"UK Only" location filter now includes China

[fire_alarms]

I am finding that it is now  impossible to filter the loation of the products that I want to buy

I click on the "UK only" filter but then I have to go through 1000s of listings that are located  in China but claim to be in the UK.

This is making for a very bad buying experience and is putting me off even trying to find products on this site.

Am  I wasting my time complaing to the site administrator or should I just shop elsewhere?

[lightblueberet]

I think you're coming across sellers registered in China, but with UK warehouses ( i.e. Item location ). They do exist !

[geosacha007]

UK only means the item is in the UK not the seller.  So the Chinese are entitled to list like that if they have a warehouse in the UK. 

There is no way to filter for UK registered sellers.

[mancunianexile]

Nearly everything's made in China these days anyway.

The problem is where it's posted from after purchase - if it's posted from a UK warehouse, I can't see the problem.

Unless you are trying to avoid Chinese products altogether, in which case... good luck, you'll need it 😉

[kyanyama]

Those ones that aren't excluded by using the UK only filter appear to be 'promoted' listings so presumably they pay extra?  Noticed it a couple of weeks ago.

[fire_alarms]

I am only looking to buy products with BS EN or similar certification. I want the goods to be tested to a recognized standard, I do not want them to injure anyone or burn the house down. Yes I want to avoid not knowing where the goods are posted from after purchase. I also want to avoid the nightmare of returns and the costs associated with returning them to the other side of the planet. And I also very much like UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 / the Sale of Goods Act. So today's ebay search example, I am looking for a replacement 240v - 12v Transformer for an LED light in the ceiling. I find a product... The seller claims that the item is in the UK and has pictures of the Union Jack Flag, "UK Stock" is also in the title and the listing description. They have a registered address in China, but this is ok you say as they must have a warehouse in the UK. They also have a UK VAT number on the listing, great all is looking good ? No it is not, the VAT number is registered to a 2nd floor office in China Town London. the office also has another 283 companies registered there. All is not as it seems. (And before anyone asks: I have nothing against the Chinese and this post is not racially or politically motivated)

[running_grannie]

Hmmmm, I see your problem. You'd like cheapo price, delivered to your door, with all the assurances that everything's hunky-dory and all's well with the world. Sorry to say but it just ain't that easy when buying online.  

You'd probably be best served by going to a real B&M shop .... looking at the items you seek .... assuring yourself they are what you want .... then paying at the till and getting some sort of 'guarantee' before toddling off home happy and secure.

eBay / B&M shop? B&M shop / eBay? Can't have it both ways. Tough ol' life, innit?

[theelench]

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@running_grannie wrote:

Hmmmm, I see your problem. You'd like cheapo price, delivered to your door, with all the assurances that everything's hunky-dory and all's well with the world. Sorry to say but it just ain't that easy when buying online.  

eBay / B&M shop? B&M shop / eBay? Can't have it both ways. Tough ol' life, innit?

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Yes I see the problem too.  Did the OP mention wanting "Cheapo price"   No, they want to buy something manufactured to a BS safety standard and presumably recognise that will cost more.

Yes they want to search on-line to widen their search options and get delivery rather than travel to the other side of the country to make the purchase.  That's the point of on-line shopping.

The OP is trying to find what they want among pages of "UK" products which are made in China and warehoused in the UK.  They are most likely made by people whose only safety standard is that they can stay awake for a ten hour shift of mind-numbingly boring assembly work and still put the bits together in the right order.

I totally sympathise, I work in a completely different field but have had the same problem.  After buying several pairs of Made in China secateurs for between £5 - £10 and having them literally fall apart in three months or less I bought a pair labelled with a well known English brand name for  £45.  On arrival Made in China was only visible on the safety instructions folded up inside the box. They lasted nearly six months.  Most anything made in China is junk and should be avoided like the plague.  If it wasn't Chinese sellers and importers wouldn't go to such lengths to conceal where their products are made.

Might I suggest that the OP might have some luck in finding what they want by including the BS EN number in their search title, I would doubt that sellers of Chinese imports would have even heard of it. 

