chinese sellers saying their location is in canada or the u.s.

[petestunes2112]

seeing more & more sellers from china, hong kong etc.    and seeing more & more saying in listings their location is in Canada or the U.S.    why is this allowed ?  it must be against ebay policy.  doesn't ebay check these new sellers. or is it up to us to complain.  

[reallynicestamps]

Well, it may be true.

Many Chinese sellers import their items , particularly the bulky or high value ones, wholesale to the USA and warehouse them there. Those are actually shipped from the US warehouse to the buyer.

This may change with the 25% US tariff on Chinese goods, since high value wholesale imports would be taxed, while single items selling under the US $800 duty-free allowance would sail through customs.

Location is pretty much an honour system.

We have quite a few Canadian sellers who use freight forwarders to take advantage of low USPS shipping rates but who actually live and stock their products in Canada.

EBay doesn't really have a way to monitor this, except by Reports from customers unhappy with the very short delay, which may in any case be reported as part of the "handling time" for the shipment.

'Many North American sellers are dropshipping.

The seller is in the US or Canada, but the product is overseas.

Some of these sellers (and dropshipping notoriously attracts the "get rich quick" "selling is easy" crowd) put down their own location. Some are naive who do this. Many are deliberate.

EBay does not allow sellers to use incorrect locations.

Buyers who suddenly find their purchase will take weeks to arrive instead of days, can file a Not Received Dispute after the last estimated date for delivery has passed.

If the seller cannot prove Delivery (not shipping, delivery)  the buyer is refunded.  (The item may arrive later of course. Now the buyer has an ethical dilemma.)

If the purchase arrives in time, but from the wrong location, the buyer can open a Not As Described dispute.

The seller may be required to pay for Return Shipping (with tracking and internationally). When the shipment shows as returned (delivered not shipped) the buyer is refunded.

If the seller does not refund voluntarily, eBay will, and go after the seller for their money. Even more important, the seller gets a Defect which can lead to higher fees, restriction on the number and value of listings, or closure of the selling account.

But the buyer has to Report the problem or open a Dispute.

Otherwise eBay doesn't know.

So yes, it is up to the buyer to complain, usually by opening a Dispute.

Members who spot these can Report them, but eBay will not do anything about a single report from a single member who has not been involved with the seller.

The reporter might be a vigilante or a mischief maker. He may be a competitor. He may even just plain be wrong.

Multiple complaints and Disputes are more reliable.

[15westcoast]

I just went through one of these "buyer in Calgary " but in fact was in

China and so was the item I ordered.  I saw the same item listed by sellers

in China and chose not to buy from them due to long waits and uncertain delivery.

I finally asked for a refund which the seller sent after waiting for six weeks.  I know the

refund was sent so I would not consider leaving a negative feedback.  I was reprimanded

by Ebay for mentioning this in the community forums and leaving the sellers Ebay name.

My question is still the same--what is Ebay doing about these sellers who misrepresent their

place of business ?  I have seen several  listings "Calgary"  or "Canada CA"  which are actually

Chinese sellers in China.  This is false advertising and misleading for buyers.

[femmefan1946]

I finally asked for a refund which the seller sent after waiting for six weeks.

Did you ask the seller?

That's usually useless when the seller has already shown himself to be dishonest, in this case be falsifying the location.

Did you open a Dispute in the Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page?

EBay will not allow this until the window for delivery they gave you closes.  That window is based in part on the delivery period given on the listing's shipping tab.

But once opened, if the seller cannot prove Delivery (not shipping, delivery) you will be refunded.

You can try to Dispute earlier by going to Paypal, which allows Disputes for 180 days from your payment. PP usually will allow some time for delivery if the seller can prove shipping, but often these crooks are using cheap untracked Surface shipping and can't even do that.

I was reprimanded by Ebay

We can give the transaction number or listing title, but no "name and shame" in part because the poster could be wrong or a competitor or a mischief maker.

I know the refund was sent so I would not consider leaving a negative feedback.

Have you actually seen it on your PP or credit card account?

You have only 60 days from purchase to leave feedback. While eBay does not use FB to assess accounts, it is used by some buyers to get a feel for the seller's competence.

