eBay dropshipping policy: what is allowed and how to follow it

Before you start

In shortCheck that this guide fits how you sell, then gather what you need.

What the eBay dropshipping policy says

In shortWholesale suppliers may ship to your buyer, but buying from another retailer or marketplace after the sale is not allowed.

How to dropship on eBay the allowed way

1. Step 1 of 7: Find and check a wholesale supplier

   In shortChoose a supplier that sells to businesses, test it with a sample, and sign an agreement before you list.

   A wholesale supplier sells stock to businesses that resell it. It may be a maker, a brand or a distributor. A retailer sells to the public. A shop that anyone can buy from at the same price is a retailer, whatever it calls itself.

   Before you call suppliers, check that the item sells on eBay. The guide to eBay product research shows how, and eBay sold listings show what buyers really paid. Then use the supplier’s price to work out your money left after fees, with the eBay fee calculator guide.

   Questions for eBay dropshipping suppliers

   • Do you sell at wholesale to businesses, and what do you need from me to open an account?
   • Will you ship single orders to my buyers, with my business name on the packing slip and none of your prices or ads?
   • Will you use my buyers’ details only to ship their orders?
   • Which address do you ship from? If it is abroad, who pays US import duties?
   • How many business days from my order to the carrier’s first scan, at the slowest? Which days do you close?
   • Which carriers do you use, and when do I get the tracking number?
   • How do I see your stock, and how often does it change?
   • Where do returns go, and who pays for them?
   • Can you show that you may sell this brand?
   • When do I pay you: with each order, or on monthly terms?
   • Will you take my resale certificate and charge me no sales tax?

   Is it a supplier or a shop?

   Good signs

   • You apply for a business account before you see wholesale prices
   • Written terms for prices, delivery time, stock and returns
   • A named warehouse address that ships your orders
   • Tracking from the carrier that picks up the parcel

   Weak signs

   • Anyone can buy at the same price, with no account
   • Its prices match a public online shop
   • You place each order in a public online shop
   • The parcel arrives in another shop’s box or with its receipt
   • No written terms

   Order a sample to your own address first. Check the item, the packing, the delivery time and the tracking.

   Sign a written agreement with the supplier before you list its items. eBay asks for an agreement to list and sell the supplier’s items. Name the items it covers, with prices, delivery time, stock, returns and what happens when an item runs out. The terms you accept to shop on a retail site or marketplace do not count.

   Plan the money before you list

   You pay the supplier when you send it each order. eBay pays you later. New sellers who use a label bought elsewhere usually get their money within 7 days of delivery. A supplier’s own label counts as bought elsewhere.

   Part	Amount
   You pay the supplier each day (10 orders × $30)	$300
   Days until eBay pays you (7 to delivery, then up to 7 more)	14 days
   Money you have paid and not yet got back	$4,200

   Have that money ready before your first sale, or ask the supplier for monthly terms. The amount grows with every extra order a day.

   Sales tax. In the states on eBay’s list, eBay collects sales tax from your buyer at checkout. A US supplier may still add sales tax to what you pay. If you buy to resell, a resale certificate can stop that. The Multistate Tax Commission’s uniform resale certificate works in 36 states, if you are registered in one of them. Each state sets its own rules, so ask your state’s tax office.

   In a made-up case, 7% tax on a $40 item takes $2.80 from every order.

   Suppliers abroad. Since 29 August 2025, US customs no longer lets low-value parcels in duty-free. Goods worth $800 or less, from any country, now pay all the duties, taxes and fees that apply. Get the supplier’s answer in writing on who pays them.

   Result: A signed agreement with a wholesale supplier, a sample you checked, an answer to every question above, and money ready for the days before eBay pays you.

   Mark this step as doneNext: Check that you may sell each brand

2. Step 2 of 7: Check that you may sell each brand

   In shortMake sure every item is genuine, and use photos and words you are allowed to use.

   eBay’s intellectual property policy makes you responsible for each item you list. It must be genuine. Your listing must not break anyone’s brand rights, copyrights or designs.

   Rights owners can report listings through eBay’s Verified Rights Owner program (VeRO). Many of them explain their rules in the VeRO participant profiles in eBay’s Seller Center. Read the profile of each brand you plan to sell.

   Use your own photos and words, or get written permission to use the supplier’s. eBay names photos and text copied from websites or catalogs as possible copyright problems.

   Never say you are an authorized dealer unless you are. Selling a case made for a brand’s phone? Write “for” or “fits” before the brand name.

   eBay’s longer policy also rules out selling items you do not own or have no right to sell. Then check that eBay allows the item at all. Some items are banned or have extra rules. The eBay listing checklist covers this in its first step.