[retro-watches-harrogate]

Spare a thought for UK sellers and UK businesses ? What happens to our 'retail' economy when we all buy direct from the Chinese manufacturers !

I think it's a disgrace what's happened to eBay UK

[theelench]

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@retro-watches-harrogate wrote:
Spare a thought for UK sellers and UK businesses ? What happens to our 'retail' economy when we all buy direct from the Chinese manufacturers !

I think it's a disgrace what's happened to eBay UK

---

I think ebay is the same as the High Street and has the same problems.  In the race to the bottom on price the Chinese win every time.  It's the UK retailers that have led the charge.  Going back to my secateurs, try finding a British name in either venue and you'll be lucky to find one.  I thought I was buying British when I paid £45 but they turned out to be Chinese, by boxing them in the UK they could be passed off as British.

As said above, if the item is in the UK it passes the ebay filter, it is in the UK.  The only way round that is a "Country of Manufacture" filter and as the search is unreliable anyway adding further filters is only going to make it worse.  THe Chinese will find a way round it anyway.

You have to remember that in the UK most consumers actually have little choice.  Most only have access to the same chains who are supplied by the same distributors.  It's the same on ebay, I would guess that although there may be ten pages of listings they are dominated by a hand-full of wholesalers, all supplied from China.  Go to B&Q, Homebase or Wilko, it's the same stuff on every shelf and they love it the way things are.  When the £5 secateurs break after three months what choice do I have but to buy another pair?

My grandmother had a pair of secateurs that I remember as a child in the 60s, they were old then and my mother still uses them, you won't find that quality these days.

[jcfw]

I am SO pleased to see this post - I think it's pretty disgusting, foreign companies posing as British ones?!  I've been caught out with it recently (has the item arrived? of course not), and have found another company in Hong Kong pulling the same con.

When you see:

   Postage:

   Free Economy Delivery | See details

   Item location:

   UK, United Kingdom

   Posts to:

   Europe See exclusions

or:

   Item location:

   London, United Kingdom

- of COURSE you are going to think it's genuinely coming from the UK, from a reputable British supplier?  But we now have to check every time (by clicking on the seller's name in Seller Information, or going down to the bottom of the page and clicking on Contact Details under Business Seller Information).

It's unfair to paint us disgruntled people as wanting cheapo 'something for nothing' stuff - it's not about the goods, this is a clear case of unscrupulous misrepresentation, and eBay are eagerly collaborating with it whether we like it or not.

[panostsak84]

Same issue here

I was looking for a collectible item and all of them were available from China, except one from the UK (after I filtered the search)

It was actually more expensive as they included postage (while the Chinese listings were free postage) and after I placed the order I found out that the seller is actually located in China and it will take nearly 2 weeks to have the item delivered - if it doesn't get held in customs that is.

This is an absolute disgrace and not because of Chinese items - it's far safer to order something in the UK because it arrives quickly, it can be returned easily and you don't need to worry about paying for customs...common sense really.

Is what ebay are doing even legal?

[mr._standfast]

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fire_alarms wrote:iti
I am only looking to buy products with BS EN or similar certification. I want the goods to be tested to a recognized standard, I do not want them to injure anyone or burn the house down. Yes I want to avoid not knowing where the goods are posted from after purchase. I also want to avoid the nightmare of returns and the costs associated with returning them to the other side of the planet. And I also very much like UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 / the Sale of Goods Act. So today's ebay search example, I am looking for a replacement 240v - 12v Transformer for an LED light in the ceiling. I find a product... The seller claims that the item is in the UK and has pictures of the Union Jack Flag, "UK Stock" is also in the title and the listing description. They have a registered address in China, but this is ok you say as they must have a warehouse in the UK. They also have a UK VAT number on the listing, great all is looking good ? No it is not, the VAT number is registered to a 2nd floor office in China Town London. the office also has another 283 companies registered there. All is not as it seems. (And before anyone asks: I have nothing against the Chinese and this post is not racially or politically motivated)

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You aren't allowed to name the firm in Chinatown, so some may not realise that that is a made-up example. Chinese people operating in the UK have all the same reasons as anyone else for registering a company there - or as a British person might if he tapped a lucrative market in another country buy operating through a warehousing servic there. But if sharp practice is intended, have you thought about why they wouldn't register anything up to 283 companies doing under the £85,000 per annum at which VAT registration is required.

