Reselling Amazon items directly on ebay - is it legal?

soolin

Strapped wrote: »

It's not unknown for eBay sellers to dropship from other eBay sellers when short of stock

And on Amazon it is positively encouraged. Try asking on the Amazon seller boards what to do if you've lost your book or your stock has mysteriously disappeared and you'll get three dozen people all telling you to source it from another seller ASAP and have it drop shipped.

porto_bello

Whether it's within the letter or spirit of the rules or not, if I had ordered an item from an ebay seller because it was urgent and out of stock on Amazon, then I had been given the runaround by an ebay seller ... only to be sent something from Amazon, once it reappeared at a drastically cheaper price, ... I think I'd be a bit miffed too.

Rather than send the item back, I would have asked the seller to refund the difference in price, brought about by they're selling an item that they didn't have in stock. If they refused, I certainly don't think I'd have been overly generous with feedback and DSRs!

RFW

Just to add an extra point, it could be possible that the seller dispatches their own goods via Amazon, so they may not have done anything at all wrong (if you consider it wrong in the first place).

I can't see any possible way that this could be a criminal act ('illegal').

It actually happened to me in reverse, I bought an item on Ebay and it was shipped from Waterstone's and had actually cost the seller more than I paid for it.

terra_ferma

I wouldn't be too impressed either, particularly if they send something that was out of stock when you tried to purchase it (otherwise I would say it is my fault, I should have checked it).
If they drop-ship from amazon it means that they are selling items that they don't have in stock, which seems to me would be breaching ebay policy.

I would neg. If you get a few people saying that on their fb, it will spoil their strategy and would-be-buyers will know to check on amazon first.

On the other hand if someone buys from amazon and resells, that's fine by me, as long as they only sell stock that they have.
The way I see is that as a buyer I can't keep up with all the sales, special offers, discount vouchers going on, so in a way an ebay buyer does it for me, for a charge.
There are a lot (and I mean A LOT) of sellers who buy cheaply from a generally available source, for example on sale, and can sell and make a profit on ebay while the items are still available at a lower price.
I think people see ebay as a one-stop-shop where you find everything you need without having to go through lots of different websites.

botanical

terra_ferma wrote: »

I wouldn't be too impressed either, particularly if they send something that was out of stock when you tried to purchase it (otherwise I would say it is my fault, I should have checked it).
If they drop-ship from amazon it means that they are selling items that they don't have in stock, which seems to me would be breaching ebay policy.

I would neg. If you get a few people saying that on their fb, it will spoil their strategy and would-be-buyers will know to check on amazon first.

On the other hand if someone buys from amazon and resells, that's fine by me, as long as they only sell stock that they have.
The way I see is that as a buyer I can't keep up with all the sales, special offers, discount vouchers going on, so in a way an ebay buyer does it for me, for a charge.
There are a lot (and I mean A LOT) of sellers who buy cheaply from a generally available source, for example on sale, and can sell and make a profit on ebay while the items are still available at a lower price.
I think people see ebay as a one-stop-shop where you find everything you need without having to go through lots of different websites.

I'm sorry, I cannot agree that a neg as a warning in this case would be fair at all. After all, the Amazon issue and the OP's annoyance has nothing to do with the eBay transaction which is what feedback is for.

bris

DiploRed wrote: »

When I asked the seller where it was, he said he'd arrange me another one and that it would be with me the next day.

And yes indeed, the DVD did turn up the next day. The seller had simply ordered it from Amazon for me as a 'gift', using a Prime account to get the next-day delivery!

There may be another way to look at this. The seller gets a complaint saying the item hasn't shown up as promised. Not wanting to let his customer down he assumes the first one is lost and then goes out his way to find a replacement to avoid dissapointing a customer. he then gets it delivered from amazon next day as promised.
This could be classed a excellent service by the seller.
I suppose we will never really know but the bottom line is the seller has done nothing wrong.

pinkshoes

OP, what postage time was advertised on the ebay listing? If they didn't meet this, and were obviously waiting for the item to come in stock on Amazon, then leave a neg warning others, as you were paying a premium to buy something you couldn't get elsewhere.

If it arrived in the time frame advertised, then it's up to the seller where they source the item from, so nothing illegal!

botanical

a neg for an item being late? That's a bit harsh. And using a neg to warn others about a sale that is perfectly legal is inappropriate, I feel.
You're assuming the OP 'paid a premium etc' and 'were obviously waiting etc', but you don't actually know. bris is correct that there may be more than one way to look at the sale.

annie-c

A neg is the buyer's opinion, so harsh or not it is fair game and within the rules for the OP to say whatever they want, within ebay's feedback guidelines.

If this were my purchase I'd feel annoyed mainly if the item arrived outside the specified timeframe and too late for the birthday and I'd hit the DSRs accordingly. I don't think it is remotely illegal though, just plain annoying!

I'm also not entirely sure from the OP that it did arrive too late for the birthday? If the Prime service got it there in time then I'd let the matter go, even if I had paid over the odds as the 'premium' I paid had got me the end result I needed.

RussJK

Just take it as a lesson - every day I see people bid for items well over what it would cost new/used elsewhere.

Look around, and save some money by bidding within what you could get elsewhere.