   Result: A list of brands you may sell, the supplier’s proof for each, and photos you may use.

   Mark this step as doneNext: Set an honest handling time and item location

3. Step 3 of 7: Set an honest handling time and item location

   In shortChoose a handling time the supplier can always meet, and list the address the item really ships from.

   Handling time is the number of days from the buyer’s payment to the carrier’s first scan. With 1-day handling, the carrier must scan the parcel by 11:59:59 p.m. the next day, in your time zone. eBay’s handling time guide advises the quickest time you can always meet.

   With dropshipping, two people work before that scan: you and the supplier. Add up both, and use the supplier’s slowest promise, not its average.

   Part of the order	Business days
   You send the paid order to the supplier	1
   The supplier packs it and the carrier scans it (its slowest promise)	2
   Handling time to set on eBay	3

   In the example, the handling time is 3 business days. A shorter time looks faster to buyers, but each missed scan can count as a late shipment.

   Next, the item location. eBay’s item location policy asks for the ZIP code, city and country the item ships from. The title, description and item specifics must say the same. The item location is where the parcel leaves from: the supplier’s warehouse, not your home.

   Result: A handling time built from the supplier’s slowest promise, and the supplier’s ship-from address in every listing.

   Mark this step as doneNext: Keep your stock in sync with the supplier

4. Step 4 of 7: Keep your stock in sync with the supplier

   In shortChange your eBay quantity whenever the supplier’s stock changes, so you never sell what you cannot ship.

   With dropshipping, you do not see the shelf. The supplier’s stock can run out while your listing still shows items for sale.

   An order you cancel because the item is out of stock counts as a defect on eBay. Too many defects can drop your seller level. Step 7 explains the limits.

   An example on eBay’s seller standards page: 25 out-of-stock cancellations in 1,000 orders, for 25 different buyers, drop a seller to Below Standard.

   A simple stock routine

   • Check the supplier’s stock at the same time each day, or more often for items that sell fast.
   • List fewer than the supplier has. Other sellers may buy from the same stock.
   • When the supplier runs low or runs out, lower your eBay quantity at once.
   • Ask the supplier to tell you before an item ends or its price changes.

   Keep the listing when stock runs out

   Open Selling preferences and find Multi-quantity listings. Turn on Listings stay active when you’re out of stock. A listing at quantity 0 then stays active but hidden from search. It comes back when you raise the quantity. After 180 days in a row at 0, eBay ends it.

   eBay says this may help protect you from a defect for running out. A listing at 0 for a whole billing month may also get its insertion fee back as a credit.

   List only what you can check

   Every listing you keep also costs something. A Good ’Til Cancelled listing renews each month, and each renewal uses one of your free listings. Without an eBay Store, you get 250 a month. After that, most categories charge a $0.35 insertion fee each.

   So a made-up catalog of 2,000 listings costs $612.50 a month in renewals alone. Your monthly selling limit counts active listings too. The eBay bulk listing guide explains insertion fees for large uploads.

   Result: A daily stock check, the out-of-stock setting turned on, and a rule for what you do when the supplier runs low.

   Mark this step as doneNext: Upload tracking within your handling time

5. Step 5 of 7: Upload tracking within your handling time

   In shortGet the tracking number from the supplier and add it to the eBay order before the handling time ends.

   Ask the supplier to send you the tracking number on the day it ships. Upload it to eBay within your handling time.

   A tracking number is not a scan

   Some suppliers print the label as soon as they get your order and send you the number. The parcel can still wait in the warehouse for days. USPS tracking then shows Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item. USPS says this means the package has not been given to it yet.

   Only a carrier scan counts for your handling time. So on its last day, open each new tracking number. If it shows only a label, ask the supplier that day.

   Add tracking in Seller Hub

   1. On the Orders page, go to Paid and shipped and find the order.
   2. Tick the box next to it.
   3. Open the Shipped menu and choose Add tracking number.
   4. Enter the tracking number and the carrier, then select Save.

   eBay then emails the buyer the tracking details. You can add up to 6 tracking numbers per order.

   Use a carrier that works with eBay. eBay calls them integrated carriers. Tracking from one of them, uploaded within your handling time, protects you if the buyer says the item never came.

   Result: Tracking from the supplier’s carrier on every order, uploaded before the handling time ends.

   Mark this step as doneNext: Set a return policy you can honor

6. Step 6 of 7: Set a return policy you can honor

   In shortPick a return option on eBay, and agree with the supplier where returns go and who pays.

