Excluding Dropshippers from search

[AndreTrollip 10]

Hello Bid or Buy,

 

Wouldn't it be simple to have a search option under advanced search to exclude results from dropshippers?

 

I have been told that dropshipping is not allowed on BoB, but to accommodate those that have been dropshipping before the rule was instated, they allow a certain select few sellers to still do dropshipping. This implies that BoB knows exactly who is dropshipping. Thus, the extra search filter would be trivial to implement.

 

As a buyer, I often don't want drop shipping results as I can't wait two months for an item from China and I'm not willing to pay R350+ for courier shipping.

 

Just a thought.

A

[ER001 10]

This would bring be back to BoB more frequently. Also being able to exclude sellers from results - like a personal blacklist - would be super helpful. One such example was when I shopped for computers recently I found a bunch of sellers who were using other people's images from other sites and refused to post images of the actual items for sale which is a bright red flag to suggest the item is stolen.

 

If Bid or Buy was serious about curbing theft in South Africa, it would be a requirement to post images of the actual item for sale.

[PuMiX 11]

Hi AndreTrollip the listing policy (http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/help/444/Listing_Policy) does allow sellers to apply to become drop shippers and getting permission from BOB. For now checking the items description or shipping table to find out where the items are being shipped from should help.

[PuMiX 11]

Hi ER001 when you click the drop down arrow on the search button and select advanced search you can click "exclude" from the sellers option. Think this should help especially if you know the drop shippers names. About the stock / internet images it's a issue for secondhand goods. New items should be sealed in their boxes.

[Johan 7]

Hi All,

 

As the post mentions there are more and more items that are sourced or delivered from all over the world. This would include more users than just ones that are classed as dropshippers. We are currently working on different ways in which one can meaningfully differentiate between where products originate from.

 

We are looking to implement something like this through the course of this year as we believe it will make a difference for buyers.

 

 

[mrmouse 11]

Why not just an exclusion for the Trade feed search drop shippers , i think that would solve most of the huge listings from out of SA`s drop shippers problem.its an effort/nightmare to go through the listings when its page upon page of drop shipped items , i for one wont buy from a local dropshipper anymore , i find them arrogant and unhelpfull, the story of sorry but customs costs are for youre account on arrival is also a shock and as far as I know is against the CPA , as the act states all costs must be displayed upfront at time of purchase ,( as far as I know )if so this must also be addressed , ie all dropshipped goods SHOULD go to the seller before being despatched , that puts all liability into the sellers hands and will also curb a lot of problems as the seller will have to get an import permit and be liable for his actions with customs and SARS .

Edited February 16, 2017 by mrmouse

[AndreTrollip 10]

Hi AndreTrollip the listing policy (http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/help/444/Listing_Policy) does allow sellers to apply to become drop shippers and getting permission from BOB. For now checking the items description or shipping table to find out where the items are being shipped from should help.

 

Thanks Pumi. But do you have any idea how much time that would waste to have to go through each item individually to check the shipping option.

 

 

[AndreTrollip 10]

Hi All,

 

As the post mentions there are more and more items that are sourced or delivered from all over the world. This would include more users than just ones that are classed as dropshippers. We are currently working on different ways in which one can meaningfully differentiate between where products originate from.

 

We are looking to implement something like this through the course of this year as we believe it will make a difference for buyers.

 

 

A simple search filter would solve the issue. And yes, it would make a massive difference.

[AndreTrollip 10]

Why not just an exclusion for the Trade feed search drop shippers , i think that would solve most of the huge listings from out of SA`s drop shippers problem.its an effort/nightmare to go through the listings when its page upon page of drop shipped items , i for one wont buy from a local dropshipper anymore , i find them arrogant and unhelpfull, the story of sorry but customs costs are for youre account on arrival is also a shock and as far as I know is against the CPA , as the act states all costs must be displayed upfront at time of purchase ,( as far as I know )if so this must also be addressed , ie all dropshipped goods SHOULD go to the seller before being despatched , that puts all liability into the sellers hands and will also curb a lot of problems as the seller will have to get an import permit and be liable for his actions with customs and SARS .

