DropShipping: What's Wrong With It??

oatmeal

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Not all sites permit/allow dropshipping and some do.
If a site doesn't permit dropshipping, then I have no problem as it's their policy and they have
the right to make up whatever policy they want.

I recently found a site I thought I could use for my dropshipping on ebay. I only made 2 orders with that company and the first order was successfully delivered to the customer. The 2nd order, however, was sent to the wrong address. It was sent to the address of the first order I made, so that customer received another item. I contacted the customer on how to return the item back to the shipper, but apparently he had called the company to tell them that I was dropshipping. The company told me that and said that they do not allow dropshipping so they temporarily banned me from buying or making any orders there. I only made 2 and they didn't even give me a warning. It's not a big issue to me as it was just a new site I was trying out to see if I could add it to my list of dropshipping suppliers. I was just surprised about two things:

1) the customer seemed to treat dropshipping as if it's a bad thing. Why? He bought a product off me which he saw and liked on ebay at a price he was willing to pay (which is why he bought it). But so what if he finds out that I got the item for cheaper and he paid my marked up price? How's that any different from customers going to Target or some store and buying something there. Don't they know that any retailer they shop at are getting the items for cheaper than they are paying? It's as if though it's WRONG that the sellers gets items for cheaper price than the customer paid for. That's like 99% of all retail! That's how it works?

2) I asked the company, "so are you saying that I can't buy and send a gift to a friend? That would be dropshipping since it's being shipped out to a different address than my own. What if a company wants to giveaway prizes for a promotion and decides to order 50 different items and has it sent out to 50 different addresses? Is that considered dropshipping? Basically, I told them that it's subjective as there is no way anyone can prove someone is dropshipping just because they are buying stuff and having it sent out to different addresses. What if I just have a lot of friends?

So I'm not sure why some people/companies view negatively on dropshipping? Once the item is paid for, what business is it where it's going?

Retailers by cheap from wholesalers or manufacturers and have it delivered to them. Then they mark up the prices and sell it to customers. How is that any different? The bottomline is, as a customer, whatever it is you are buying, you are almost ALWAYS paying more than what the seller bought it for. We've all done it. Why though do people get alarmed or surprised if they find out it was dropshipped? I think they are just upset because they now know they could have just got it themselves for a cheaper price. But that's no different in everything. Whatever you buy, there's probably another retailer/seller who always sells it for cheaper, but you can't find all the cheapest deals. You shop to the best that you can and buy from the best option you found. Afterwards, if you find out it was cheaper somewhere else, you can't be mad at the seller and accuse them scamming you.
 
I guess most customers will not be happy about a purchase once they discover that the seller is a "middleman" and that they could have bought the item for a cheaper price, even though you save them the trouble of spending too much time looking for it.
 
Just use distributors that do support dropshipping

You'll get a better service + they allow it + better prices + its not a problem to return an item
 
1) people don't like feeling tricked. if he sees that you just forwarded his order to another store and pocketed the markup he'll feel cheated, even though a moment ago he was perfectly satisfied

2) dropshipping is done to your customers, the scenarios you described are gifts not purchases

3) retailers buy in bulk to lower price and also handle the entire shopping experience of creating a store, website, handling customer service, etc. that's what you're paying extra for
 
IMO they feel cheated because of how close they are to get the item ordered for a cheaper price which is only by using another website it's different from real life we don't buy our clothes from wholesalers.
 
what?? companies lay it out in black and white with an agreement. sounds like you started 3 party ordering lol. always make sure there is an agreement.
 
the sellers gets items for cheaper price than the customer paid for. That's like 99% of all retail! That's how it works?

Well, not 99%, but 100%, but ebay is a big plateform, with manystupid buyer..

Some companies don't want to deal with droppshipers because they care about their reputation. Imagine you own a compagny, and offer a great customer service. then you sell to a dropshipper who has awful customer service .. the buyer will comment on internet that the first compagny has a poor customer service even if it's false
 
Best to find distributors who dont send invoices with orders - but you have to remember it is not like before back in the days where anything you list on ebay/amazon would sell straight away there were many buyers not enough sellers, in the last few years there are many more sellers - the chinese sell on ebay and amazon now too

Therefore there is no need to dropship anymore, only way to make money now is hard volume which is hard to manage dropshipping, low margins again hard to dropship or niche products - easier to bring in and stock yourself
 
Why is something shitty always happening to you OP? Are you Charlie Brown?
 
