"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?

[jcfw]

I always check in the legal information section of the seller - if they’re really Chinese, you usually find the information in there (of from Hong Kong or similar).

I find that the Chinese tend to overword their descriptions - you can usually get them on that (because they never want you to return anything!). If you put in a complaint to eBay, you nearly always get a full refund. (This happened to me recently with some polyester pillowcases that had been described as silk in the description.) As soon as you tell eBay that the seller is refusing a return, they will nearly akways decide in your favour.

Of course this doesn’t solve the ‘Chinese labelled as UK’ problem - but it IS a way to get your money back!

[Anonymous]

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@mancunianexile wrote:

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 😉

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So where do you return your items to then, if you need to??

[Anonymous]

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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.  

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?

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Oh its a major crime now to want to get a bargain!!!  LOL.

[Anonymous]

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@fire_alarms wrote:

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?

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Agree OP, its a nightmare trying to avoid Chinese Sellers now.

[jaelen363]

Just recently I needed a small cast-iron tripod to use as a base for a round-bottomed plant pot.

Someone told me to do a search for bunsen burner tripods, and the ones I found images of looked like they would work perfectly.

The first place I looked was Ebay, and after nearly half an hour of trying to find a genuine UK seller, (they all claim to be in London or Manchester, but scrolling down proves otherwise) I gave up.

Instead I looked for lab equipment suppliers on Google, and found what I needed that way. It arrived within 24 hours.

I'm starting to do this more and more... it's getting to the point where I only buy second-hand things on Ebay now.

[mr._standfast]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@fire_alarms wrote:

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?

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Agree OP, its a nightmare trying to avoid Chinese Sellers now.

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There is no fllter to select sellers in the UK or British, You can only select by the location of the item, which may somtimes be untruthfully declared, but far more often truthfully. I think the board rules allow us only to advise against wasting your time complaining to the site administrator.

[Anonymous]

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@mr._standfast wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@fire_alarms wrote:

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?

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Agree OP, its a nightmare trying to avoid Chinese Sellers now.

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There is no fllter to select sellers in the UK or British, You can only select by the location of the item, which may somtimes be untruthfully declared, but far more often truthfully. I think the board rules allow us only to advise against wasting your time complaining to the site administrator.

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I know there is no filter to avoid Chinese Sellers, but eBay should have a verification of item location system instead of leaving Buyers with the hassle of doing it.  Its wrong.   These Chinese Sellers are sending their items to our Airports and posting from there to cover up that their goods are NOT located in the UK???  I have written proof of that scam!!  Its blatant deception IMO.

[mr._standfast]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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There is no fllter to select sellers in the UK or British, You can only select by the location of the item, which may somtimes be untruthfully declared, but far more often truthfully. I think the board rules allow us only to advise against wasting your time complaining to the site administrator.

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I know there is no filter to avoid Chinese Sellers, but eBay should have a verification of item location system instead of leaving Buyers with the hassle of doing it.  Its wrong.   These Chinese Sellers are sending their items to our Airports and posting from there to cover up that their goods are NOT located in the UK???  I have written proof of that scam!!  Its blatant deception IMO.

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Suggestions to eBay should be made to eBay, and I know they will give them the attention they think they deserve. Suppose the seller actually does have a fulfilment centre warehouse in the UK, how do you propose eBay should go about verifying whether an item is there when the listing is opened?

Anything that could be done that way is likely to be both inadequate and expensive, and buyers will end up paying for it through sellers' fees. It seems a poor response to the bargains and good service British buyers in large numbers are obtaining from Chinese sellers with UK stock, far more often than they don't.

[Anonymous]

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@mr._standfast wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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There is no fllter to select sellers in the UK or British, You can only select by the location of the item, which may somtimes be untruthfully declared, but far more often truthfully. I think the board rules allow us only to advise against wasting your time complaining to the site administrator.

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I know there is no filter to avoid Chinese Sellers, but eBay should have a verification of item location system instead of leaving Buyers with the hassle of doing it.  Its wrong.   These Chinese Sellers are sending their items to our Airports and posting from there to cover up that their goods are NOT located in the UK???  I have written proof of that scam!!  Its blatant deception IMO.

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Suggestions to eBay should be made to eBay, and I know they will give them the attention they think they deserve. Suppose the seller actually does have a fulfilment centre warehouse in the UK, how do you propose eBay should go about verifying whether an item is there when the listing is opened?

