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..

[myronk7]

I understand the concept of drop shipping, this in itself is at the least missleading, but I have had items that the buyer says is held in the UK arrive via China post. If this happens I have a way of dealing with them. I take a picture of the package and request a return due to the item being "Not as described", which I believe it is. The seller can either send me a return label, which usually costs more than the item, so they just refund you. If they don't reply I just escalate the case to eBay and I have got my money back every time. I've never had a case where the seller has disputed the claim, because I don't think they want to bring too much attention to this practice, but I'm hoping that one day a seller will do it and I can use it as a test case.

So, my advice to anyone that recieves their item from China instead of the country they claim to be sending it from is to use this tactic. You WILL get a refund and you can either keep the item or throw it away. If more people do this, then these Chinese sellers will eventually stop doing it. No doubt they will then find some other scam though.

[bounty369]

I'll be adopting the approach proposed by myronk7 from now on.

Though recently not had too many such delayed deliveries - I only choose fast delivery / next couple of days and the Chineses sellers tend to give themselves a bit of leeway with a delivery time of five days.

[myronk7]

The point is, if they say that the item is coming from the UK and they send it from China, then in my opinion it is not as described and so in line with eBay's seller protection rules you should be able to return it at the sellers expense.

[ferretktf]

>>>>"Never trust someone who eats Dogs"<<<<

I don't necessarily have a problem with dogs, or horses or guinea-pigs or stick-insects as these can be put down to cultural differences

But eating bat-infested-pangolin? Now that's something i do find objectionable

[horsesleg]

Last night I messaged the rat. They said item was arriving by 27 March (purchased on the 22nd) and gave me a MyHerpes tracking number; of all couriers to use 🙄🙄🙄.

I checked the tracking last night and MyHerpes tracking said they were yet to receive the item. I messaged rat-features and said that they will refund me immediately as tracking shows you have not given it to the courier because it is being shipped from China to the UK to be repackaged by a rat faced handler, that the item is not as described as it is not from the UK and that they will lose when I ask ebay to step in on the 3rd of April.

Early hours of this morning I received a refund; no questions asked.

UK 1 : Ratface 0

[myronk7]

I would have waited untill it came, if it ever did, and then put it for a refund and they would have let you keep the item, but maybe because it did actually come from the UK could have been a problem, but in my experience, unless it's quite an expensive item, they just refund you, it's less hassle for them.

I once bought a watch which was supposed to come from the UK and it came via China post. The watch was faulty so I put in a return claim. The seller said return it to China, I asked them to send a return label through eBay and they said they didn't do that, but if I send it back they will refund me the cost of the watch and the postage when they receive it, so I sent it off recorded delivery. When I checked the tracking it said "customer refused the item", so I messaged the seller who said that wasn't true. They imidiatly refunded me for the watch only, which closed the case so I wasn't able to take it up with eBay. I never did get the watch returned to sender, they were probably in cahoots with the post, and I ended up £9 out of pocket. These shisters know how to play the system.

[horsesleg]

I really didn't want their POS knock off tools in my house, regardless of where it came from. It was only a cheap profile gauge but still, I hate liars.

Ebay won't do anything about it because they stand to loose too much money.

[ogro6025]

How can ebay allow this to continue, I've just brought several itmes, changing my searches to UK only and low and behold I'm getting post from China and billing reciepts to chinese companys despite being "uk stock" - "uk sellers" - what a crock of shyte

BUYER BEWARE!!!

[horsesleg]

Open a dispute after they have arrived for not as described.

[myronk7]

I keep reiterating what horsesleg has also said. If you order something that is supposed to come from the UK and it Comes from China, open a NAD case and they will almost certainly refund you and you get to keep the item. If more people do this, then the problem should go away.

[nitratesden]

I've just ordered an item from a seller who listing says "UK Seller" with the UK flag. After the order was paid for I now find its on about 6 weeks delivery with a fake tracking number..This practice should be stopped but Ebay allow it to continue. This has happened to me about a dozen times.

[4_bathrooms]

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@nitratesden wrote:
I've just ordered an item from a seller who listing says "UK Seller" with the UK flag.

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Does it appear to be a UK company when you examine the "Business seller information" section of the listing?

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@nitratesden wrote:
After the order was paid for I now find its on about 6 weeks delivery with a fake tracking number..

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What does the estimated delivery shown on the listing state? If it is substantially less than 6 weeks you can open an item not received case the first day following the latest estimated delivery date. The seller can either provide tracking (a fake tracking number won't be accepted by eBay) or provide a full refund.

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@nitratesden wrote:
This practice should be stopped but Ebay allow it to continue. This has happened to me about a dozen times.

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I agree eBay should be doing more but buyers should also need to report such sellers. If they are not reported eBay will likely be unaware they are engaging in such practices.

[nitratesden]

Well, its my fault I suppose. I just went on UK Seller and didn't read the postage properly.

It does say economy delivery from Chine on the new listing.

[4_bathrooms]

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@nitratesden wrote:

Well, its my fault I suppose. I just went on UK Seller and didn't read the postage properly.

It does say economy delivery from Chine on the new listing.

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In my personal experience, when the image is plastered in Union Flags and has "UK SELLER!" in big bold letters that is normally a pretty good indication the seller is anything but a UK-based seller.  

