Heads up sellers. This is an eBay jail alert for you.

First, eBay has made a major change to its regulations governing what you can and cannot sell on eBay. Simply, it’s all about how you source and ship your items. Violating this new rule can land you in eBay jail. So here’s an eBay jail alert for you with the straight dope to keep you out of trouble.

Some eBay sellers “scrape” (import) listings from other marketplace sites and list those products on eBay.

There are even third-party tools and applications that help them do so. So, the seller does not own the item or have it in hand, nor are they listing a product from a legitimate drop shipper.

When an item sells, the eBay seller goes to the website from which he or she scraped the listing and buys the product. Then, the item is shipped directly to his or her buyer. In short, the seller is using that other marketplace to fulfill their eBay orders.

THIS IS NO LONGER ALLOWED!!! Here’s what IS allowed…  

eBay’s new rules do not affect sellers whose business model includes drop shipping from legitimate wholesale suppliers or manufacturers. In effect, it is totally eBay-legal to sell an item on eBay whose orders you fulfill through a legitimate third-party drop shipper. Drop shipping means you buy the product from a wholesale source, which then ships it to your customer. My complimentary guide, Stay Out Of eBay Jail! lays it all out for you.

Furthermore, it is also eBay-legal to use Amazon’s Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) service.

With MCF, sellers use Amazon as their warehouse and fulfill all orders through their Amazon account. It’s equally eBay-legal to use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). With FBA  sellers have Amazon store their inventory, and Amazon ships the stored item from their own warehouse when it sells.

So, it’s eBay-legal as well to use other fulfillment services that ship your stored inventory.

What’s key here is that the inventory belongs to you, the seller.

With eBay’s new drop shipping rules, know what is allowed.

Simply, the inventory does not belong to the owner of the warehouse. You are only storing your own merchandise. So, it’s not the warehouse owner’s products being sold and shipped.

What’s NOT eBay-legal as of this month is the practice of taking a listing from Amazon (or some other retail website) and listing that item on eBay.

When it sells, the seller then buys it on Amazon (or that other retail website) and has it shipped to the buyer. Currently, this business model is banned. So, if you get caught doing this, you are endangering your eBay selling status and could even find yourself suspended! Read the entire policy here.

There are potentially severe consequences if you break the new drop shipping rule. eBay states, ” we may remove your listings from search, display them lower in search results, or remove them completely from the site. We may also limit, restrict or suspend your ability to buy, sell, or use site features on eBay..”

To ensure that you understand the new rules, and for more information, watch my YouTube video “eBay Selling Rules Just Changed!”. 

Some sellers who are NOT guilty of this now-illegal practice are being caught by an eBay bot (automated robot scanning the site’s listings).

It flags their account as suspicious and removes their Top Rated Seller status. If you’re  caught in this net, reach out to eBay Customer Service right away. If you’re a US or Canadian seller messaging them through eBay for Business’ Facebook page is one quick way to get a US-based CS rep. Otherwise contact customer service through the eBay site.

In closing , consider this your eBay jail alert. eBay’s product sourcing and listing rules have dramatically changed.

If you drop ship, adhere to the new strict criteria, so you don’t end up in jail!