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Comment by julianlam | Hacker News Reader

> Next time you want to buy something from Amazon, I would encourage you to find the seller's website directly or find them on eBay. eBay charges less seller fees and is not in the business of selling products directly.

Last time I bought an item off eBay, it arrived shipped via Amazon Prime. Pretty sure the seller just bought it off Amazon and shipped it to my house... it was a weird turn of events.

It wasn't a branded item, just a third-party battery replacement for a cordless phone, but still.

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This is a common arbitrage tactic. Seller carries no inventory, lists multiple products on eBay for slightly higher than the Amazon price, and buys/ships from Amazon if anyone buys the eBay listing.

This happened to me, payed $110 for a ski jacket, get an amazon box and lookup the price on amazon - $80. I had to applaud the eBay seller for their hustle..

It’s a money laundering thing too.

There was a story in my area a few years ago where people had some sort of scheme to convert Amazon gift cards into cash via EBay.

I stumbled across an anonymous payment processor that accepts all kinds of shady business, like online casinos and escorts. They accept payment via gift cards to Amazon and elsewhere. Maybe this is how they convert that into cash. I was puzzled about how that would work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IT2oAzTcvU

This arbitrage is also good for the buyer, if they don't have an Amazon Prime account.

Sellers use Amazon FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon). Their inventory sits with Amazon and irrespective of platform where transaction happened, Amazon ships it in their own box.

The term you are looking for is “Multi Channel Fulfillment”

Re-read the first sentence -- very carefully -- of the comment you replied to.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_shipping

This happened to me when we de-Amazoned, even from direct website purchases. Lots of them use Amazon for fulfillment even if they sell directly.

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