[magpiecorner1]

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@robbosgems wrote:

It's a well known issue. Chinese government did a secret deal with Royal Mail,most probably approved by some tory toff on the take to get their  products into the uk and delivered for less than you can buy postage for a letter or large letter here posted uk address-uk address . This is what happpens in the big bad world of finance.

Uk warehousing circumventing is only a smokescreen 90% of them don't have one here, but it seems to appease ebay lords..

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[magpiecorner1]

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@roxcalibur wrote:

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@robbosgems wrote:

.....most probably approved by some tory toff on the take.

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[woody4954]

Surely Ebay should show on the front page of these sellers where their head office is. The ones "posing" as UK sellers usually quote optomistic delivery dates and then advise of delays for one reason or another. I'm afraid many of us buyers are feeling short changed by Ebay who are pandering to the volume sellers wherever the

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@tara*teller wrote:

So long as they have a drop shipping place in the UK then it's perfectly ok.

The 'warehouse' could be anything from an actual warehouse to a room in a mates flat but as long as they are shipping the items from the UK then they don't breach eBay rules.

If you are not happy to buy from overseas sellers then check their contact details before buying, this will always have the 'head office' listed.

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y are based.

[manicphonic4]

I too am fed up having to check the location and business details every time I want to buy something that's going to take at least 2 weeks to be delivered from their 'UK warehouse'. They are probably in Ireland at best. However, I have just attempted to buy something from a seller with an address in Derby thinking this will be faster but no. they are now using UK 'sellers' to get the sales of the same stuff from wherever it is shipped from in exactly the same slow way. Even their responses are the same with "hope you can understand" following the same pathetic excuses for the time taken to despatch and deliver. Basically eBay is now Chinese and any existing UK sellers are being underpriced and forced out such that we will never see another delivery in the same week as an order is placed - and we will accept this as 'normal'. 

[myronk7]

I'm not averse from buying from Chinese sellers, but I try to buy from UK sellers whenever I can, especially if I want the item in a few days and I don't mind paying a bit extra. What really infuriates me is a claim that the item is held in the UK and a 4 day delivery time is quoted, then the item arrives 2 - 3 weeks later via China post

This can cause more problems for the buyer than just having to wait longer for it to arrive, there is the possibility of being stung for VAT on goods sent from non EU countries that are valued over £15 and anything over £36 attracts import duty as well as VAT.

This happened to a friend of mine who bought something on eBay for £20. The postman put a card through his door telling him that he had to go to the local delivery office and pay the VAT and also £8 handling charge to Royal Mail, so the £20 item that he ordered ended up costing him £32. Any customs duty is the resonsibility of the buyer and these Chinese sellers are smart enoughn to mention it somewhere in their T&C's.

The Chinese sellers have been haviong a bad time lately, a lot of it brought on by themselves due to bad customer relations and so buyers have been turning to UK sellers and paying a bit more. The Chinese have cottoned on to the fact that if they sell their stuff in the guise of a UK seller then they will sell more and also there is no need to undercut their items to compete with genuine UK sellers.

WHAT TO DO TO GET YOUR OWN BACK AND HOPEFULLY STOP THIS DISHONEST TRADING

If you order something that purports to come from the UK and it comes via China post, take a picture of the packaging and open a case with eBay quoting "Not as Described". Considering that the seller said it was coming from the UK in 4 days and it came from China in 2 weeks is reasonable cause for a NAD claim.

The seller then has the option of requesting eBay send you a return postage label at their expense (eBay insists on recorded internation signed for) and refunding you, or disputing your claim. I do this everytime this dishonest practice happens to me and the seller has never disputed my claim, in fact they always just refund me without asking for the item to be returned. It's now got to the stage where I am hoping that anything I order that is supposed to come from the UK actually comes from China so that I can get it for FREE.

If everyone resorted to this tactic then it would probably make these Chinese sellers think twice about the way they trade, especially when they realise that they are giving their goods away and losing money.

[4_bathrooms]

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@myronk7 wrote:

WHAT TO DO TO GET YOUR OWN BACK AND HOPEFULLY STOP THIS DISHONEST TRADING

If you order something that purports to come from the UK and it comes via China post, take a picture of the packaging and open a case with eBay quoting "Not as Described". Considering that the seller said it was coming from the UK in 4 days and it came from China in 2 weeks is reasonable cause for a NAD claim.

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I think you're fully aware that "not as described" relates to the item itself and not the claimed item location nor carriage service. If the item is overdue and the seller is not responding the correct course of action is to open an item not received case. Ultimately, the seller's only options will be to upload tracking or issue a full refund. A seller that has violated eBay's Item Location Policy is very unlikely to upload tracking as it will either show the item's location was misrepresented or that the item was despatched late (if they upload tracking for the UK leg of the journey).

If you have proof the item's location was misrepresented you need to report the seller and select "The seller has violated one of eBay's policies". In the next screen you need to explain they violated the aforementioned Item Location Policy and state the proof that you have. I have done this with two sellers that violated the policy and both ended up NARU.

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@myronk7 wrote:

It's now got to the stage where I am hoping that anything I order that is supposed to come from the UK actually comes from China so that I can get it for FREE.

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So, your solution for dealing with dishonest sellers abusing eBay's policies is to abuse eBay's policies yourself and commit fraud? If just a few sellers you defraud follow eBay's process for reporting a buyer you could very well find eBay removing your buyer protections and/or your ability to buy at all. I have a feeling you are not interested in following the correct eBay procedure for reporting these sellers as it would prevent you being able to get stuff for free.