eBay/Amazon Arbitrage

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At least, I think this it is arbitrage between eBay and Amazon, but wondered if the online guys here could confirm?

There is an eBay seller local to me, I noticed them as they keep popping up on local searches. He/she has 23,000 listings, operates from a residential address, is a sole trader, and uses a free gmail address. They get around 3,000 feedback per year, so I assume somewhere between 15 and 30K sales per year? The stock is incredibly varied, from £10 toys, to £1,000 high end headphones, drones, all sorts.

All the pricing is very strange, never a round number, so it may be £10.57 or £292.73.

So, is it that he/she has automated a search for items on Amazon, then lists them at a higher price on eBay, then when a sale is made on eBay, orders the item on Amazon to be shipped directly? If so, doesn't Amazon get a bit suspicious at having items sent to 30,000 different addresses in a year?

Cheers.

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AlanQ said:

Highly unlikely to be using Amazon as a source but there are plenty of companies that will drop ship product for you. Get their product feed, add your percentage (hence weird price points) and just automate the listings on ebay. I doubt from day to day they actually know what their own listings contain but it doesn't really matter as they'll only ever see it if it gets returned. Returns of course being the headache for this type of set-up.

I thought drop shipping at first, but the range of products is just too wide. There are brand names such as AEG, Dyson, Black & Decker, Vitra, that I just can't see being available via dropshippers.

AndrewEH1 said:

Could be done with some clever coding, not sure Amazon would care though? They are making their money and some of the stock will be coming from sellers using Amazon rather than Amazon directly.

Although the buyers might find it a little strange to receive their items in Amazon boxes?

I guess one of the main problems is getting all the different shipping addresses to Amazon or whichever retailer you're using with as little manual intervention as possible.

Yes, it might be rather strange ordering on eBay and then receiving from Amazon.

jonamv8 said:

I for one love this type of thing!

Certainly possible if technically minded but would involve regular maintenance

It would have to be highly automated wouldn't it? Checking price and availability multiple times per day and adjusting the eBay listings, you don't want to be selling something you can't then buy.

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Transmitter Man said:

Buying English law books on foreign eBays for a few Euro's (and only when Amazon current & historical sales shows there a v.good margin) > national parcel consolidater (optimises shipping weight/sizes shipments direct to Amazon FBA > Only non-automated issue is Philippino freelancer ($2 p.h.) that looks up any missing ISBN's. Working on taking Anna out of the loop so I can walk away and let it run.

Python coding costs $20 p.h. via Kiev freelancer.

Thanks for watching.

Have a great day.

Phil

Excellent!

DSLiverpool said:

OP - Have you run the financials on the seller ?

There's nothing to find. He is using his real name on an eBay business seller account, since 2012, so could be a sole trader. Director of a Ltd Co incorporated Sep 2015, dissolved Oct 2016, no accounts filed. Another company incorporated Oct 2016.

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DSLiverpool said:

VAT number on amazon listings ?

Nope. I have ordered something cheap from them to test my theory. I also found another seller who appears to be doing the same, with 16,000 feedback, and 10,000,000 listings on eBay!

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DSLiverpool said:

To be honest I admire anyone with thousands of listings (tens of) on anything as the daily crap fest of carrier / customer and platform would kill me. Plus I have yet to see anyone make serious cash from a huge drop ship structure.

Yes, I'm sure. I'd used drop ship in the past with single manufacturers, but this is something different. The returns must be a PITA, but then they are with Amazon FBA anyway aren't they?

One wrinkle I'm curious about. I bought a book from the second account I found, at a price below the minimum Amazon postal cost. If they register a "buyer" account and sign up for Prime, do they then send all the eBay sales through this single account, to a different gift address for every order, and hence benefit from free postage?

I'll let you know in a few days.