Anything that could be done that way is likely to be both inadequate and expensive, and buyers will end up paying for it through sellers' fees. It seems a poor response to the bargains and good service British buyers in large numbers are obtaining from Chinese sellers with UK stock, far more often than they don't.

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Well I am glad you are so confident eBay 'will' give them all the attention they may deserve!!.  They dont from what I have observed.  Perhaps you can enlighten everyone as to where eBays suggestion box is, I have loads of ideas they might wish to consider!!

If the Chinese Sellers do indeed have fulfilment centre warehouses in the UK, why cant they take returns to those UK warehouses??  Why would they not put that facility at their UK warehouses, instead of having to lose their items and payments when a dispute is opened against them???  I think you will find they dont take returns here because they have nowhere to take them to!!, a flat, po box, fake address!!   Their items must be worth extremely little to afford that kind of loss all the time, but that does not surprise me actuall!!    

[veradan666]

It is so frustrating that a lot of China sellers are listing their items located in the UK.

When searching for an item located in UK ONLY more than 50% of the listings are Chinese sellers. A few months ago I purchased an item the listing stated location in UK, the item arrived late and was damaged & guess what... It was posted from China.

Now what I have to do before making a purchase that states located in UK is to look at the sellers legal information which shows the sellers name and address & the really annoying thing is that most of them are from China.

Its not so easy now shopping on ebay, it is more time consuming trying to find a genuine UK seller.

[mr._standfast]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@mr._standfast wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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There is no fllter to select sellers in the UK or British, You can only select by the location of the item, which may somtimes be untruthfully declared, but far more often truthfully. I think the board rules allow us only to advise against wasting your time complaining to the site administrator.

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I know there is no filter to avoid Chinese Sellers, but eBay should have a verification of item location system instead of leaving Buyers with the hassle of doing it.  Its wrong.   These Chinese Sellers are sending their items to our Airports and posting from there to cover up that their goods are NOT located in the UK???  I have written proof of that scam!!  Its blatant deception IMO.

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Suggestions to eBay should be made to eBay, and I know they will give them the attention they think they deserve. Suppose the seller actually does have a fulfilment centre warehouse in the UK, how do you propose eBay should go about verifying whether an item is there when the listing is opened?

Anything that could be done that way is likely to be both inadequate and expensive, and buyers will end up paying for it through sellers' fees. It seems a poor response to the bargains and good service British buyers in large numbers are obtaining from Chinese sellers with UK stock, far more often than they don't.

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Well I am glad you are so confident eBay 'will' give them all the attention they may deserve!!.  They dont from what I have observed.  Perhaps you can enlighten everyone as to where eBays suggestion box is, I have loads of ideas they might wish to consider!!

If the Chinese Sellers do indeed have fulfilment centre warehouses in the UK, why cant they take returns to those UK warehouses??  Why would they not put that facility at their UK warehouses, instead of having to lose their items and payments when a dispute is opened against them???  I think you will find they dont take returns here because they have nowhere to take them to!!, a flat, po box, fake address!!   Their items must be worth extremely little to afford that kind of loss all the time, but that does not surprise me actuall!!    

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I imagine they rely on far, far more British buyers getting the items from where it is declared, and being happy with it, than have to return them.

In what way does an inability to accept returns harm them, if they don't get return requests?

In what way does it affect your right to either a no-fault or misdescription return?

Try doing a few searches for items with "UK stock" in the title, which is almost always done by Chinese registered sellers. Then look at their negatives or neutral feedback. I don't really believe I will find you are right, just by studying listings with a view to protecting British sellers from competition. But I know that among those "UK stock" sellers, it is rare to find more than a small sprinkling of feedback for sending items from China. Some, far from all, of these sellers, who often sell hundreds of thousands of items, may sometimes try to make up a stockholding shortfal by sending from China. But it is transparently obvious that they can't be doing business from an accommodation address. You will realise that if you think about it.

About a seventeenth of the feedback you have left negative or neutral. It may have been justified, although some of it does suggest an excessively uncritical eye. The point though is that only one of themm, more than a year ago,  has been for an item fraudulently located in China. Your actual experience has been just what so many British buyers have been very pleased with. and why should you expect them to give it up for you?

[harryajh]

I've bought several "uk only" items and had to wait nearly a month for shipment from China - it seems "anything to make a sell" applies to eBay these days sadly!

