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..

[bitemefiddy]

Why should buyers have to do Ebay due diligence. There's is no way of knowing where the actual goods are stored until they arrive over 5 days which is the normal max time carriers take to deliver a UK sellers goods.

[bitemefiddy]

This Corona virus is a perfect example of why we need to know where the actual goods are stored and dispatched from. I've recently purchased 4 items all from "UK sellers" yet all 4 items are at least 1 week overdue and when contacting the sellers they all admit its because of the virus goods are not arriving.
EBAY STOP PUTTING YOUR PROFITS BEFORE THE BUYERS.

[personalisedgifts2suit]

AND SELLERS, WE ARE FED UP OF CONSTANTLY FIGHTING AGAINST THE CHEAP CHINESE GOODS FLOODING OUR UK MARKET!!!

[iamsindhi]

I had trouble with a seller who pretended to be UK seller but form China. After 2 weeks, offered refund suggesting that item was damaged on the way and returned. I reported to eBay and escalated issue to remove such sellers with incorrect addresses. eBay customer services person confirmed that seller was in breach of eBay policy. However, I reported on Trustpilot for general public awareness. This is fraud to increase the number of SOLD items to win UK buyers' trust.

[sellernumber99]

I have recently plagued by this as item wanted to buty often seems faulty and I dont want to havre to return to China! When you directly challenge the seller for correct info they are deliberatley deceptive and ebay leaves no easy way to report this

[myronk7]

The best thing to do is to take a picture of the package showing that it was sent via China Post and not from the UK and request a return and a refund on the grounds that it is not as described.

The seller can either:

(a) send out a return label through eBay, which most of the time costs more than the item.

(b) just refund you without wanting it back.

or

(c) refute it, in which case you escalate it to eBay.

I've done this many times and it has always been resolved by the seller using method (b).

I'm waiting for a seller to escalate the case to eBay to see what will happen, but so far none have done this. I suspect the reason for this is these Chinese sellers know they are being misleading, so they don't want to bring too much attention to their little scam.

If more people requested a refund on the grounds that it was not as described, which I think is perfectly reasonable, then this didhonest practice would soon stop.

[seamc64]

agreed looking for an item from uk with ebay uk filter.4 pages till i got a seller that had a genuine uk address and tax no.shocking

[horsesleg]

Just been stung with this AGAIN; refusing delivery. Not even suprised that the current world problem has come from there.

[annibanana99]

Mate i am a 100% with you on this as its now got to the stage i check the registered address before purchasing especially the combat trousers i mean i would go as far to say that 70-80 percent off sellers have there registered business in wuhan or places like that and to the negative comments you received on your thread well to those nagative responses i will have to say this that i have twice purchased from these so called sellers they always state 5-7 days delivery time knowing they will get a bit longer to deliver the item so ive had mines taking 10 days before thats plenty time for them to order there **bleep** from china then to you thats how its working just now and ebay are blind and oblivious to this 

[annibanana99]

do you sell blue peter badges?

[annibanana99]

check out the miltary combats mate you literally cannot get a uk based seller and they are abusing the system and ebay knows it and does nothing i mean these sellers know they can get away with a 10-12 dau delivery timeslot so its not rocket science knowing they are buying the cheap garbage from china getting it delivered to them then re packing them to then send to you 

[annibanana99]

here is an example the listing says location leicester and here is the business address 

Guangzhou Chenfei Clothing Co.,Ltd

xiaorong huang

10 Alley

510000 Guangzhou, 广东省

中國

[myronk7]

That is one of thousands. What is even worse is I looked to buying some isopropyl alcohol to use as a hand sanitiser. I found one seller purporting to be a UK seller, ordered it, it didn't come and when I checked the seller it was a Chinese trading address, but worse still, when I read the feedback it was a scam. I've just been refunded by eBay.

Check out sellers for isoproply, most of them are Chinese sellers maskerading as UK sellers and most of them are scammers taking advantage of people's fear....Scumbags.

