Seller hasn't got item

[richardg!]

When a seller sells an item. Does he have to have it. Like can I sell on ebay, a bar of soap lets say.. Then if I get a buyer. Go to the shop buy the soap. Put in the a box and post it? Is that allowed?

[kopenhagen5]

Some sellers do drop shipping. They get the supplier to send when ordered and don't carry stock.

Some sellers genuinely miscalculate and run out of stock.

A few get the idea to sell an item then when payment is received, go make the purchase. That in most cases is frowned upon.

However one is not to know if that happens.

If you are not happy with the seller terms, communicate it and perhaps ask for a cancellation if it stretches boundaries.

[richardg!]

"A few get the idea to sell an item then when payment is received, go make the purchase. That in most cases is frowned upon."

This is the message I got.

"How are you?
We got news from warehouse that the item you brought is current out of stock.
Really sorry for that!
New stock will arrive around 1 month later."

Is that frowned upon?

[digital*ghost]

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@richardg! wrote:

 Is that allowed?

---

In a nutshell, yes.

There are two primary circumstances in which a seller will list items for sale, without actually holding any stock of those items.

The first is, as kopes mentioned, dropshipping, where the buyer purchases from the seller, the seller purchases from the wholesaler, and the wholesaler ships directly to the buyer. The item location must not be misrepresented in these cases (that is, the seller may be located in Australia, but if their supplier is overseas, the item location should be listed as where the item ships from, not where the seller is).

The second is basically the scenario you have described, which is pre-orders. In this case, the seller lists an item, the buyer purchases, the seller sources the stock then packages and ships it themselves. Usually, when you think of "pre-order" you think of items that aren't yet available and it's a way to reserve one when they are available, but I know of a few businesses who operate some aspects of their sales this way (often it's because their supplier has a massive range, which they can't even hope to stock on a regular basis, and have minimum order amounts in place so they can't just get a few items here and there, so once they've gathered enough pre-orders, they'll purchase the goods and send them out to the buyers....but I digress). 

Both of these scenarios are in accordance with eBay policies, and indeed Australian consumer law (that is, a seller is not allowed to accept money for goods that they knowingly can not supply, which does not generally apply in the case of dropshipping and pre-orders). Pre-orders do have specific policies of course (buyers are meant to be advised the item is a pre-order, and there is a time limit within which the purchases must be shipped, but I suspect anyone who is purchasing and posting immediately may ignore those - not condoning that, of course, a pre-order is a pre-order whether it's shipped in 1 day or 3 weeks. 

[digital*ghost]

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@richardg! wrote:

This is the message I got.

"How are you?
We got news from warehouse that the item you brought is current out of stock.
Really sorry for that!
New stock will arrive around 1 month later."

Is that frowned upon?

---

Ok, that's a different kind of scenario, so ignore my previous post in this instance. 

Yes, this is definitely frowned upon. It happens, but sellers should be making every effort possible to avoid it, and also should be providing you with several options for how to proceed (eg wait for new stock, refund, other item of at least equal value, etc)

Personally, I'd request a refund. 

[richardg!]

Thanks. But is that reportable to ebay?
Or ebay don't care. Just get a refund.

[richardg!]

He's cancelled the order. And has given me a refund.

So I can't leave feedback. Saying he wasted my time. Didn't have the item to sell.

Not happy about that.

He sails of into the sunset to do it all again.

Seller 1 Buyer 0

[lyndal1838]

Why can't you leave feedback?

It is only when you get an Unpaid Item strike that feedback cannot be left by either party.

A cancellation leaves both parties able to leave feedback.

[digital*ghost]

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@richardg! wrote:

He's cancelled the order. And has given me a refund.

So I can't leave feedback. Saying he wasted my time. Didn't have the item to sell.

Not happy about that.

He sails of into the sunset to do it all again.

Seller 1 Buyer 0

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While you're on the community pages (where this forum is) click on the 'Feedback Forum' link (last one in the menu to the left). Cancelled items can disappear from purchase history, but they can be found under the items awaiting feedback there. 

In regards to whether this is reportable and/or whether ebay care... They care, but in their usual cursory and non-committal way. Technically, cancelling for out of stock should earn the seller something akin to a strike, but the seller is the one who chooses the reason for the cancellation so even when applicable, many won't select that one and give themselves the strike, as it were. 

You could try calling eBay, or requesting a callback if you feel really strongly about it - there's no official report process for this sort of thing really, and contacting them by phone is the only real way to get a response that isn't an automated template with [your name placed here] and lots of "don't worry, we'll act like we're going to help with this!" kind of stuff. 

[richardg!]

When I look in My Ebay. The purchase is gone. Can't find it.. Not there.