Online arbitrage and ebay
Hi
I am a new seller, I have two questions
1. is it legal to do Online Arbitrage with FBA?
2. can I source products from eBay and sell them on Amazon as FBA?
I am sorry to ask these questions if this violates the rule of this forum.
your help will be highly appreciated.
thank you in advance.
Online arbitrage and ebay
Hi
I am a new seller, I have two questions
1. is it legal to do Online Arbitrage with FBA?
2. can I source products from eBay and sell them on Amazon as FBA?
I am sorry to ask these questions if this violates the rule of this forum.
your help will be highly appreciated.
thank you in advance.
9 respuestas
Seller_f4a7xAPCCSMqD
Check out this seller university video.
Seller_nRFmxiQg4EGrw
Regardless of the rules involved, be sure that you understand what FBA is, and the limitations of it.
With FBA, you have an item in your possession, package it, and send it to Amazon for them to then handle the rest of the transaction with the customer. One downside that is rarely mentioned, but applies very strongly to any sort of arbitrage play, is that there can be a considerable time lag between when you ship an item to Amazon, and when it becomes available to be sold; during busy times, this can easily be 3-5 weeks. If it's something that has become available on ebay at a lower price, there is a good chance that the price on Amazon will drop by the time your items are ready to sell.
Seller_kIukTwdhvntAp
You need to spend the next six weeks studying Seller U which you have obviously NOT done so far.
As to question #1, being 'legal' has NOTHING to do with FBA. It will get you permanently removed from selling on Amazon. RA is not permitted on here OR on eBay any longer.
As to #2, you can IF you don't mind being permanently suspended.
You get ONE CHANCE at an Amazon account don't blow it by following all the CR#$ you saw on TikTok and YouTube.
Here is my ROOKIE LECTURE. Read it before you are history on here.
You really need to go study Seller U instead of TikTok and YouTube before your account gets kicked to the curb permanently.
Since you don't appear to have done that PLEASE pay attention to the following:
The first question is -- Are you authorized IN WRITING by the BRAND to sell their items on Amazon? That means from the BRAND, not some random wholesale source that can NOT authorize anything – they only SELL.
More and more brands have provided a "whitelist" of their approved sellers and if YOU are NOT on the list you will be stopped in your tracks and probably hit with an IP violation.
The second (and probably more important) question is -- Where are you sourcing your products? Are you buying direct from the brand or through an AUTHORIZED wholesale source?
There are a LOT of FAKE wholesalers out there ranging from places like Sam's Club, Costco, BJs Wholesale and others to all those Gray market providers touted on TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and other places. AND there are places like Ali#$#$ that sell counterfeits and knockoffs.
Any of the guys mentioned have resulted in so many account suspensions that it is impossible to count the number.
When Amazon says in Seller U to use an Authorized Reseller they mean an AUTHORIZED (by the BRAND) Wholesale Distributor – NOT some random wholesale distributor that has “thousands of brands” in stock but is NOT authorized by the brand.
Here is an Amazon MOD response to another post with similar issues. I share this because a FEW people don’t believe in needing permission to sell from the BRAND.
“Hello @Photo1,
My name is Dougal from the Community Manager Team. This can be a difficult topic to navigate so I appreciate you posting here in case others have the same or a similar question.
Thanks to @NEVERLAST and @Brigittefor providing assistance and I don't have much more to add other than restating that you need the Brand Owner's approval to sell their brand. I also want to provide you the help page on why a letter of authorization is needed and what should be included in it: Letter of Authorization.
Hope this helps and please let us know if you have any other questions.
Best,
Dougal”
NOTE -- I AM NOT DOUGAL. I am quoting what he responded to on a different post regarding the same type issue.
Seller_nRFmxiQg4EGrw
Not true. RA itself is not forbidden. However, many, if not most, of the items that you may run across that are worthwhile are gated, and may cause problems.
Doing RA is much like taking a shortcut across a mine-field. If you REALLY know what you are doing, you can come out ahead (sometimes significantly). But if you DON'T, then you are risking everything.
Like walking across a minefield, RA is not itself forbidden; but the risk is high. Personally, it's not a risk I'm willing to take (ignoring the fact that my margins are far higher than you can get with RA).
Dominic_Amazon
Hi @Seller_DeWRDiTN9jeJu,
We just published an article that may provide some info around this issue: Amazon drop shipping policies The dos and don’ts you need to know.
@Seller_kIukTwdhvntAp is correct
Best,
Dominic