   On eBay.com, you choose one return policy per listing:

   • No returns
   • 30-day returns, paid by the buyer or free
   • 60-day returns, paid by the buyer or free

   Some categories, like jewelry and digital cameras, also allow 14-day returns.

   “No returns” does not stop a return for an item that does not match your listing. Under the eBay Money Back Guarantee, the buyer can still send it back.

   So agree with the supplier, in writing, where returns go and who checks them. Also agree who pays the return shipping, and how the supplier pays you back. In your Returns preferences, eBay lets you set return addresses by return reason, refund amount or category.

   The eBay dropshipping policy also makes the buyer’s satisfaction yours. A return goes back to the supplier, so you do not see it arrive. Once it arrives, you have 2 business days to refund the buyer. If return tracking shows delivery, eBay may refund the buyer for you. Ask the supplier to tell you the same day a return arrives, with a photo of what came back.

   Result: A return policy on eBay, and the supplier’s written terms for returns.

   Mark this step as doneNext: Watch your seller performance numbers

7. Step 7 of 7: Watch your seller performance numbers

   In shortCheck your Seller Dashboard each month and fix the cause of every cancellation, case or late shipment.

   eBay checks every seller on the 20th of each month. It gives you a seller level: Top Rated, Above Standard or Below Standard. You see yours on the Seller Dashboard.

   Number	What eBay counts, and the limit
   Transaction defect rate	Orders you cancel, for example because the item is out of stock. Also cases closed without seller resolution. Limit: No more than 2% of transactions. It counts against you only with more than 4 different buyers.
   Cases closed without seller resolution	You did not solve the buyer’s problem. eBay stepped in and found you responsible. Limit: No more than 2, or 0.3% of transactions, whichever is higher
   Late shipment rate	No carrier scan within your handling time, and delivery after the latest estimated date. Limit: No minimum on its own. Top Rated needs no more than 5, or 3%.
   Tracking uploaded (Top Rated only)	Tracking uploaded within your handling time and confirmed by the carrier. Limit: At least 95% of transactions

   Dropshipping touches each number. A supplier that runs out causes cancellations. A slow supplier causes late shipments. A return nobody handles can become a case.

   Below Standard has costs. eBay’s seller standards policy says it may:

   • Show your items lower in search results
   • Lower your selling limits
   • Block you from Promoted Listings
   • Hold your money until tracking shows the item is on its way
   • Charge higher final value fees, from the 1st of the next month

   eBay may also act at any time if it sees fraud, or selling that puts buyers at risk.

   Result: A monthly date in your calendar to check the Seller Dashboard, and a fix for each problem you find.

   Mark this step as doneNext: Limits of this guide

What this guide can and cannot tell you

In shortThis guide explains eBay’s written rules on the date above, and eBay still decides each case.

Common questions about eBay dropshipping

How Productivo helps with wholesale dropshipping

In shortProductivo can import, list and screen your wholesale stock, but checking suppliers and stock stays with you.

Everything above works with eBay’s own tools. This part is about Productivo, the app behind this guide.

Guide step	What Productivo does
Step 2	Settings › Blacklist holds eBay’s VeRO list of rights owners and your own entries. Productivo never publishes a product that matches.
Step 3	Your wholesale stock comes in from one CSV file, up to 1,000 products per file. The preview checks every row before anything is saved. When you list, you pick the shipping policy from your eBay account, with its handling time.
Step 5	Orders from all your stores come into one list, each linked to the product it came from. For your own stock, you still add tracking on eBay.
Step 6	When you list, you also pick the return policy from your eBay account. It goes on every listing you publish.

Product imports, publishing, the blacklist and Orders come with every plan. Productivo does not check suppliers or follow a supplier’s stock. Once a product of your own is live, you change its quantity on eBay.

Your eBay policies on every listing

Before you list, you choose the shipping, return and payment policies saved in your eBay account. Pick a shipping policy whose handling time your supplier can meet.

Open the full desktop screenshot (new tab)

Productivo by business model

Pick how you sell. Each part names the steps where Productivo helps that kind of seller, and what you still do yourself.

Wholesale sellers who hold the stock and ship each order

In shortYou set the handling time, stock and tracking for your wholesale products, and Productivo alerts you to unshipped orders.

Resellers shipping their own items within eBay’s rules

In shortYou ship each find yourself, so Productivo’s alerts help you ship on time and answer returns before eBay’s deadline.

Handmade and print-on-demand sellers keeping eBay’s shipping rules

In shortSet a handling time that covers making the piece, and add tracking on eBay within it.

Wholesale dropshippers using dropshipping suppliers within eBay’s rules

In shortList from your supplier’s warehouse address, and let Productivo warn you before an order misses its ship-by date.