SCAM alert - Sellers posting Kmart items at inflated prices

[fcosenti]

People,

I got scammed - I purchased a hallway table with free delivery for $65. Yesterday I received a parcel FROM  KMART directly, it was this table. I go and check the Kmart website - the item is for sale online for $30.

This is it: http://www.kmart.com.au/product/black-hallway-table/124214

The seller didn't even bother to have the goods delivered to himself and then to me - shameless scammer.

Since the overall damage is just $25 (Kmart delivery fee is $10), I reported the seller to eBay and I left negative feedback.

While for electronics it is easier to check pricing online, for furniture it is much more complex.

Note that a lot of people are selling the exact same item for hugely inflated prices ($65 was the cheapest on eBay when I bought it). I am sure they are playing the same game with a lot of other stuff.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

I dislike that eBay, for all intents and purposes, now allow buyer’s remorse on all sales.

[jun_watarase]

There are plenty of legitimate reasons for ebay to not allow sellers to sell items they do not actually own. Infact, its actually pretty common practice to not allow it on similar sites, because it leads to massive problems.

Heres a common scenario : Lets say i am selling an item i do not own. My plan is to purchase and send the item from elsewhere afterwards. I dont actually own the item, nor do i have any agreement with the supplier for them to provide the item.

Something goes wrong...maybe the supplier (lets say kmart) was slow in shipping the item, ran out of stock, sent the wrong item, or any number of problems. Lets say kmart sent the wrong item.

Whats the buyer going to do? If they ordered from kmart directly, they could easily resolve it themselves. But heres the problem...technically, I ordered the item, not the buyer. Kmart probably isnt going to accept it if the buyer tries to do a refund or exchange.

The buyer could send it back to me and get me to fix it...but this is likely going to be at the buyer's expense for a problem not caused by him, and should be dealt with on my end. The buyer is almost guaranteed to contact ebay about this, which gives them more work to do.

At this point most sellers will probably think "i'm not going to pay to fix kmart's mistake" and demand that the buyer pay out of his own pocket to fix it by sending it back to them, knowing fully well that the buyer probably isnt going to do it, especially if the cost of sending the item back to them is almost the cost of buying another one from elsewhere.

Imagine being the ebay customer service rep who has to deal with this situation.

Drop shipping is fine when you have an actual drop shipper, because the seller will have an agreement with the supplier and policies in place for situations like this. If i use kmart like this, i have no special agreement with kmart, kmart is not going to give  a **bleep** if i get negative ebay feedback or whatever.

From ebay's perspective, if people start boycotting ebay because they bought items that fail to get delivered because the seller doesn't actually have the item, they lose money. Would you go to a restaurant if waiters were teling you "sorry we tried to source your food from elsewhere but they were out of stock" after making you wait an hour? Yea, thought so.

Try going to any traditional auction service and asking "hey, can i sell items that i do not actually have?" and see what kind of replies you get if you want to know why its not allowed.

[maranock]

Your concerns are valid but whether a seller buys it from China or Kmart it is still dropshipping, the definition is still the same. And your concerns still fall under consumer laws so it makes no real difference to the buyer, any business seller has to make the problem right., not pass it off to someone else.

Dropshipping is full of flaws but it is still an accepted and allowed method of doing business on Ebay and that is not going to change in the foreseeable future. There are procedures for buyers to follow on Ebay that help with these sorts of problems that can crop up.

[digital*ghost]

All of those things are ultimately the seller's responsibility - the seller makes the choice to dropship over holding their own stock, therefore they make the conscious decision to be held responsible / accountable when something goes wrong. The intircacies of the arrangement between seller and supplier are always irrelevant to the buyer, regardless of whether the seller is dropshipping or not.

It is problematic to compare completely different scenarios and draw comparisons as if a problem with one translates to a problem with another. Going to a restaurant isn't remotely comparable to purchasing on eBay - at best, you might compare dropshipping to using a service like Uber Eats. The buyer contracts a third party to go and get them X items from a retaurant's menu. If one of the items isn't available, Uber Eats has the responsbility of providing a remedy. 

Traditional auction houses don't own / hold any of the stock they sell, either, but they are typically used for liquidation or collectibles. It's not like there's never been a problem with an item post-sale via an auction house, it's more that the problems are usually of a different nature, and buyer has less recourse. 

In any case, this thread is no longer relevant - dropshipping is allowed on ebay, but not the whole K-Mart reselling thing - that was specifically made into a policy a couple of months ago. 

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

@Jessica

OMG I did not know that!

[lyndal1838]

None of the items are branded as K-Mart products....they are generic.

Unless the ebay items are delivered by K-Mart there is no way of knowing where the ebay sellers bought their items.  It could well be that they got them from the same distributor as K-Mart.

[maranock]

Although many people will see this as a rip off, there are those of us in small towns that don't have easy access to common items, even from Kmart, and we are happy to pay extra for the convenience of having them delivered, especially if we only get to a larger town with a Kmark only every few months.

You might be able to pop into the store and get them cheaper but some people cant - people in small towns, older and disabled people, elderly, those with agoraphobia etc.

[ausemark3t]

if you reverse the scenario and if the sellers price was lower than kmarts price my guess is you wouldnt be contacting them to pay them extra for it, whether there was kmart tape on the box or not.

so you feel fooled out of a few dollars, but this does not equate to fraud, scam or anything illegal business activity. i seriously doubt you lodged a case with accc. and if you did then they would have told you the facts. in laymans terms  - you are an adult. as an adult it is your responsibility to do your own research when planning to make a purchase. the seller didnt make any claim to have the best price in australia, and it is not the sellers responsibility to tell you where you can find it cheaper

nothing wrong with leaving negative feedback, it can only encourage the seller to adjust their business practices for the better. you can call them scammers, frauds whatever you want, as buyers are entitled to your opinion. but your opinion is emotional, not factual, and wouldnt stand a chance in court.

as goes the most famous saying in all business "Caveat emptor" i.e. "let the buyer beware"

[miamiamoo]

Yeah I agree its a major SCAM.

With tickets, at least there is a guideline you can not sell above original cost  and max mark up  of 10%for transaction cost. This would be higlhly illegal practice if they were selling tickets, why is it different for furniture. If the item is readily available in a store and youre not eh authorised dealer for them then this should be illegal. 

I would recommend contacting the ACCC to see what their official view is on it. 

[padi*0409]

If you'd read the whole thread you'd see that it's called "dropshipping" and there's nothing illegal about it, and it's certainly not a scam.