customer service again and show them that error, rather than just let them toss it off as an eBay problem. Thank you again.

Anonymous · ‎01-30-2019

Guess what? I just spoke to Printful and the reason some of the older listings won't allow me to edit is this; anything listed from there before January 16, 2019 has that issue. I just have to delete those listings and relist.
That explains why I can fix the newer ones but not the older. For goodness sake.
In my defense, I had reached out to customer service when I first started using Printful's integration to eBay, and they had no answer for me. Obviously they took a second look and I had no idea they had fixed it.
tyler@ebay, I am so grateful for your help and patience and incredibly sorry for taking up so much of your time but you have been a huge help. Thank you.
I also apologize profusely for hijacking the original posters thread and hope this might help someone else too if they go searching for help using Printful with eBay.

momcqueen · ‎01-30-2019

No apologies are necessary. Truly. I’m pleased to hear you were able to get the issue resolved!

tyler@ebay · ‎01-30-2019

Thanks so much for catching us up on the saga, and I'm pleased as punch to hear that Printful was able to get you sorted and at least get you an answer on those older listings!

I recommend Seller Hub a lot, just because the Selling page otherwise doesn't have a lot of features that I find regular sellers need often (bulk editing especially).

Here's hoping that your designs take off! And always feel free to come back to the boards - folks here are really helpful and there's always something going on. 🙂

Tyler,

tryubik-useonlyasdirected · ‎01-31-2019

We recycle boxes and packing materials. Our local post office has a used shipping materials area for sellers on a take some leave some basis. Any structurally compromised material is weeded out and discarded (never use a structurally compromised box and always re-enforce new boxes from the inside). This is both economical and environmental friendly.

The bulk of our regular sized sales are posted using re-used structurally sound amazon boxes. All former labels are removed and branding blacked-out with marker or covered with Fragile and Glass stickers. Our customers always thank us for our "bomb-proof" (as someone once described it) packing.

We go out of our way to NEVER have the words "eBay" on the outside of the package. After taking a poll showing that packages with the words "eBay" and "amazon" weren't handled as well as packages with no or private branding. My guess this is the same logic as packages with "Priority Insured & Tracked" stickers tend not to disappear as often (at least according to our local postal worker).

momcqueen · ‎01-31-2019

"After taking a poll showing that packages with the words "eBay" and "amazon" weren't handled as well as packages with no or private branding. My guess this is the same logic as packages with "Priority Insured & Tracked" stickers tend not to disappear as often (at least according to our local postal worker)."

This poll sounds interesting. Can you cite your sources on it, please?

tryubik-useonlyasdirected · ‎01-31-2019

Good morning @mommcqueen!

Yes, if I can find it, there are a couple of them available. Sometimes I keep articles like that, sometimes not. I file the information in a "Shipping" compartment in my brain and adjust.

There was also one regarding sending packages with fragile stickers vs. sending a package with a picture of a big-screen TV. The actual contents was a bike; a large bike company kept having their bikes delivered damaged. (The experiment had a lot of press.) After placing a picture of a big-screen TV everything was delivered immaculate. (The theory was that everyone can relate to the fragility of a big-screen TV but not everyone understands that a carbon bike isn't made of indestructible steel. Also that post workers experience "Fragile sticker" fatigue.)

We were shocked seeing a delivery person taking parcels and tossing them into the back of a giant box truck for delivery at our local CP once (it was a third party contract and NOT CP staff). I believe i filmed it and complained. No heed to the packages at all, the paper spam was handled with more respect.

murdarr.inc · ‎01-31-2019

Please correct me if I'm wrong about this:
My understanding of ebay rules is that you MUST HAVE STOCK of any item you have listed. Sufficient stock to cover ALL buying options listed. If selling small, medium, large **bleep**rts, in multiple colors, for example, you need to have the items needed to fulfil any orders, for any combination of colors and sizes a buyer purchases...
To not have stock, and only obtain stock after getting an order, is not allowed.
No idea what the "drop shipping" rules are, as I thought the above would make such sales a violation to begin with..
I read over the rules regarding sufficient stock last year, so am unaware of what has changed, but it does seem a bit odd to sell something, hoping that a third party has accurate inventory counts, and won't delay shipments until they "get some in"..

reallynicestamps · ‎01-31-2019

Now I'm wondering what a "bleeprt" is.

With dropshipping, classically, the seller has a contract with a supplier who does have stock.

When he makes a sale, he notifies the seller, who ships.

The eBay seller doesn't have any bleeprts in his house or shop, but he has them warehoused, if you see what I mean.

And you are right, if the supplier/warehouse is out of a given item and doesn't tell the eBay seller (and the supplier may have hundreds of sellers), then the eBay seller takes all the responsibility for being out of stock, late shipping, delayed delivery, etc.

And gets the Defects.

I've seen this new 'dropshipping' by taking orders then buying on AZ etc and having the other seller ship called 'arbitrage', which also means buying in one (low-priced) market and selling in another (high-priced) market.

momcqueen · ‎01-31-2019

I suspect ‘bleeprts’ is ‘carpets’ with an extra ‘r’ and minus an ‘e’.... I’m a professional mis-typist with a Masters in reading the phonetic spellings of small children, dontcha know.