Is anyone else sick of Chinese sellers not using the actual photograph of the product?

[allthingspinup]

I'm sorry to say, I've been duped a few times. I see a picture of a lovely dress and it's not too expensive. It's only a jersey beach dress with no tailoring, zips or fastenings so I wouldn't expect it to be expensive anyway. My expectations aren't unreasonable as it's fairly easy to make.

When it arrives...... it's nothing like the picture. It's a different fabric. A nasty cheap shiny fabric. The dress in the picture is full and flared with plenty of fabric and the one I have in my hand is cut straight and short. The colours are vaguely similar but not in the same pattern as the dress in the picture. I've been conned again!!!

I try to filter out international sellers in the hope of dealing with a UK seller. It doesn't work. The Chinese still advertise a UK address then send from overseas. Some of them even have warehouses based in the UK. 

I can of course return the item as it's not as described but that'll eventually go against me and make my account look bad if I kept getting conned and kept going through the system.

eBay needs to do something. They need to put in place a rule where a seller must have an actual picture of the product they are selling. They should be held accountable for breaking this rule outside of the return system.

[johnnichols_123]

I am finding I have to dig much further into postings to find out if I am buying from a UK business or infact from one in China.

Initially you could choose that items were based in the UK, however I got caught out a few times from businesses saying they were in London but were in China. Then there was the trend to put the Union Jack on a posting but Chinese sellers soon cottoned on to that.

I have just found a listing, which I found odd as I had only just read it- word for word- on Amazon. The English was an obvious translation, and at the base of the listing was a web address for Tongtools.com

It turns out Tongtu are a cloud based business based in China, designed for sellers in China to sell items in multiple countries, across multiple platforms (including same photos, descriptions, etc), shipping and documentation into the respective countries, all the way through to dealing with with warehouses, tracking of items, invoicing, and answering customers queries/ complaints.

I am confused how this is acceptable under eBays international traders policy. I have fallen for a sale like this before- where I bought an item from eBay, and it was delivered by Amazon as the product was in their warehouse!

[1902elder]

Returning the item will not go against you. Have you never read the Money Back Guarantee? You are suggesting that the seller stated the item would be sent from the UK. If that is the case, seller has to provide a prepaid label for you to return it, then you get a refund. Then leave appropriate feedback to warn others.

[plpmr]

"eBay needs to do something."

Buyer's have a part to play as well by leaving feedback to reflect their experiences - why not do it?