Chinese Sellers with UK addresses?

[richardsuperstar]

how come there is at present so many Chinese sellers on here who are allowed to put their despatch location as here in the UK?

I've found loads of items which are undercutting most UK sellers and they all show their location as in the UK but then have their registered company address details as in Hong Kong.

its pretty clear that these sellers dont have offices in the uk and are just putting this to stop them being filtered out when someone clicks on show uk only.

surely there should be some check done by ebay to ensure that if a company claims to be in a country the address needs to be verified..

[divine0606]

Especially if the question is "Can you please provide me your return address" before they have even made a purchase, i try limiting my losess with returns so like i said we just block if such a question is asked as it shows intention of returning a item and if i'm honest we get so many dishonest returns at the moment which are just losses for us and i'd rather just nip it in the bud in the first instance of any suspicious questions. 

[manicphonic4]

I did 'remind' this Chinese seller that buyer protection covers this 'not as described' purchase AFTER they'd told me I would have to pay for the return to their warehouse in China. No further discourse, full refund and keep the item. 

Thank you all contributors to this thread 👍

[chava2uk]

Most annoying when they specifically say it is dispatched in the UK and it gets lost between here and China! I tried reporting these to Ebay but they claim they can't do anything. 

[mamdal_computers]

Check this out! - This seller (who has failed to supply my items and is making excuses about the Post Office being busy - Its Yodel in any case)  has a UK VAT number listed. If you lookup that number the registered name is a long chinese name and the registed address is HMRC in Aberdeen which is the standard address for overseas companies. 

[ajgardenmachinery]

Millions of pre packed items are loaded into a container and are sent to one of 200 or so Chinese overnment owned dropshipping warehouses in the UK, run and operated by mostly illegals ( based on HMRC shutting down quite a few two or three years ago.

The duty on the container is minimal as the value is marked down. The business concerned will use a Chinese accountant based in UK who will submit a NIL VAT each quarter

HMRC do not have the manpower to investigate properly apparently

[aspalten]

A great majority of these Chinese sellers with local addresses in the UK do not honor their warranties which means after 30 days if they don't want to contact you or respond to your one year three five ten year warranty they don't have to and eBay does nothing about it I'm now going through the same problem. 3 month old batteries burned out Chinese sellers will not respond and eBay can't do anything so they say another can the banks because it's after 90 days

[ma_96673373]

Amazon is full of Chinese sellers too , I'm sick of it . Where are all the
British sellers ?

[date80211]

I wholly support your feelings…

I'm in the process of petitioning Parliament and asking my MP to support that, and so should everyone else…

So very sadly, that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with foreigners giving their despatch locations as here in the UK, unless that's untrue.

It clearly should, but so very sadly the country of origin doesn't even come into your very welcome Post, let alone eBay's philosophy.

[ma_96673373]

It's not just the false despatch locations, it's also that Amazon and Ebay
are awash with Chinese sellers. I want to buy British goods and boost our
economy , not China's .
Trying to buy British goods online these days is a nightmare ! And
utterly frustrating .
I don't understand where our Brit sellers have gone ?
Right now , it's like the world has gone mad , nothing makes sense anymore
, the country is a mess, we are being slowly invaded, right is wrong and
wrong is right . Only a matter of time before we blow the planet up .
But i'm grateful for the 72 years of normality I had before everything went
tit's up . : (
Good Luck with your petition . 👍
I wish you well .

[date80211]

Yes, but what '… false despatch locations…' come into this?
If the vendor offers 'UK stock…' that is of course pointless, but how is it 'false…'?

[date80211]

Because their despatch location is indeed here in the UK.
Will you please ask yourself how that makes any difference to where the 'UK stock…' comes from?

[date80211]

Yes and does anyone doubt, eBay needs to pay more attention to experiences like yours?

[date80211]

Yes and who here doubts, eBay needs to pay more attention to experiences like yours?

[date80211]

What, please?

I don't at all doubt what you say you were told, but in many years dealing with domestic commerce as well as exports and imports, I've never heard anything like the suggestion that HMRC in Aberdeen was, or could be 'the standard address for overseas companies…'

Will you say who told you that?

[date80211]

You could well be right, except for the last part.

HMRC clearly does have the resources, though it might lack the direction or management skills.

Oops!

[date80211]

eBay can and sometimes will respond properly, but the real question is how much time you're prepared to invest…
I recently spent days begging eBay to provide a refund which even several eBay customer-service people strongly agreed was due… only to have their decisions overturned by anonymous bean counters.
At my UK's minimum wage, even three hours of my time was clearly worth more than the minxy little £29 in question.
Personally,I see the principle as far more important than the cash, but which is more  important to you?

[date80211]

You're right… far too right… to ask where the British sellers are…

I suggest there are two possibilities:

First, too many British makers have already been put out of business by cheap imports; mostly likely, Chinese. Who doubts that?

Further, neither our UK Government - Red or Blue - nor the trade associations supposedly representing British business have any real idea what 'representing British business…' actually means.

My suggestion is that first and foremost, both industry by code of practice and Government by law should insist that every item offered for sale in the UK should make clear its country of origin. Who but the powers that be thinks that could be difficult?

Back when I learned to read, some of my first understandings were of the then-common terms 'British made…' or 'Empire made…' and 'Made in England…' and 'Fabrique en Chine…'

Who but the powers that be could think it difficult to revive those marks of origin?