 

I like that idea.

[UnforgivN 11]

Is there a way to remove some sellers just completely off any results I see? I browse certain categories of bidorbuy and there used to be only about 60 items in the specific category but suddenly one seller has filled up this section with more than 500 items, and the prices are ridiculous therefore obscuring the items I am actually interested in.

[Guest MacMuffin]

Hi all,

Although it is taking longer than we thought (pure logistics behind the large number of sellers and their product feeds) we have now started to classify products based on location. This process has started this morning and we have not yet rolled out any UI filter options (but those will surface on all platforms in the next few days and weeks).

Until those UI features surface, when you are on a search or browse a category, scroll on the sidebar to "Location" and then toggle the "South Africa" filter to only show products available/shipped from within South Africa. The "International" location will show all products which are located outside of SA.

Product pages will show the "Item Location" above the "buyer protection label" and below the seller information.

As a seller listing a product you will now also have the option to specify the product location "South Africa or Kenya" vs "International" when listing a trade or bulk-uploading. If you are a tradefeed user and use one of our cart-plugins, you should ensure that your product catalog provides data in the "Location"-tag. NB: If you are a feed-/bulk-seller and you omit a Location we default it to your seller-registration location. If you generally drop-ship, we can place you in a separate shipping-category which will force the product location for all trades (or a shipping category which "soft-defaults" to an international category).

I am sure that our category-team / support staff will produce a detailed KB article on a support site once we have finalised the rollout. If you think that certain sellers should belong into a drop-shipping category, please do not post them here, but rather use the community watch feature on the product item page. Also note, that some of the current features/functionality might change as we are revisiting the placement rules.

 

[Guest MacMuffin]

Today we have introduced an incremental change which introduces Item Location as a new search filter. Selecting "Local Only" will only show locally available trades and exclude drop-shippers:

Please note: The filter selection persists as a cookie and all subsequent searches will apply the same filter.

The "Local Only" filter has not been rolled out into the category browsing or promotional categories and this will happen before the end of next week.

[ER001 10]

Still needs work:

www.bidorbuy.co.za/jsp/tradesearch/TradeSearch.jsp?mode=execute&isInteractive=true&CategoryId=0&IncludedKeywords=iphone+screwdriver

Zasstra still comes up in the search results and they only dropship as far as I can tell.

"This item will first be delivered to us from our supplier which is based overseas. Once dispatched, it will arrive at your door within 1 to 3 working days. "

Edited June 1, 2017 by ER001

[mrmouse 11]

Nice feature ,some sellers like goodsale and paper town Africa are bypassing it sneakily by stating supplied by local and international  suppliers , but it certainly is a step in the right direction for weeding out the internationals .

Edited June 3, 2017 by mrmouse

[mrmouse 11]

just noticed the OUTSIDE SOUTH AFRICA under sellers name ,BRILLIANT ,WELL DONE .

[Adri M van Zyl 10]

indeed. asked BoB long ago to have a total seperate page for international sellers, dropshippers etc. if a buyer can wait, wants products cheaper, or wants to loose money (!), then they can click on that page to buy from it, but do not allow any products shipped from out of our borders, to be advertised along with local sellers. 

Edited June 8, 2017 by Adri M van Zyl

[mrmouse 11]

FILTERS havent had much impact on local product sellers, like Zastra and loads of others have just changed the wording on adverts , they still flood the pages with hundreds of imported ,not in stock items , as do many others that ive seen over the last few days , anything dropshipped from out of SA ,should not be classified as locally supplied , even if it goes to them first , it is a huge step in the right direction ,, not having to worry about freight issues and customs but its still not LOCAL.Most buyers want it NOW , and with Ebay not requiring a credit card or pay pal its just as easy to buy it there and wait a day or two longer also cheaper usually , which takes sales away from BoB

[Guest MacMuffin]

19 minutes ago, mrmouse said:

