We did attempt this, eBay would not allow it. I personally bought my own product from the arbitrager on eBay. waited for delivery. then initiated a return. They get a free shipping label from Amazon and email it to me the eBay buyer and charge for it. They charge about $10 shipping for that free label that came from my own store. when I contacted ebay and said "technically" the return is complete as this is where the destination would send it, they said until it has been actually shipped it doesn't count, even though it was coming to me anyway. the ebay seller then hits me with a 20% restock fee, together that arbitrager made off with over $20 from the buyer.
I wont even begin about how they use an Amazon issued credit card to get an additional 3% cash back on the purchase, or that they use an Amazon affiliate link to get another 5 to 8% commission. That is a whole story in itself.
Hello everyone. This is Fred Ruckel, the Ripple Rug inventor. I am so pleased this story has sparked a conversation amongst some of the tech elite so to speak. The article only lightly touches on all I uncovered, there is much more to come. I have a long evidence trail that shows Amazon employees are behind the vast majority of arbitraging. That's right, the people we trust with our product are the ones actually stealing it.
The plain box shipping issue provided us a direct evidence trail proving it is happening internally at Amazon. I have tracked it down the the Hebron Kentucky warehouse. Together with Entrepreneur Magazines editor we conducted a test buy/sting op. He ordered it; I tracked it on the back side of my Amazon seller account. I watched as the person used their prime account to ship it from my own inventory to the magazine editor. We have all the tracking data, blank boxes, even their real names on their Amazon account. I ran this operation a handful of times, always with the same results. This is an internal operation at Amazon.
When I informed Amazon about the issues at Hebron, and offered my evidence, everything went haywire. Within few hours of reporting it, my entire inventory was placed in reserve (over $10,000 worth) and locked down for all of June. I was completely locked out of my own inventory. Amazon was also the multi-channel fulfillment center for my website. In a blink, both of my sales channels were shut down entirely. The arbitragers flexed their muscle to show me who' the boss' in the situation was. Both my website and Amazon were now out of stock in retaliation to my reporting it to Amazon. Ironically, all my inventory was sidelined at that very same Hebron fulfillment center. This was no coincidence. Hebron center is the root of the arbitrage ring in my situation, but other warehouses participate as well. I found 3 other centers also have arbitrage rings, or they work together, but I have data for all of it.
I proved conclusively, and repetitively that there is corruption within Amazon. I ran the same operation over and over yielding the same results. It may not be Amazon itself, however Amazons employees are running the show when it comes to the high level arbitraging. I recorded phone calls, have screen shots of everything. I sent Amazon lengthy message detailing everything. Amazon has turned a blind eye. These Amazon employees have the ability to manipulate the package details, inventory status, boxing preference, pretty much free run of the Amazon computer systems to do as they wish. they actually 'ghost' information so it looks as if nothing was manipulated (lucky i screen shot everything).
Lastly, when i tracked the real names of these people involved, they all live within a few miles of an Amazon fulfillment center and the all have computer science background. this is not a small isolated incident. I can prove millions in losses to this scheme, and with some digging, it might be billions.
My advice to you is to focus less on the hassle caused by eBay arbitragers and focus more on growing your product lines... I sell on AZ and have experienced various issues with return fraud, competitors messing with listing descriptions, Chinese counterfeit takeovers, feedback fraud, etc. At one point I had a competitor order & ship 40+ items and then return them all in unsalable condition.
You can only fight it so much before you realize your energy is best spent growing your bottom line rather than trying to solve the 1% that is a nuisance. Best thing to do is document everything though and keep a well-regulated forward press on the AZ Seller Support, as you've been doing. But don't let it consume you.
It is a shame that Amazon allows its employees to act against its own customer's interests. Amazon stands to lose a large amount of money if sellers and buyers begin to mistrust it.
I wont even begin about how they use an Amazon issued credit card to get an additional 3% cash back on the purchase, or that they use an Amazon affiliate link to get another 5 to 8% commission. That is a whole story in itself.