Shopping Discussion

Has anyone experienced this with Amazon marketplace purchases?

  • Last Updated:
  • Mar 8th, 2017 9:42 am
Deal Addict
User avatar
Apr 7, 2005
1749 posts
1361 upvotes

Has anyone experienced this with Amazon marketplace purchases?

I was looking at buying an item from an amazon marketplace seller.

When I asked the seller how long it will take for the item to arrive, they told me it would take about a week and that it would be shipped from amazon - which seems strange because

1) I think the seller might be located in China
2) The item is not sold or fulfilled by Amazon


Does this seem sketchy? Or is it possible some marketplace sellers have some sort of arrangement with amazon to ship out some of their products without it being considered 'fulfilled' by amazon? (Just for the record, I believe the seller has one item from their shop that is actually fulfilled by Amazon - however the one I am interested in, unfortunately is not).


Has anyone had this happen where they purchased a marketplace item but it was sent from Amazon?


Any experience returning/refunding such purchases?
Always hungry ;)
6 replies
Deal Expert
Aug 22, 2006
31271 posts
17295 upvotes
I mean... technically Amazon could do fulfillment for them but not under the Amazon label, but that seems convoluted (plus it's actually more than "regular" fulfillment)
My money says that Amazon isn't actually fulfilling it.
Do you not have anything else to do rather than argue with strangers on the internet
Nope. That's why I'm on the internet arguing with strangers. If I had anything better to do I'd probably be doing it.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Apr 7, 2005
1749 posts
1361 upvotes
death_hawk wrote: I mean... technically Amazon could do fulfillment for them but not under the Amazon label, but that seems convoluted (plus it's actually more than "regular" fulfillment)
My money says that Amazon isn't actually fulfilling it.
Do you mean, you don't think the item is actually coming from amazon at all and they made a mistake?

They assured me the item is coming from amazon, but it's the first I ever heard of a marketplace item being sent from amazon without it being considered 'fulfilled by amazon'.
Always hungry ;)
Deal Guru
Nov 15, 2008
12993 posts
8360 upvotes
Yeah that doesn't make sense. You could always ask Amazon if they fulfill orders for your seller, and get a clear answer as to how truthful they are being with you.
Deal Expert
Aug 22, 2006
31271 posts
17295 upvotes
nintendo wrote: Do you mean, you don't think the item is actually coming from amazon at all and they made a mistake?

They assured me the item is coming from amazon, but it's the first I ever heard of a marketplace item being sent from amazon without it being considered 'fulfilled by amazon'.
I can't argue with what they're saying, but it makes no sense that it's not listed as "fulfilled by amazon" when it is.
Like I said, Amazon can also do 3rd party fulfillment but it'd be stupid to 3rd party it when it's being sold on Amazon.
Do you not have anything else to do rather than argue with strangers on the internet
Nope. That's why I'm on the internet arguing with strangers. If I had anything better to do I'd probably be doing it.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Aug 18, 2005
21223 posts
5939 upvotes
Burlington-Hamilton
death_hawk wrote: I can't argue with what they're saying, but it makes no sense that it's not listed as "fulfilled by amazon" when it is.
Like I said, Amazon can also do 3rd party fulfillment but it'd be stupid to 3rd party it when it's being sold on Amazon.
Sounds to me like the seller is either confused, acting on old information or lying.

I mean maybe it was fulfilled by Amazon but then someone bought the last one out of the warehouse. Or it could be that the seller thought the OP is in the United States, and the item is fulfilled through amazon.com but not amazon.ca.
- casual gastronomist -
Deal Addict
User avatar
Apr 7, 2005
1749 posts
1361 upvotes
lecale wrote: Yeah that doesn't make sense. You could always ask Amazon if they fulfill orders for your seller, and get a clear answer as to how truthful they are being with you.
The seller does have at least one item that is actually fulfilled by amazon, so there is a possibility they are telling the truth and there is some unknown drop shipping feature amazon makes available to 3rd party sellers, perhaps before approving them for full 'fulfilled by amazon' status.


death_hawk wrote: I can't argue with what they're saying, but it makes no sense that it's not listed as "fulfilled by amazon" when it is.
Like I said, Amazon can also do 3rd party fulfillment but it'd be stupid to 3rd party it when it's being sold on Amazon.
I agree. But they told me if there are any issues with the item, I will have to send it back to china - which isn't totally farfetched - but if it was actually shipped from amazon, I would prefer to send it back to amazon if there are any problems.


Jucius Maximus wrote: Sounds to me like the seller is either confused, acting on old information or lying.

I mean maybe it was fulfilled by Amazon but then someone bought the last one out of the warehouse. Or it could be that the seller thought the OP is in the United States, and the item is fulfilled through amazon.com but not amazon.ca.
The first scenario is possible but not likely. The second one is a very good assumption - since the seller does have the same item available on amazon.com and it is 'fulfilled by amazon'. However they assured me the item I was interested in was actually shipping from amazon canada not usa. This information could be wrong, and they could be dispatching the item from an amazon usa warehouse.




At the moment I decided not to continue with the order, despite the seller having excellent feedback. I think it will be a matter of time before this item gets fulfilled by amazon on amazon.ca and I would feel safer knowing that for sure.
Always hungry ;)

Top