Ethical business?

[Ollie_P]

If I put an item,say a DVD, on e-bay at a Buy-it-Now price of �22.99 with free P&P, waited for someone to buy it & then used their name & address to order the item (which costs �17.99 with free P&P from play.com) OR put it on e-bay at �17.99 and charge �5 P&P, is that etically/morally right?

[Slingshot]

It's not morally or ethically correct but is it likely to happen? I shop on ebay for bargains and doubt that I would buy a DVD at that price. You can charge what you want but how many really stupid people are there on ebay. The list of items unsold by business and individuals is enormous. It does cost you to list and sell. You wouldn't want to get a bad reputation.

[Ollie_P]

It happens already & it is easy to do. I was just asking if it was ethical.

[CheekyChops]

I don't think it is ethical either.

Surely when the buyer received it, they would see that it was in Play.com packaging (or whatever) and realise what you have done and therefore give negative feedback?

[Ethel]

It's called dropshipping and is incredibly common.

You are supposed to say on the listing that the goods will be coming direct from supplier.

The problem is - the buyer pays by PayPal. Claims dvd never arrived and YOU have to prove to PayPal that the customer did receive it by providing the tracking number.

If you can't provide that information, the refund is automatic.

But people do it all the time.

[Ethel]

Oh - what I find really unethical are the people selling gmail invites, especially now you don't need an invite to open a gmail account.

But people are STILL buying.

Two years ago I ordered a box site of videos online from Woolworths. An old television series. No where else was selling it. I paid �18 including postage.

I went on to sell these boxed sets for well over �50 - one set went for over �80 just before the Christmas. I had them delivered to me before I listed though - one set at a time.

[spudmuffa]

It is not wrong what you are doing. The problems arise when things don't show up, or they receive faulty goods. I sell books and I am only happy when I have the book in my hands, and checked it over personally, before I stick it on e-bay..
If it gets sold then I get a proof of postage receipt which I keep. Even after all of this, you can still get problems.
Whoever you supplier is, can you talk to him about a discount for a bulk buy? This again would save on postage to yourself. Its a matter of choice. Hope this helps.

[dzug]

I really can't see it's unethical. The point of trading is that you sell something for more than you bought it for - so what's different here?

You know how to buy something more cheaply than your customer - what's wrong with that - using your knowledge to make a trade that's advantageeous to you both.

[Ollie_P]

Ta for all responses. So it can be/is done. My ethical concern is wether you should sell something you don't/never own?

[Ethel]

Buy any large goods from any shop where you have to wait up to 28 days for delivery - they never order the item until it has been bought. They just buy display models.

Common practice.

[MAD BUTCHER]

So in Mad Ethel`s world an item of "Large Goods" is the same as a CD.

Selling on eBay in this fashion is neither ethical nor honest. Getting peoples money on the pretext of delivering goods in a reasonable time is just crooked and you should be banned from eBay. Obviously you do not let interested people know that you do not have goods ready to send nor even ready access to them to send off yourself. I do well understand the concept of dropshipping but there is no way I would use it in my business.

After selling lingerie by mail-order for fifteen years, I have recently started using eBay and was rather surprised at the feedback comments praising the quick delivery. After reading this question and some of the answers, I now see why.

[Ollie_P]

I must point out that I don't do this. The reason for my question is I bid on (what I though was a good deal) a 3 DVD box set for �17.99 with �5.50 p&p. Seemed reasonable. Goods arrived in 3 days in a play.com envelope & with the invoice showing the price �17.99 with free p&p. I left neutral feedback & they left neutral for me. I went back over this persons feedback & they've been doing this for 4 years, Unfortunately they have a feedback rating approx 12,000, and mines just over 30. I think the majority agree it's neither ethical correct or honest. Ta!