FILTERS havent had much impact on local product sellers, like Zastra and loads of others have just changed the wording on adverts , they still flood the pages with hundreds of imported ,not in stock items , as do many others that ive seen over the last few days , anything dropshipped from out of SA ,should not be classified as locally supplied , even if it goes to them first , it is a huge step in the right direction ,, not having to worry about freight issues and customs but its still not LOCAL.Most buyers want it NOW , and with Ebay not requiring a credit card or pay pal its just as easy to buy it there and wait a day or two longer also cheaper usually , which takes sales away from BoB

Agreed. Sellers which do not hold local stock or can not supply locally within a reasonable period of time will be moved into the international categories. My suggestion is to not mention sellers on the forum and rather report an item via community watch and our product team will then take the appropriate action after review.

[mrmouse 11]

I did report to community watch , but got no positive feedback , I think the issue is misunderstood

[mrmouse 11]

I mentioned  that specific seller because he has a really good comprehensive list of goods , but lead times are long , cut that down to 3 to 5 days and you have a winning combination , impossible maybe , but worthwhile trying ,his pricing is good ,freight is excellent , everything you want and need ,,, in a hurry , not gonna happen

Edited June 14, 2017 by mrmouse

[bellemodel 10]

On 6/4/2017 at 11:15 AM, mrmouse said:

just noticed the OUTSIDE SOUTH AFRICA under sellers name ,BRILLIANT ,WELL DONE .

:-)

[ER001 10]

Goodsale still dropshipping from abroad and yet listed as local...  Off to report.

Even just a quick search for "trackmaster track pack" with only SA results and the first page are all full of importers.

[ER001 10]

So I reported that my search for "thomas trackmaster track" included:

1) Sellers from outside South Africa: MERKADO and Ezi Imports

2) Sellers goodsale and PaperTown Africa who don't necessarily have stock and who don't necessarily have access to South African stock.

Here is the response I got from BoB:

" Kindly note that response from the seller below :

"Hi. We do not ship from overseas. Some products are not available with local
suppliers and and transferred to our warehouse in sa by international
suppliers. However, we take control of all stock prior to shipping to
customers. We do not dropship directly from overseas.

There are also no hidden costs when purchasing from us"

Kind regards "

 

Effectively confirming that BoB are happy with that response.

Now all I need to confirm is - what is the point of the "South African" sellers search feature?  How does it benefit the local sellers with stock (who I'm looking for) if they have to share space with people who don't have local stock?  Think about it... what use is it that the seller plugs his computer into Eskom power every morning yet has to fulfil your order from an overseas supplier?  They may as well be sitting in China as far as the buyer is concerned.

[mrmouse 11]

On 6/14/2017 at 10:46 AM, MacMuffin said:

Sellers which do not hold local stock or can not supply locally within a reasonable period of time will be moved into the international categories

Its still going to be a nightmare for awhile , it has improved though , but what is classified as a reasonable time ? my other thought is : as stated by many sellers , returning goods that are faulty is for the BUYERS account , not to bad if its local , but if its dropshipped from china , Thats a nightmare , you have to pay customs to get it , you have to pay customs to send it back , you then have to pay again to get it back to you , and all the time the dropshipper sits and smiles .To dig that out of the CPA isnt easy and if its a small purchase , youre on your own I think , I still say stay away ,unless you are prepared to wait and hope the item works and doesnt need servicing or repairs .ALSO most only give you 7 days "warranty" CPA clearly states 6 months and product must be of a reasonable quality ??? if you are prepared to take a chance on something thats not a toy ,good luck .I Wont anymore .

[mrmouse 11]

A CPA scenario , quite interesting ,http://www.barnardinc.co.za/articles/20-articles/88-warranties-and-the-cpa , and has this ever happened in SA yet where its been enforced:

A consumer may within six months of delivery return the goods to the supplier if the gods fail to

satisfy the requirements and standards contained in Section 55. The

consumer can

direct

the supplier

to either:



repair or replace the failed, unsafe or defect

ive goods

; or



refund the consumer the price paid by the consumer for the goods.

How does the 7 day warranty apply here.

Edited June 23, 2017 by mrmouse