This happened to me: I ordered a cheap UV EPROM eraser on eBay with three-day delivery. It was literally drop-shipped from Amazon, on an Amazon truck, in an Amazon bag. I could have gotten the same (crappy, simple) product on Amazon a day earlier for about a dollar less. But I was trying to avoid buying on Amazon, because of all the reasons posted in this comments section!
Same thing happened to me. I've been trying to avoid ordering work stuff on Amazon since they're technically a competitor, so I ordered a part on eBay. Coworkers commented on the Amazon package when it arrived, much to my confusion. It's happened a few times since then, I think they call it 'fulfilled by Amazon' or something like that.
Happened also to me with some products when shopping online either from Ebay or directly from some seller's web shop (I don't have a Amazon account): items came in a Amazon box with all their markings. No problems whatsoever, but the sellers were reliable.
That's just someone doing retail arbitrage: they take your eBay order and immediately have a bot (i.e. https://zincapi.com/) place an Amazon gift order to your address. Amazon does shut down buyer accounts for this but it's so rampant that it's more or less whack-a-mole.
i think the scam here is that amazon or amazon sellers will pay people to warehouse product in the US, because when you're selling aliexpress goods at a 90% markup, you can afford the warehousing. and the people they're paying to run those warehouses list the product on ebay at 20% markup, on the assumption that if it sells they can make an aliexpress order and restock before the amazon seller notices their product is missing.
Isn't this kinda exactly the retail model that have been around since cheap overseas manufacturing. The products themselves are cheap, margin goes to shipping, warehousing and inventory. Potentially even risks involved on not selling all of the inventory.
The margins look huge, but actually many steps like carrying that inventory or even the shipping from near warehouse is pretty expensive. Like more than the product itself.