[best.buy.items.limited]

chinese seller showing item location

Postage and packaging

Item location: Leicestershire , United Kingdom

but acutual address is

Business seller information

ShangHai LingJiu wangluokeji youxiangongsi

ZheWei TanTai

713 room, north building, 870 MaoTai road, shanghai

200336 

 Complete information

VAT number:

GB 303188330

i dont know how they make fool to hmrc and apply for vat registration.....

chinese product dangerous like corono virus......it can bring health issue....

[carparts34]

Ive done a bit of digging on this as I really wanted to know. You can track the VAT number to check to see of it is a legit enterprise. So, the issue is the VAT number is for a busness that has a REGISTERED ADDRESS in the UK. So what is happening is the chinese company creates a postal address (tends to be a managed office complex with no real staff) and for more proof to Ebay registers the VAT number to that address. You then find that the item is either dispatched by a person (tends to be a chinese student or a few of them that has been sent stock) that send from the UK to the UK , or it is sent direct from the manufaturer. There is no customer support here as the person dispatching isnt resposbile for the quality or issue with stock and thats why the actual company in China puts there own address and details for contact. 

I spoke to the VAT people on this to see if this is legit. The fact of the matter is that you dont need to be registered in the UK to register for VAT. If they are making VAT payments to HMRC then its difficult to prove its not an actual company in the UK. HMRC dont have the manpower to find out or check sales records for companies based in China.

How do you fix that? 

Hope this makes sense. 

Cheers Colin 

[horsesleg]

A good start would be to boycott these Chinese rats and pay a bit extra for better quality from someone who cares about your customer experience.

Never trust someone who eats Dogs.

[4_bathrooms]

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@carparts34 wrote:

Ive done a bit of digging on this as I really wanted to know. You can track the VAT number to check to see of it is a legit enterprise. So, the issue is the VAT number is for a busness that has a REGISTERED ADDRESS in the UK. So what is happening is the chinese company creates a postal address (tends to be a managed office complex with no real staff) and for more proof to Ebay registers the VAT number to that address. 

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That is not correct. Any company based outside the UK that holds UK stock must register for VAT and charge VAT on all their UK sales; there is no minimum threshold. Just over two years ago HMRC introduced joint and several liability for online marketplaces to ensure this happened. Under the legislation online marketplaces are obliged to obtain valid VAT numbers from such sellers which must be displayed on all their listings. If eBay fails to do so they can be held wholly liable for paying the seller's VAT bill.

[4_bathrooms]

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@annibanana99 wrote:

here is an example the listing says location leicester and here is the business address 

Guangzhou Chenfei Clothing Co.,Ltd

xiaorong huang

10 Alley

510000 Guangzhou, 广东省

中國

---

When you select "UK only" the filter will show items that are (or that are claimed to be) located in the UK. The filter does not apply to the seller's registered location; this can only be determined by looking at the "Business seller information" section of the listing. I've always said that if a business seller is located outside the EU then eBay should make it clear to the buyer that their statutory consumer rights are non-existent and any guarantee or warranty offered is unenforceable. Either that or eBay should add a filter for seller location.

The real problem I see is the abundance of listings offered by non-EU registered sellers plastered with the Union Jack and "UK SELLER" text in their images and descriptions. Business sellers registered in the EU and the UK have a legal obligation to ensure any products they sell can legally be purchased by the buyer and meet any necessary national or European standards. When a business seller is located outside the EU this responsibility falls entirely on the buyer (regardless of the stated item location).

If, say, a consumer purchased a dangerous (not BS1363 compliant) mobile phone charger whilst visiting a country outside the EU that subsequently burned their house down when they got home the consumer would normally be held legally liable. However, I'm not sure how eBay could absolve themselves of any liability if such a situation arose from an eBay purchase as eBay would have facilitated the sale and allowed the seller to wrongly advertise themselves as a UK seller.     

[carparts34]

Hold UK Stock in the UK hence the registered address?

[carparts34]

I see your point. Thats why when you trace the VAT number it has a UK registered Address and thats why I thought they are bending the rules.