The Chinese make plenty of high quality products, and those that aren't are very often sold by British eBay sellers and bricks and mortar shops. There is, of course, an eBay policy rule against declaring stock held overseas as being within the UK. But this is easily dealt with. All you have to do is pick items with a delivery time that doesn't permit them to arrive from China in that plus eight days, and open an INR case. That would make routine false declaration so suicidal that nobody could possibly do it. What is more common, I think, is for sellers to stray into doing it when sloppy stock control leaves them without an item in a genuine UK stockholding facility. But play your part and they would pretty soon see the error of their ways too.

[witkri_znp1j]

bought item on 1st may listed as dispatching from glasgow. Didnt spot long delivery time intil after purchase. Checked seller profile and says based in australia
Item still showing as not dispatched. Contacted seller to cancel and get refund and ask location.
Ignored my location request. Bit told me dispached yesterday and to wait for delivery in 5-10 days.
Item still showing as not dispatched.
Really annoyed. Want to cancel so i can reorder from local seller for faster delivery. How can i get ebay involved

[mr._standfast]

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@witkri_znp1j wrote:
bought item on 1st may listed as dispatching from glasgow. Didnt spot long delivery time intil after purchase. Checked seller profile and says based in australia
Item still showing as not dispatched. Contacted seller to cancel and get refund and ask location.
Ignored my location request. Bit told me dispached yesterday and to wait for delivery in 5-10 days.
Item still showing as not dispatched.
Really annoyed. Want to cancel so i can reorder from local seller for faster delivery. How can i get ebay involved

---

If you initiate a cancellation you could let him off the hook by opening an INR case on the first possible day. A long dlivery estimate will probably do the same, if it is from Australia. But it  will make him feel he had taken a risk. A false declaration of location is  worth reporting via the Resolution Centre, as well as the "Report Item" link on the listing page.   The best time is when if you get an admission of the true location in a message, or you receive it with Australian stamps you can offer to scan or send. I don't believe they will ask for them, but it  gives your allegation some credibility, and at the very least I think there will be a note lurking on file for next time he gets reported.

[nat246-uk]

the warehouse alot of time are not based in the UK.

[nat246-uk]

I have bought several items for 3 mths later items turning up too small in a uk 12 which is like a size 8. effectively they are conning people I'm sick of it and want a block on uk only that are really in China or anywhere in world . the money I've wasted thinking it's a uk 12 as advertised on adverts to be sent a 12 but with Chinese writing on label

[dwt54]

One simple solution would be for EBAY to have a filter so that you can view items that will arrive the quickest. This would prioritise items that actually 'Exist' in the uk when you buy them. As it is obvious we have to wait for the item to be delivered to the uk warehouse which then reships and hence the annoyiing delay.

[mr._standfast]

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@dwt54 wrote:

One simple solution would be for EBAY to have a filter so that you can view items that will arrive the quickest. This would prioritise items that actually 'Exist' in the uk when you buy them. As it is obvious we have to wait for the item to be delivered to the uk warehouse which then reships and hence the annoyiing delay.

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Any simpler than leaving feedback for it, which you have never done?

[mr._standfast]

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@nat246-uk wrote:
I have bought several items for 3 mths later items turning up too small in a uk 12 which is like a size 8. effectively they are conning people I'm sick of it and want a block on uk only that are really in China or anywhere in world . the money I've wasted thinking it's a uk 12 as advertised on adverts to be sent a 12 but with Chinese writing on label

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Siing is a different issue, and easily dealt with by the Money Back Guarantee and the defect system. Three months gives plenty of time to win an Item Not Received case first. In both respects you are conned because you choose to let them. Stand up to them, and more than very occasional misdeclaration of location is impossible.