The company told me that and said that they do not allow dropshipping so they temporarily banned me from buying or making any orders there. I only made 2 and they didn't even give me a warning. It's not a big issue to me as it was just a new site I was trying out to see if I could add it to my list of dropshipping suppliers.

So don't use them to dropship. duh...

1) the customer seemed to treat dropshipping as if it's a bad thing. Why?

Because dumbasses who I don't even allow to dropship dropships then complains about it at BHW.

Don't they know that any retailer they shop at are getting the items for cheaper than they are paying? It's as if though it's WRONG that the sellers gets items for cheaper price than the customer paid for. That's like 99% of all retail! That's how it works?

FALSE. Target will buy mass quantities, inventory the product at their cost, and provide customer service with their employees and returns at their location. You are not providing an equivalent service.

Basically, I told them that it's subjective as there is no way anyone can prove someone is dropshipping just because they are buying stuff and having it sent out to different addresses. What if I just have a lot of friends?

This is the point at which the store reads you the trespass act and have the security escort you off the store. Why are you trying to argue with store policy? Do you really think they'll change their policies because you can't complain that you can't make money dropshipping their products when dropshipping is against store policy?

So I'm not sure why some people/companies view negatively on dropshipping? Once the item is paid for, what business is it where it's going?

Because not all sale is the same for the store. If the store is selling items at cost as a doorbuster to draw in shoppers, I don't want a bunch of drop shippers buying them up so they can resell it on ebay, rather than end users who are going to buy other stuff. From the store's point of view, the drop shippers who buy up all the items on sale and buy nothing else are parasites who don't make any money for the store.

Retailers by cheap from wholesalers or manufacturers and have it delivered to them. Then they mark up the prices and sell it to customers. How is that any different?

No one owes you anything. The stores don't have to act as your dropship depot if they don't feel like it.
 
Why is something shitty always happening to you OP? Are you Charlie Brown?

Haha! So true! It does doesn't it? I think it's just that I'm really good at finding the problems with things (which can be both a good and bad thing lol). I have very keen senses and I can tell when something shitty is going on and that's why I have to point it out. 90% of other people would probably not notice and never say a thing.
 
So don't use them to dropship. duh...



Because dumbasses who I don't even allow to dropship dropships then complains about it at BHW.



FALSE. Target will buy mass quantities, inventory the product at their cost, and provide customer service with their employees and returns at their location. You are not providing an equivalent service.



This is the point at which the store reads you the trespass act and have the security escort you off the store. Why are you trying to argue with store policy? Do you really think they'll change their policies because you can't complain that you can't make money dropshipping their products when dropshipping is against store policy?



Because not all sale is the same for the store. If the store is selling items at cost as a doorbuster to draw in shoppers, I don't want a bunch of drop shippers buying them up so they can resell it on ebay, rather than end users who are going to buy other stuff. From the store's point of view, the drop shippers who buy up all the items on sale and buy nothing else are parasites who don't make any money for the store.



No one owes you anything. The stores don't have to act as your dropship depot if they don't feel like it.



Not sure why you are in such a bad mood Tom? I've noticed in all your answers, you always speak condescendingly as if you think you are the be all and know it all of all things ebay/paypal and commerce.

You know that sometimes, people are just sharing their experiences and expressing their opinions?

As I wrote, I don't have a problem with companies that don't allow dropshipping. I said that if it's in their policy, I will abide by it and move along. I'm not trying to argue why companies don't allow dropshipping. I was expressing how I don't really see why people would get so mad knowing that someone was a dropshipper when basically as a customer, if you buy ANYTHING anywhere, whoever you are buying it from got it for a lower price than you and we don't get upset do we?

As most replies mentioned, and I agree, it seems the main reason why they would be upset is because they could have easily just bought it themselves for cheaper (if they had known about the site where they could just shop on their own).

But if you think about that principle, that's not really WRONG. That happens in everyday life in commerce. People basically can't know every store, every source, every seller, every dealer, and every sale that is going on. They will always end up paying more than some other place they COULD HAVE gone to. It's LIFE. It's just about knowing or not knowing where to get things.

