Products from China

[guruj1]

Hi. First time here. Anyone having any difficulty getting products from China? I ordered a couple of small knives from China a long time ago and they still haven't arrived. The dollar value isn't much so I'm not in a panic but I'm really tired of waiting. Anyone else having this problem.?

Guruji

[momcqueen]

Everyone is experiencing this problem. Lettermail from China is being delayed due to Customs processing while agents search for illegal drugs. It's a big problem. Google the search term 'China mail fentanyl' and you'll see. In the meantime, shop from sellers in North American or Europe. And use paypal's 180 days of Buyer Protection. 

[reallynicestamps]

If it has been less than 30 days since the last estimated date for delivery, go to the Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page and open an Item Not Received dispute.

If it has been longer, go to your Paypal account instead. Their Resolution Centre is at the top of the page under Tools.

In either case the first suggestion is to Contact the Seller.

If you do, the ONLY thing you want is a refund. Don't get into a conversation and don't accept an offer of a replacement. It won't arrive either.

Ask eBay/PP to step in and escalate to a Claim.

If the seller cannot prove delivery (not shipping, delivery) you will be refunded.

When the purchase finally arrives, you can return the refund by using Paypal's Send Money Service.

[patken123]

In my personal experience, Items I buy on Amazon from Chinese re-sellers (also from, HK,Taiwan,etc) are delivered much faster than bought on ebay, I get my orders from China within 21 days, that's how long it used to take on ebay but now it usually takes 8 weeks or more.

I must add, my orders do cost more,could probably pay less than half for them on ebay but I can live with that increase if it means I don't have to wait 2 months to receive them.

[momcqueen]

Many of those A-river sellers from China are drop-shipping from outside China to/from countries in Europe so that their lettermail is not held on entry to Canada. Naturally, this increases their costs.

[dgw6273]

Hi reallynicestamps,

Respectfully I have to request that you to moderate your suggestion a little - if everyone followed your suggestion without being aware of the facts of the matter (delays because of customs) then

A. All sellers (most of them good ones) would be suffering alot.

B. They would continue to ban sales to Canada, and that doesn't help anyone.

If sellers are not willing to communicate and ignore queries, sure go ahead and take action. But I hope you will add it's much better to communicate with sellers, and/or try to be aware of the current situation.

Namely,

1. Delivery to Canada has been slow for a long time since their postal/custom service doesn't get enough funds to deliver the quantity of small items they're assigned.

2. Fentanyl is the cause of the extreme delays the past ~6 months - its pushed delivery times for many/most Canadian customers to 3 months+

Which is ridiculous, but from the best information I've found - these are the facts.

Among eBay administration and most other sellers there, these facts are little known - I don't think its fair to make innocent sellers pay the price of every other party involved.

(FWIW, I've only received one single payment for receipt after refund from a buyer, from hundreds that I've been forced to refund over the years - encouraging forcing refunds then suggesting paying the seller back later doesn't fill me with one bit of faith that it would work)

[momcqueen]

Hundreds of refunds? May I kindly suggest that you switch to a tracked postage service to prevent your items being lost en route to their buyers?

[momcqueen]

Also, buyers routinely send funds to repay their sellers. See http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Packaging-Shipping/I-didn-t-receive-my-item-the-seller-refunded-me-then-... for an example of one. We see this question almost as often as those about delays from items coming from China. If 99 per cent of your buyers have not rapid you when their item arrived, I would have to suggest that perhaps they never did receive that item? 

[ay656]

I ordered several things in December and haven't received half of them. But, I did receive them all this week (four months later). I filed "not received" claims for these items and most sellers refunded my money. So, after I received the items I had to pay back.

Bottom line: I lost time filing the inquiries and I lost few dollars in currency exchange.

[redribbonred]

Yes >100 refunds. In 4 years. Maybe 2 per month or so.
"Your totals to date
Transactions
14061"
So maybe up to 1% of sales are refunded 🙂 it's acceptable.
We always looking to improve, and many of the refunds are not unreasonable. The one's that are frustrating are however.
Learning more information and communicating about it works best.

Regarding the currency exchange, that's a bit unfortunate. I'm sure the sellers wouldn't mind if you paid them 80-90% of the price back for example.
But the asians would bless you with good karma, and you can feel quite honourable for what I'd say is a rare act in my experience 😄

[femmefan1946]

I'm surprised that the shipping delays from China are also hitting the Taiwanese sellers, since, in my opinion, one of the reasons for the delays is dishonest sellers (encouraged by a country with no Rule of Law) who never send anything.

I agree that most sellers including Chinese are honest and ship promptly, if by slow Surface services.

And as you say, refunds for delayed delivery hurt the honest seller much more than the crooks.

I saw an article not long ago about 'shrinkage" at WalMart,which they reckon to be about 1.2% of sales.

So your 1% becomes reasonable and just a cost of doing business. (Yucch!)