eBay

rose-dee · ‎10-14-2016

I recently purchased a specialty tailoring tool from an eBay seller located in Hong Kong. This was a small item ($6.99 US) but unavailable anywhere in North America. Shipping was free.

Yesterday I received my parcel, via Swiss Post, from Zurich. No shipping charge shown on the label, and no return address except "Exchange Office", followed by an unusual-looking alpha-numeric code, and "Zurich, Switzerland". The CN22 form (customs declaration) was accurate, and even included the HS code. It was not signed, but a clearly Chinese name was printed below the signature line.

My item was carefully wrapped and contained in a nice little box, and it works just fine. However, there is no country of manufacture stamped anywhere on the tool itself, which, if I'm not mistaken, is a violation of international trade law.

This same item is being listed by other Chinese/Hong Kong sellers on eBay. In fact, I had purchased one early in the summer from a different Chinese seller and subsequently received a weird, rather garbled message from the seller saying they could not ship because of "the Customs problem" and would have to refund me. Hmm.

I'm trying to imagine what the arrangement is here -- generic, unmarked items manufactured in China (or elsewhere?) shipped en masse to Europe, then sent using China Post's subsidies via Swiss Post. Say what?

recped · ‎10-14-2016

When a Chinese buyer purchases from me their package would have a label from B-Post (the Belgian Post Office) and a Canada Post CN22 with my name on it.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
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rose-dee · ‎10-14-2016

@recped wrote:
When a Chinese buyer purchases from me their package would have a label from B-Post (the Belgian Post Office) and a Canada Post CN22 with my name on it.

Yes, but why? Do you know what's going on behind the scenes here? I'm just very curious about the mechanics of this. Is the PRC paying subsidies directly to foreign postal systems on behalf of their own nationals?

For example, did my item actually originate in Switzerland, or is the PRC just piggy-backing off Swiss Post and using its labels?

And what about the generic product, with no country origin stamped on it? This is a manufactured item, not hand-made.

rose-dee · ‎10-14-2016

Incidentally, I forgot to mention my item arrived in 8 business days, which in my experience is very unusual for items coming from China. Usually I wait 20 to 30 days for those. This suggests to me that my item was actually sent from Switzerland.

So what's the deal? Bootleg manufacturing done somewhere in the world, then shipped to Switzerland and delivered via Swiss Post using Chinese money? I'm stumped.

recped · ‎10-14-2016

Why? Well obviously because it's cheaper for me to ship that way (might even be faster).

Your purchase never had anything whatsoever to do with China Post, it was shipped to Switzerland in bulk and then sent on from there.

In the case of your Chinese seller they are using this system specifically to avoid using China Post, probably costing them a bit more but they would be getting much faster delivery.

The mechanics are very simple, my packages along with those of other shippers are sent via Air Cargo to Brussels, handed over to BPost who ship it out via the normal postal streams. Basically it's "fun & games" with the UPU Terminal Dues system.

http://landmarkglobal.com/en_CA/

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

rose-dee · ‎10-14-2016

Here's the weird (translated?) and rather humorous message I received from the first buyer from whom I purchased the same item and was later refunded: "Sorry, the recent customs inspection of the strict, today received notification item were detained, not to send."

Which I now assume had something to do with the fact that there was no manufacturing country of origin stamped on the item. Clearly the value ($6.99) alone wasn't the issue.

rose-dee · ‎10-14-2016

@recped wrote:

Your purchase never had anything whatsoever to do with China Post, it was shipped to Switzerland in bulk and then sent on from there.

That makes sense, and is what I suspected, but for a $6.99 item? I don't understand how shipping a cheap item from Switzerland is less expensive than subsidized shipping from China, but maybe it is.

I've ordered a number of small, inexpensive supplies from China over the past couple of years (all with free shipping and all sent via China Post), but this is the first time I've ever seen a Swiss Post label.

"In the case of your Chinese seller they are using this system specifically to avoid using China Post, probably costing them a bit more but they would be getting much faster delivery."

Yes, my initial guess was exactly as you indicated, that Chinese sellers were getting dinged by eBay's on-time delivery metric by using China Post, and that some had found a novel way to circumvent the problem. Still doesn't explain the completely generic manufactured item, but who knows what goes on there.

All very interesting.

recped · ‎10-14-2016

It would not have anything to do with eBay's metrics. I buy a lot from China, they never have any trouble meeting the delivery estimates when they ship using China Post since the delivery estimates eBay gives are very reasonable (about 3 - 6 weeks). Normal delivery times from China that I'm seeing are almost always 18 - 25 days, when I leave feedback I get the "did it arrive by xxx" and that date is always 10 - 20 days in the future.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.