If I know something that you don't know, why would it be wrong for me to mark it up a bit and sell it to you at a higher price? Once you know where to get it for cheap, too, then u can just go there yourself and buy it. I don't see how that is any different.

As for the others, yes I agree. There will be some shitty customers no matter what and they will unreasonable whether it be shipping time, quality of the product, results of the product, etc.
 
Just as an additional note, everything I post, my threads, are not meant to brag or attack anyone personally. I don't call anyone names, I don't give anyone attitude. I'm simply here to learn and offer my experiences to others as learning tools, too. Something shitty that I go through, may end up helping someone else down the road that ends up going through it too. It's all about learning and learning from others. I'm not interested in using forums to verbally abuse people who are stupid and then feel good about it because I owned them. I'm simply here to share, learn, ask, answer, and hopefully it helps people who might be searching for the same answers as me.
 
Not sure why you are in such a bad mood Tom?

it probably seems like it to you because most of your posts are "woe is me, why are the rules against me" type of rants

I've noticed in all your answers, you always speak condescendingly as if you think you are the be all and know it all of all things ebay/paypal and commerce.

I stand by the fact that I am right a lot more than I am wrong.

I don't have a problem with companies that don't allow dropshipping. I said that if it's in their policy, I will abide by it and move along.

If you moved along and didn't complain about it here, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

I was expressing how I don't really see why people would get so mad knowing that someone was a dropshipper when basically as a customer, if you buy ANYTHING anywhere, whoever you are buying it from got it for a lower price than you and we don't get upset do we?

Why do you spend time worrying about it? Just accept it and move along, like you said above. Like if you're walking and you see a pile of shit on the street; you just move around it and go do whatever you were going to do. You don't stand there and say "Oh, pile of shit. Why are you here and why do you smell so bad?"
 
Sorry Tom, you are wrong.

If you read the original post carefully, you'll see that I wasn't arguing about why companies don't allow dropshipping.
I clearly stated that if it's within their policies, I'm fine with it. It's just the first time, I didn't know and it's all about learning.

My main point was why buyers would react negatively when finding out they bought from a dropshipper.

It's an open ended question that has no conclusive answers. It's highly subjective, so please don't speak as if your
words are the be all and end all of all things while the rest of us are just stupid.

Lastly, I appreciate when you make helpful suggestions as you do have a lot of experience, but I don't understand why
you feel the need to take out all your frustrations on someone just asking questions that benefits everyone here.
If you think that all I do is just "woe is me" (which you are wrong again), then please don't even bother to follow my threads and
post on them? Clearly if you have no respect for me, then please just move along, ignore my threads about sharing my learning
experiences. Other people find it helpful to discuss and share ideas without being judgmental and condescending.

I don't know, maybe some days you're just having a bad day. But anyways, I'm willing to reply if your posts are reasonable
and helpful. If they are not, I'll probably just ignore reading whatever you write. I don't need argue with you. I'm here to learn,
help, and discuss with other fellow people in the same situation as me. I'm not here to defend my actions to you. Cheers.
 
My main point was why buyers would react negatively when finding out they bought from a dropshipper.

And I told you why. People feel that if they buy from a store, they feel that the store adds value by providing inventory, customer service, etc. If you engage in arbitrage, a customer feels that you aren't really adding anything.

I don't understand why
you feel the need to take out all your frustrations on someone just asking questions that benefits everyone here.

Why would I take out my frustrations on you? I don't know you from Adam. And this is not just you specifically, but a lot of questions asked here is of no benefit since worrying about it does not affect your results. You seem to not be getting that.

If you think that all I do is just "woe is me" (which you are wrong again),

You make a whole lot of "Situation is X, why can't it be Y" type of comments on stuff that every seller on eBay deals with on day to day basis and usually there's a good reason why Situation is X rather than Y. Just roll with it dude. Don't worry about why it's X. Just deal with consequences of X like every successful seller does.

please don't even bother to follow my threads and
post on them? Clearly if you have no respect for me, then please just move along, ignore my threads about sharing my learning experiences. Other people find it helpful to discuss and share ideas without being judgmental and condescending.

This is a public forum and you are welcome to not reply to what I say and you're also welcome to ask the moderator to remove my comments if you feel they are offensive.
 
Unfortunately many people don't understand what drop shipping is and they feel scammed. All e-commerce is the same, buy low and sell high.
 
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