Amazon sellers 'out of stock' and not telling buyers

soolin

I'm having a bad time trying to buy garden/household items on Amazon marketplace at the moment.

At the end of March I bought 4 items all from different marketplace sellers all with fair feedback and sat back and waited for delivery- and nothing ever arrived.

Fearing a courier or Royal mail meltdown I have contacted all the sellers and it appears that two had no stock and have refunded me, one claims it was sent but is obviously lost and is now out of stock so is refunding me tomorrow and the fourth has yet to reply.

I'm rather cross that I didn't contact them after a few days rather than wait two+ weeks to find they re not going to deliver, but realised claiming 4 lots of non receipt would make me an obvious scammer according to many sellers on here. The three that are being refunded are still selling the same product with nothing to say they are out of stock.

I don't usually have half these problems on Amazon, so have just re ordered similar products and paid a pound or two more to buy direct from Amazon instead.

sgh1976

Smells like you have ran into a bunch of Dropshippers who haven't kept "their" stocks updated or you killed a black cat by smashing a mirror over its head as you walked under a ladder.

soolin

sgh1976 wrote: »

Smells like you have ran into a bunch of Dropshippers who haven't kept "their" stocks updated or you killed a black cat by smashing a mirror over its head as you walked under a ladder.

Two have admitted drop shipping and the reason they give for not refunding me as soon as I ordered was that their drop shipper doesn't tell them if an item hasn't been shipped so they have to wait until the buyer claims non receipt. I've never used a drop shipper, is this how it actually works- sellers have no idea whether goods are shipped or not? That's an awful risk to take as a seller isn't it?

I've now reordered the first three tiems (plus extra bits and pieces that took my fancy) so we'll see how this lot get on. If any of this doesn't arrive I'll start looking for broken mirrors.

EDIT: Just remembered, I bought an item from an Ebay DOTD at beginning of April and I'm getting a refund for that as well at some point in a week or so (that's what seller has told me) as they are out of stock.

It's me isn't it

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Welcome to world of dirt cheap prices leaving massive companies who can afford to hold stock and those who don't hold much/any stock, either ordering from suppliers as the customer orders or drop-shipping. It's mainly been created by consumers picking the cheapest price and retaining no brand loyalty, the cost of holding stock can be astronomical.

There are of course traditional independent companies out there holding stock but I bet most pad out their inventory with stock they don't hold.

The other factor is you now have many people looking to earn a bit of extra money selling online and dropshipping appears to be easy money.

sgh1976

soolin wrote: »

Two have admitted drop shipping and the reason they give for not refunding me as soon as I ordered was that their drop shipper doesn't tell them if an item hasn't been shipped so they have to wait until the buyer claims non receipt. I've never used a drop shipper, is this how it actually works- sellers have no idea whether goods are shipped or not? That's an awful risk to take as a seller isn't it?

Depends on the Dropshipping company.

I started out doing this and the company I used were excellent. You knew exactly what was in stock, how many etc and as soon as the stock ended. You knew if they had been shipped.

It made the whole process easy to manage and allowed me to then take the next steps to relying on myself

If these people are selling utterly blind then they deserve everything that comes there way from annoyed customers

buglawton

Amazon has been like this for years, ever since they started allowing 3rd party sellers.

I had 2 cases where the seller only finally reacted after I started the formal refund process. Funny, that.

For an identical item, I always check Ebay first and am even willing to pay a few % more for that item via Ebay, as Ebay sellers are actually sensitive to their feedback!

Having said all that, I did make some purchases lately via Amazon partners and they went OK-ish. Check the seller general feedback carefully before you decide, and always use Amazon direct if available even if a little bit more expensive, especially for expensive/techy items.

bylromarha

Since I found out about the high level of people who sell dropship items, all my ebay listings state "In stock and ready to dispatch" - with a photo of the item next to it.

soolin

bylromarha wrote: »

Since I found out about the high level of people who sell dropship items, all my ebay listings state "In stock and ready to dispatch" - with a photo of the item next to it.

I rarely ever have any terms or conditions on my auctions but like you I have added a single line saying 'UK seller with stock in hand- see photo' or similar to one of my lines as my main competitors are all drop shipping. It means that firstly when people look for the widget my photos are different in the gallery pic which makes me stand out for a start. I am also the only TRS seller with this line, which also helps.

I outsell the others despite them undercutting me most of the time.

Kite2010

I dislike it when you just get an email from Amazon saying "your marketplace order has been cancelled" and the seller has just put for the reason "-". If the seller can't be bothered telling me the reason they cancelled the order than it's an automatic 1 star. A bit harsh but a little reason goes a long way, not just "-"

soolin

An update on this. I'm still waiting for my refund from the eBay mega seller, when they said it would take a week or so to action I thought they were joking-obviously not. I'm debating opening a PayPal claim just to try and force their hand, but I'll probably chicken out and just wait until they get round to it.

One Amazon seller has refunded me, one has confirmed they shipped later than stated so my item is not due until next week now. One Amazon seller though (a big business) is refusing to refund as they say basically than 2 weeks or so for Royal Mail is not unreasonable and they don't care if the Amazon estimate has long gone. I thought it amusing that I have already started getting the Amazon 'please leave you seller feedback' emails . I am tempted to open an A-Z

Stewartie82

sgh1976 wrote: »

Depends on the Dropshipping company.

I started out doing this and the company I used were excellent. You knew exactly what was in stock, how many etc and as soon as the stock ended. You knew if they had been shipped.

It made the whole process easy to manage and allowed me to then take the next steps to relying on myself

If these people are selling utterly blind then they deserve everything that comes there way from annoyed customers

Hi Im knew here (as a participant in forms). Im am currently trying to source a Good Dropshipping Company, & as you said in your post that you had managed to achieve this :j,,, I wonder if you could possibly supply me with the name/details of the dropshipping company which you used??? Also which country they are based, any joining fee, minimum orders, etc???

Look forward to hearing back from you. :beer: