Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

I am very angry that I can no longer shop on ebay knowing that I am buying from British business's.

 

There are literally dozens and dozens (100's 1000's???) of Chinese sellers advertising themselves as being in the uk and when you order something the first thing you realise is that the item is coming from abroad because it's the same scenario every time: You get instant tracking and it's usually always Yodel. On this ocassion I actually thought I might be wrong becuase it tells you the item is being send from Hayes to Yodel and sure enough the Yodel tracking updates like this:-

 

28/08/2418:12
We have your parcel. Please check back for updates
 
27/08/2418:00
Your parcel is on its way to Yodel. Please check back for updates
 
27/08/2400:00
We're expecting your parcel from your sender. We will provide updates here once we receive it
 
Estimated delivery issued by ebay says between today and Tuesday so I go onto yodel live chat and say "why is there no movement on my parcel which you say you have, and that was 2 days ago" the answer comes back and says "jimmy I know it says we have it but actually we don't we got advice of it from the sender on the 27th and since then they have never delivered it to us"
 
That's because it's coming from China. Are yodel colluding with these sellers in their deception? Looks very much like it.
 
So I report this to ebay as "Item location misrepresentation" just like I did the last time and I got the exact same reply. This reply is a disgrace. I say this is just ebay deliberately turning a blind eye.......
 
Thanks again for reporting the listing(s) you found. 

What happened:
We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What about all the people in feedback reporting "Not in uk" or "delivery very late" etc etc etc
The last time I reported it I then got the item delivered (late of course). Isn't it strange that the label on it is not a normal yodel uk delivery slip.
Isn't it even stranger that on this Delivery label it has the letters 2CXN with word "Handling" printed above these letters.
Isn't it even more stranger that 2XCN is an international mail handler!!!!!
 
ebay are aiding and abetting Chinese sellers to steal business from uk sellers and are turning a blind eye to the sheer fraud and deception that is taking place never mind the ficticious delivery times which are NEVER going to be honoured!
 
You order something thinking it's a British seller you are buying from, and it's British goods you are buying, and it's neither. ebay have just helped these people to scam me by allowing them to operate on the ebay plaqtform and do nothing when you report it.
 
GO AND HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME!
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52 REPLIES 52

Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

plpmr
Experienced Mentor

not possible to advise properly as you have private feedback.

Message 2 of 53
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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

papso22
Experienced Mentor

Checking the seller's feedback page will tell you where they are registered.  Avoid anyone registered in China.

 

As soon as something is late, open a case for item not received.

 

If is arrives late then you are allowed to treat it as not as decribed and open a case to return it at the seller's expense.

Message 3 of 53
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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

Papso22 you are correct it does indeed say on their feedback page that they are registered in China and now that it's arrived it has that international mail handler's logo on the postage label so why are ebay in denial it's a total disgrace allowing their customers to be the victims of fraud and deception and knowingly turning a blind eye to their own rules being broken!

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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

eBay cannot afford not to allow China-based sellers on their platform.

 

In fact, they began to invest heavily in that market over 20 years ago...

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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

worse than the "allowed" location corruption, is ebay now removing negative feeback in bulk from these sellers.

all my neg feedback of late has instantly dissapeared,within seconds,n i dont mention ebay/refunds,just the n.a.d adverts from narnia.cn

it does seem as though there is some intent in ebay to destroy itself from within.none of my freinds use it anymore  😞

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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

I agree with this 100%. I sell and buy from Ebay. 

 

I have no issue with Chinese sellers being on Ebay, but its when they pretend to be located in the UK, or at least the stock is located in the UK (They even sometimes have UK Stock labels on their picture and description). The biggest issue is that whilst you can lookup the original origin of a seller (i.e registered in China), you cannot filter against this when searching. If you filter by item located in the UK, I expect the item to be located in the UK (not the seller, the item).  The filter is "Item location" not "Sellar Location". So if the item is not located in the UK but the seller implies that it is, then surely this is a violation of the Ebay rules.  Basically it gives them an unfair advantage! - I will be looking to take by business elsewhere, unless Ebay start to support their UK sellers by removing Sellers who clearly violate the rules. As per the way that Yodel shows the item has been received (when clearly it has not), dont get me started on that one!

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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

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! - How can this not be a violation of the Ebay rules

 

 

 

Message 8 of 53
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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

Same details for this seller - xxxx - over on Amazon.

 

I should be most interested to know exactly how the seller misled you... would you therefore be good enough to supply the item number?

 

Sorry, I've edited the name of the seller as I seem to recall that it is against policy to name & shame.

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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?


@mamdal_computers wrote:

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! - How can this not be a violation of the Ebay rules

 

 

 


Aberdeen is where Non Established Taxable Persons are registered for VAT, nothing odd there at all.

 

Message 10 of 53
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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

Precisely! - They are non UK sellers who pretend to be based in the UK. This was the crux of the discussion

Message 11 of 53
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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

I thought the crux was that they said the stock was in the UK, not that they were?

Message 12 of 53
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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

I still do not understand the actual nature of the pretense - please therefore provide the item number in order that we may see for ourselves. Thank you.

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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

Anonymous
Not applicable

I did report a seller to ebay and after their 10 minute investigation, done by AI, they said the seller hadn't done anything wrong. When you click on "Uk sellers only" thats where you expect your purchases to come from. Interesting thing was, a few minutes after this the seller cancelled my order. They had already said it had been dispatched. I have been on again tonight, same search criteria and when I've double checked ALL the sellers were in China

Message 14 of 53
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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

The search is for item location not seller location.

The sellers may well be in China but have stock in UK warehouses.

Message 15 of 53
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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

Anonymous
Not applicable
Obviously not when after you purchase an item they say it will take 2/3 weeks to arrive. Even though the initial post says 3/5 days. Some sellers are just dishonest.

Sent from Outlook for Android<>
Message 16 of 53
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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

Yes,  this is dishonest and misrepresentation.

 

A buyer works with the last estimated date for delivery shown on the original listing.  If the seller changes this the buyer can open case for item not received one day after that last estimated date fo delivery to receive a full refund.

 

You can report the seller for misrepresentating the item's location.

 

The majority of Chinese sellers have UK warehouse to facilitate a faster dispatch this is all above board.

 

@Anonymous 

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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

It's made worse by other factors:

 

1. The Universal Postal Union terminal dues system, initially set up in the late 19th century (yep, 19th, "19th" is not a typo), slightly amended since including 2019. That system gives Chinese sellers an unfair advantage in the UK (and other original/early signatory countries) as regards much cheaper shipping and much lower postal rates.

 

2. China Post, China's state-owned postal service, receives large government subsidies, which means Chinese sellers pay very low international shipping rates.

 

3. Royal Mail has reciprocal agreements with postal services of other countries, including China, to deliver incoming international mail. This means Royal Mail delivers packages from China within the UK at no additional cost to the sender.

 

4. Many Chinese sellers use bulk shipping methods to reduce costs, only using individual parcel delivery for the final leg within Britain.

 

Individually and together, these advantages for Chinese sellers mean that even if eBay decided to banish all Chinese sellers located in Britain (and any who might somehow manage to look like they are) then Chinese sellers still have big advantages over British sellers. It seems unfair solely at that - after all, British sellers would, you'd think, be entitled to have advantages over foreign sellers but instead it's the other way round.

 

Maybe worth looking up about the UPU terminal dues system (it's quite involved/lengthy) - that aspect alone is obviously unjust in today's modern global e-commerce. The China of today is far from being the poor emerging country of the 19th century.

 

British sellers need the government to deal with the UPU and Royal Mail, as they can't stop China Post's subsidies. Maybe the government could invest in British sellers and British goods by giving Royal Mail subsidies to give a trading advantage to British sellers to compensate China Post's subsidies.

 

I believe eBay can and should impose measures on Chinese sellers, e.g. higher fees, more/cheaper advertising for British sellers, otherwise it won't be long before it's mostly or wholly a Chinese site. I believe it's in eBay's interest to do it too, which might be the only reason they might do it.

 

I have total sympathy for British sellers trying to compete against these disadvantages.

Message 18 of 53
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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

Also bought items located in London but arrived via china post, i think the UK stock is sold out so thet quckly post from china, rather than having the stock run out when it actualy runs out

Message 19 of 53
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Why is ebay allowing Chinese sellers to pretend they are in the uk?

"i think the UK stock is sold out so thet quckly post from china, rather than having the stock run out when it actualy runs out" - or by avoiding paying VAT on imported stock to their UK warehouse.  Did you pay any additional fees on that delivered directly from China?

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