UK sellers not based in the UK.

I have noticed a massive increase in listings on ebay starting that the seller is in the UK, the item is listed as shipping from the UK and the item is clearly labelled as UK stock.

 

The item then takes 14 days to arrive and has a customs note and has clearly been shipped from China. 

 

Why are these sellers able to falsely advertise and get away with it? 

 

This is a huge problem and one that is putting me off using ebay. 

 

 

 

 

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Answers (1)

red_magpie
Experienced Mentor

Many sellers in China have a distribution base in the UK, which allows them to list items as UK stock.

It isn't always even clear that the the seller is registered in China; sometimes you can only tell by viewing the seller's feedback page. It's important to know, as when buying from a seller in China, regardless of where the item was located, there is a risk that items may not comply with UK safety standards. Plus, you won't have any UK statutory consumer rights


If an item is misrepresented as being located in the UK, but is actually send from China, this is reportable to eBay using the reporting link provided in every listing (far right, opposite Postage and Payments).

Report Category: Select 'listing practices'.
Reason for Report: Select 'other listing practices policy violations'
Detailed Reason: select 'Item location misrepresentation'

Incidentally, if the item location is stated to be in the UK, you do NOT have to return it to China in the event of an eBay money back guarantee claim. EBay will require the seller to send a prepaid return label to their UK address. If it was stated to be located in China you would probably have to pay the return postage yourself.

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