[mr._standfast]

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@harryajh wrote:

I've bought several "uk only" items and had to wait nearly a month for shipment from China - it seems "anything to make a sell" applies to eBay these days sadly!

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Did you open and win an Item Not Received case in the first half of that money, or did you avoid reading an excessively long delivery estimate for a UK item?

That makes several times that you haven't left feedback for it.

[harryajh]

what has feedback got to do with anything?

like I said, I've bought several items with the "uk only" option ticked and they've come from China, just tried it again and 100s are shown that have nothing to do with the UK!

[northy.says.no.to.bullying]

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@harryajh wrote:

what has feedback got to do with anything?

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I think the point is, if you leave appropriate feedback it warns other users of a seller's misconduct. If you don't, and their behaviour has caused you as much annoyance as it clearly has, then all you're doing is letting someone else go through it too.

Factual feedback is the best weapon against sellers who misrepresent their location.....there is no reason why anybody who is annoyed by such things shouldn't do their best to warn others, and, incidentally, if enough people did that....the seller wouldn't be around to mislead others.

[harryajh]

maybe I should have left feedback but my main point was if you select "uk only", dozens and dozens of  "From China" and "From Hong Kong" sellers come up, that's eBay's fault - rmaybe best agree to disagree!

[mr._standfast]

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@harryajh wrote:

maybe I should have left feedback but my main point was if you select "uk only", dozens and dozens of  "From China" and "From Hong Kong" sellers come up, that's eBay's fault - rmaybe best agree to disagree!

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Of course feedback is important, and an act ot responsibility, for the reasons Mr. Sanity says. If you don't leave it, no doubt you will feel better about yourself if you avoid using the feedback other buyers have left for you.

But as we aren't allowed to give seller IDs or item numbers on this board, feedback is a useful and legitimate way for us to evaluate what happened, whether it happened, and how much you minded at the time.

Something can hardly be eBay's fault if it isn't a fault, and I believe the law is that Chinese people and companies must be allowed to do business in the UK. That is all some with a sufficiently... exceptional... motivation can detect in dozens and dozens of listings. Those business seller addresses belong to people a lot less alien to me than a lot of others we see on eBay.

You can detect thousands and thousands of them by searching for "UK stock" in titles, and almost invariably find the item location declared as in the UK. (A person who doesn't want to be unencumbered with £9.99 evening dresses can eliminate them, and almost all Chinese sellers, by filtering for a reasonabe price band.) Many of them will have feedback which, while fairly good for the quality range, shows only a very occasional stocking shortfall made up by shipping from China.

Hundreds of thousands of British buyers are overwhelmingly getting what they bargain for, from where they bargain for, and are as entitled to it as I was to shop in Marks and Spencers in Kuwait. Even if eBay were free to do so, why should they give you what you want, rather than them?

[tisworthmore]

I always use the U.K. filter if I want quick delivery.The delivery time is the giveaway and should always be checked,if it is more than a few days - avoid - it's coming from China.There is no excuse for not delivering things within 3 or 4 days if it is in the U.K. Should you not get the delivery by the stated dates make a claim!   There is never a problem with returning goods or non-delivery by the way -You will always get a refund.   I would also like to add that  the quality of jewellery I have been buying from China over 12 years has been superb. I fact I have seen some items being re-sold on eBay for over 5 times it's value by U.K. sellers !

[paul0458]

My first answer would be shop elsewhere but then there are some very good sellers on ebay with good reputations and why should they be maligned?  I think we need, as a collective, to make a formal complain to ebay and tell them it is time to address the issue.  they are not only there to represent sellers but to protect buyers as well.

I have just learned to scroll down - it is easy in most cases to see who the chinese sellers are - they offer free postage and the clothes are very cheap - you get what you pay for but it is totally unacceptable.  Tantamount to fraud.  I wonder what ebay would do if someone made a complain to customers and trading about them??????

I have stopped shopping on amazon as altghough they delivery is quick, there is no formum, no way to complain about shoddy goods and have had loads of prbolems with them not accepting my cards.  they do not accept paypal and now I won't buy anywhere on lline unless paypal is offered. 

[paul0458]

Many people have had such a bad experience of buying inferior goods from Chinese sellers that they do not want to see anything from them.  We should be entitled to filter them out!!!!