3rd party delivery and paypal?

manhattan

hi,
just a quick question for all you ebay experts!

i can buy items from a wholesaler,who will either deliver to my address or can deliver straight to a 3rd party address(ebay buyer).

sending the product straight from the wholesaler to the buyer will save me about £8 but will i be covered from paypal chargebacks for item not received?

i will be paying for the item via credit card,the company say they can send with or with out the invoices(to hide prices etc)

and they say it is fully trackable(scanned) and insured.

any advice would be great!

Hintza

Your reputation and feedback in the hands of a wholesaler!? I don't think I would go down that route. The other thing is I think you are meant to have the goods in your possesion for selling on EBay.

The question at the end of the day is how well do know and understand your wholesaler, what happens when he runs out of stock and doesn't tell you. Where are you in the pecking order for order fulfillment?

Think it through but be prepared.

frivolous_fay

Dropshipping is acceptable, but you have to declare it upfront.

manhattan

ok thanks everyone.
i have used these wholesalers for a while and all orders have arrived to me nextday.

so if they delivered straight to the ebay buyer then,it would also be next day.

the item i am selling,is not a high volume selling item and i ony expect to sell around 1 or 2 a week,but the profit margin is good.
i will contact them and see how many they normally carry in stock,and play it safe.

i will also mention that i will be dropshipping on the auction.

manhattan

sorry when i mean wholesaler i mean a trade account, probably the same thing though?

Hintza

If your happy with them then give it a try. I would try and get a contact that you can chat to so that at least your not just a number.

Things go wrong at times and it is much easier to deal with if you can keep all parties informed and updated without sounding clueless..:)


Good luck

manhattan

thanks hintza.

i do phone my orders through,i think it is better to talk to someone than just place orders online.

martindow

If they are reliably selling at one or two a week might it not make sense to hold them in stock yourself? You may well be able to post them individually for less than the wholesaler is charging you for drop shipping. If these savings more than paid for the cost of the supplier sending you a boxful it could be worth considering.

manhattan

i did think of that martindow,

i am just testing the water at the minute,i have only just listed and sold my first one a few days after listing.

so if all goes ok i may actually hold some stock.

it would cost me £10 for the wholesaler to ship straight to the buyer,and it costs £6-50 to deliver to me even bulk orders count as £6-50,then i have to ship onto the seller.

Hintza

So each unit will cost £10 to ship to buyer (so 5 units = £50)

You buy 5 units and shipping to you is £6.50 in total.

Therfore assuming you charge lets say £12 to ship to your customer and you have to use a courier (my courier APC Overnight costs £8.81) Then you receive £60 less £44.05 less cost of carriage to you of £6.50. Total cost £50.55.

This then leaves you a small profit to cover packaging etc. But the main thing is you are in control. I buy from my suppliers on a daily basis so I am only having to fund a small amount of stock.

if I were you I would consider this as a serious option.