But if you already waited six weeks for a refund, you may be past the deadline for feedback anyway.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@15westcoast 

This definitely needs to be more about prevention vs a buyer waiting patiently forever for something that they may require in the as posted delivery schedule and then being forced to re-order, truly to no fault of their own. Sadly, I've discovered those questionable sellers you note. Stated as Calgary, Toronto, CANADA but actually product was located in China. All this does is leave a bad taste in ones mouth in dealing with eBay in the future.

-Lotz

[petestunes2112]

I to was scammed by a seller saying location Calgary. & also got my money back.  as in the reply to my question. its up to us to file a complaint when we have purchased from people like that.?   I check feedback every time I purchase. as it will say the sellers proper location.  but, a couple of times when I have wanted to purchase an item saying location Canada, when feedback checked it says china, I've sent messages to them asking why locations don't match.  they reply saying " don't worry we also have warehouse in Canada .??????  do I believe them ?????   as a buyer we should not have to deal with this...ebay hires people to read our messages.. why can't they get someone to double check what these sellers are doing. ?   maybe in time when more people complain they might do something about it ?

[teenytrinkets]

That happened to me too, but the item was from Korea and taking FOREVER!

But the (very busy) seller still managed to message me back a couple of times. I was days away from filing an INR when I received my item. I messaged her to tell her and she thanked me. Very pleasant!

At the end of the day, if it's cheap and you can wait - who cares where it's coming from? You'll get a refund if you don't get it in a month anyway!

(Can't you tell I'm much more relaxed BUYER than SELLER)? And as we all know, for good reason! Lol

[femmefan1946]

@teenytrinkets 

It is important to realize, as you have found, that China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan are all very different countries and cultures.

@petestunes2112 

The tip about looking at feedback for the seller's location is very helpful.

Feedback itself can only be a rough guide because so few transactions get any feedback, and I firmly believe most is left automatically by sellers.  (And of course, buyers can only get positive feedback, which is fine by me.)

Feedback is most useful when negs and neutrals for a seller form a pattern of bad behaviour and when FB Left for Others exposes a difficult personality.

[jeff24spl]

i think i got scammed the same way right now.  I bought something yesterday with an Ontario item location with a 4-18 days.  I did ask seller if he can ship it fast for a gift. The answer was about it would take 15 to 25 days to arrive and take time to precise it is too late to cancel lol.  (I often buy directly from an Ontario supplier and get stuff in about 2-3 days out of ebay)

I went to the seller info to discover he his from China but advertise with item location in Ontario....How can this scam be still allowed ?

Should not you have a programmed code to block a seller to advertise with a different country and ask a proof of adress if he claim to have a Canadian wharehouse or something ?  I was hesitating between choosing Ebay or Amazon at time of purchase but the delay was looking faster here...it will end up longer....This doesn't help choosing ebay...

[reallynicestamps]

The answer was about it would take 15 to 25 days to arrive

This information should have showed before you agreed to buy. But the actual listing says four to 18 days? Mark Day 18 on your calendar.

That being said, as a long time mail order seller (I even sold cast iron wood stoves by mail in the 80s) your seller may just have been being cautious.
In my experience, while domestically mailed goods can arrive faster,  two weeks is not unusual (even without the COVID slowdowns) and three weeks is nothing to get excited about.

That being said, it's usually faster and Canada Post Regular Parcel has eight* days for National Regular Parcel, although most sellers use Expedited Parcel which is faster.

Which is the pre-COVID standard.

From China, I would allow  30 days before complaining, based again on experience, but China Post and DHL have a pretty good record of faster Air Mail shipping. The ones to avoid are the Surface Mail ones, which easily take three months.

Frankly, a Chinese seller warehousing in Canada would most likely be shipping from Vancouver where there is a vibrant Sino-Canadian population.

The difference between AZ and eBay is that AZ has several Fulfillment Centres across Canada, and even rent space to online sellers who use other venues, like eBay and etsy, while eBay does not compete with its sellers but acts as "only a venue". When you buy on eBay you are not buying from eBay.

*National- the Regional standard is three days

https://www.canadapost.ca/information/app/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

[tyler@ebay]

HI everyone - 

Due to the age of this thread since it was begun I have blocked it from further replies. If this is still a topic that warrants further discussion please don't hesitate to begin a new thread!