Item Location.

[midnight_starr2007]

Hello,

I am from Canada and whenever I shop on Ebay.ca, I always check that the item is located in North America. 

However, last year I did buy a water flosser that I thought was from North America, but the Seller failed to let the buyer know that the item comes from outside of North America. I have been waiting for two months for that item, only to get a refund and later checking that the item's location was in China not in North America. Plus the item was returned to the manufacturer a month after I bought it.

There is another item that I bought a few weeks ago, which I did click on the item location to be in North America, but as I am tracking it through show shipping details. It still says "Shipping Info Received." and that I am supposed to get this item (Which is eye shadow) by this Monday. As I looked at the Shipping Carrier, it's UBI, which is from China not North America.

There should be a way to let sellers know the difference between where they are located and where the items that they are selling are coming from (I know that some sellers are drop shippers or something like that). It seems that they forget to uncheck North America in item location when they are entering the item to be sold.

But what else can I do to make sure that the item that I am buying is located in North America?

[retroman_studios]

If your seller's name is something like happyspree47 or gooddeals365 or any other whacky name that sounds like it was picked by someone who didn't have a full grasp of the English language, chances are it's a Chinese seller who is (tisk tisk) abusing eBay's system. If you click on the username, it will tell you where they registered.

Also most fake locations often use CA, CA or CANADA, CA as the location. 

If the shipping costs seems out of whack with CPC rates, it's probably a Chinese seller. Like selling an item which has to go parcel but they are only charging 29.95 & 2.03 shipping. The key is the low shipping and odd number, as it fluctuates with currency changes.

If the listing doesn't contain much info but instead has photos of practically every other item the seller has, probably Chinese.

The filters on eBay are well, kinda broken because there are cheaters everywhere. So what you do is select a range of prices and sort by those price ranges. So if you want to search between $30 and $50, you can still sort by lowest price, but most of the junk below $30 is gone. Because many sellers spam the low price ranges with multi offer listings that show a photo of the high priced item with the price of the slightly related rubber attachment that they sell for 99 cents. 

Still use the "Canada" or "North America" but use the above tips. Also keep in mind from experience sponsored listings are not region specific. So eBay may show a sponsored listing that is not in North America.

If you do buy from a user who lies about an items location, be sure to report them. If no one reports them, eBay has zero way of knowing its happening.

[reallynicestamps]

Location on a listing is supposed to be the location of the goods, but many dropshipping sellers either purposely or naively put their own location.

A dropshipper is a Westerner taking orders from listings chosen from a catalogue, and sending those orders to the overseas seller.

As well as the clues already mentioned, most dropshippers have many many competitors selling the exact same product with the exact same pictures and the exact same descriptions.

Use your Watch List to compare possible dropshipped items.

But first, decide what your reason for avoiding Chinese made items is.

If it is a question of quality, try Searching using Highest Price First, and drilling down to your price point.  This will be a shorter Search and will put most of the low quality garbage at the bottom of your list.

If it is a question of dislike of China, you will find that a very large amount of common goods are made there, and that many products made in Vietnam, or Haitia, or Africa are from Chinese companies, looking for less expensive labour.

If it is time, look at the shipping page.  And be prepared to pay for either higher North American shipping, or Air Mail International delivery.

[midnight_starr2007]

Hello,

Thanks for the info. The reason why I choose North America than say China or Europe or Britain, has more to do with delivery time. Otherwise, I would rather have something delivered to me in 6 weeks or less than wait 2 months or more.