Why does ebay let sellers list items they don't even possess.

[bluebird250]

I wish ebay would have a policy to all sellers if they do not have the items in their possession to sell or the item cannot be sold within 7 days then it cannot be listed.  There are more sellers out their that put items on ebay and they are not even available from the manufacturer or distributor and are just hoping for a shipment.  At the least sellers should be made to advise potential customers that this is the current situation.  I am sick of purchasing items on ebay only to find out the seller doesn't even possess such item.

[papermoon.lady]

Check where a seller is registered. Quite often sellers registered in China or Hong Kong list items as located here because they have a friend or a warehouse here, but sometimes (or even often) the items first have to arrive from China or Hong Kong. Also check the feedback (which might reflect this problem).

[cezm]

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@bluebird250 wrote:

I wish ebay would have a policy to all sellers if they do not have the items in their possession to sell or the item cannot be sold within 7 days then it cannot be listed.  There are more sellers out their that put items on ebay and they are not even available from the manufacturer or distributor and are just hoping for a shipment.  At the least sellers should be made to advise potential customers that this is the current situation.  I am sick of purchasing items on ebay only to find out the seller doesn't even possess such item.

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Items for presale should be listed as such and posted within 20 days.

If they aren't, report them 

If they aren't available from the manufacturer, then you can't buy on ebay and expect them to arrive any sooner

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/policies/listing-policies/presale-listings-policy?id=4252

[lynsh84]

It is a lot harder to list pre-sale items now.....COVID is having as much affect on manufacturers/importers/etc as on everybody else.

They might have every intention of making items available for sale when the items just do not arrive in their warehouse when expected.  This of course impacts on when sellers can get the item to send to their customers.

Like it or not COVID is having quite a drastic effect on all parts of our lives and it is most unfair to blame any one group of people.

[springyzone]

I tend to agree.

There are some overseas sellers who may have warehouses here but in that case, I think they should only be listing the items already located here.

As for pre sales. Not sure they should even be allowed except by authorised companies. Ebay doesn't seem the right place for them.

[papermoon.lady]

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@springyzone wrote:

As for pre sales. Not sure they should even be allowed except by authorised companies. Ebay doesn't seem the right place for them.

I have never bought anything in a pre-sale on eBay, but I wonder how it works? I mean, how is it with the estimated delivery and buyer protection for example?

Edit - I have found this: https://www.ebay.com.au/help/policies/listing-policies/presale-listings-policy?id=4252

So I guess pre-sales have a limit of 20 days on eBay. In B&M shops sometimes you have to wait for months...

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[lynsh84]

Before COVID I bought from Presale listings on a regular basis....particularly DVDs.   There was never a problem.  The release date would be announced and ebay sellers would list with that date prominently displayed.   Very occasionally there would be a delay and I would be given a choice of waiting or receiving a refund.  I always waited and received my DVD promptly after the new release date.

I must admit though I was buying from very big ebay sellers.....not little sellers who were buying a few DVD from the big sellers.

I would not like to be relying on Presale delivery dates now.....nothing is surer than that the delivery services will let us down.  And not a thing the sellers can do except cop flack from unreasonable buyers who will not accept that COVID will impact their lives whether they like it or not.

[springyzone]

With the way delivery services are being impacted at the moment, it would be a risky move to list something you don't actually have.

The chances are it will run late arriving from the distributor.

Sellers at the moment need to at least have control over when something is being sent to a buyer and I can't see they properly have that with pre sales.

[digital*ghost]

"Why does ebay let sellers list items they don't even possess."

Because possession isn't the issue - supply is. eBay accomodates / approves of presales, dropshipping and just in time fulfilment, all of which are variations of the same thing, a seller listing and selling things they do not possess themselves, but can ultimately deliver to a buyer (ideally, anyway). The only thing eBay cares about is the item is supplied in the timeframe the seller provides to the buyer. If they do not, there are actually consequences (late shipment defects, out of stock defects, multiple INR cases when delivery ETAs come and go, neg FB from dissatisfied buyers, and so on). 

It has always been a breach of policy to knowingly list items for sale that a seller can not supply, hence why it results in a damaging account defect if a seller cancels an item due to being "out of stock". But, that's about as far as eBay will currently police it. They want the sales - the tears and recriminations when some of them fall apart, that will only matter to them if / when it significantly affects that first thing (sales).

[countessalmirena]

digital*ghost, your clarity is enviable.

I'm here to support your post with a banana comparison.

The seller may have no bananas today, but they can list bananas as long as they can get bananas to the buyer within the allowable timeframe.

The seller will be penalised if they cancel the sale by saying "We no gotta de bananas", or the bananas never turn up at all, or if the seller provides salami or beans instead of bananas. The seller will not be penalised if he's got no bananas at the time of the sale but he gets those bananas via a banana boat from a neighbouring island where the banana tree is heavy with beautiful yellow bendy fruit, and supplies them to the buyer.

No, now I'm losing the beautiful simplicity of the idea. Let me rephrase - or rather, let someone else rephrase: