A theory as to the alarming increase in "Item not recieved" incidences from Overseas sellers

[caron_steve]

There's been  much discussion about the alarming increase of Ebay items purchased from Overseas vendors (not referring to Europe)  that never arrive.  Some of the theories out there are anything from the recent changes to various country's policies regarding exporting Lithium batteries or Lithium bi-products, to slowdowns due to recent Typhoons or Hurricanes or increased safety inspections.  However how conducive these reasons are to explain why we just aren't receiving our merchandise, I see another trend arising from some of the loopholes in Ebay's resolutions and feedback policies.  While you may not have received your last 3 shipments of USB cables and Iphone screen protectors, considering that the Seller you purchased them from made approx. 10,000 transactions last month means that Ebay has to decide what's more important to them fiscally;  An unhappy buyer that lost $23 in cheap electronics that were never shipped, or 5-10% in commission of the Seller's monthly sales, which, just to ballpark it, could mean around $3,000 to $10,000 in fees for Ebay for that month.  So, when a Seller lobbies Ebay to have a bad feedback rating revoked, or have a resolution turn in their favor just because they claimed an item was shipped,  Ebay, more often than not, takes the side of the Seller.  Please keep in mind that I'm not referring to North American or European based Sellers or any seller, for that matter, that offers a valid Tracking number.  This theory only pans out for items that are offered with "Free" shipping.  Why do you think there's been a huge increase in the amount of items listed overseas that offer free shipping?  Because virtually all items that are shipped with the Free Shipping option have no tracking number!  Reasons given from overseas sellers are because of the low cost of the shipping, no tracking number is issued.  That way, when a Resolution is opened against them ,all they have to do is claim the items were shipped and negative feedback and the resolution get dropped.  Because there's no tracking number, there's no way to dispute that!  Now, am I saying that all Overseas Sellers are trending towards these sort of dishonest habits?  No, of course not.  What I am saying, though, is that these unbalanced policies from Ebay allow SOME sellers to run their businesses with a higher factor of "error", meaning that less staff in their companies are required in the selling and shipping process.  It's cheaper for them to hire 1 person to dispute bad feedback and resolutions all day then it is to hire 6-7 more staff to ensure that all 10,000 items actually get shipped.  This made sound ridiculous, but keep in mind that as buyers we have no way of knowing just how many times a Seller has had Negative feedback or Resolutions revoked, and if the average was a small number, I believe Ebay would make it visible to all potential buyers.  A 99.3% feedback rating for a Seller that utilizes Tracking Numbers is a good, reliable rating, but the same rating for a vendor that only deals in "Free Shipping" with no tracking numbers is more than likely horrible.

As a side note, I want to mention that during a conversation I had with a rep from Canada Post regarding the last 5 shipments from Asia that never arrived, it was brought to my attention that, no matter what shipping option from either China Post or Hong Kong Post is selected, that there IS ALWAYS a tracking number for it.  Granted, that tracking number may only work on the Hong Kong or China Post's websites, but they DO exist, and at least it indicates whether or not an items was actually ever shipped.  Taking that fact into consideration, it indicates to me that this is a trend of not listing Tracking Numbers is part of the strategy of operating an Ebay business that has a high fallout rate of items that are never shipped, and not having to answer for it. 

If Ebay actually was a business that had an avenue to allow Buyers to talk to an Ebay representative and not some automated roundabout or inarticulate Call-Center, then perhaps this issue could be addressed.  Until that happens though, I find the risk of shopping at Ebay far exceeds the reward.

[femmefan1946]

TL:DR

Don't buy anything from China that is too expensive to either return for refund or toss.

There is no Rule of Law in China.

You can leave feedback or the more important Detailed Seller Ratings. The lowest Rating is ONE Star. If a seller's DSRs drop below 4.3 his ability to list and sell is severely restricted.

Never allow a seller to offer a replacement. There is no reason to believe the replacement transaction will go any better than the first.

[ciny2k]

I have my own theory, and that's that China Mail might be a tad corrupt. Is it true? IDK. I don't make many overseas purchases, and it's only happened once where I didn't receive my item. I contacted the seller, and he said it must be China Mail...ok, lol. But he was very nice about it, refunding my money, and offering to try reshipping it - if I still wanted the item. I did, and it came a few weeks later. 

At the time, I didn't understand why the seller wouldn't just offer a replacement. But refunding the money and giving me an option to back out of the purchase makes sense. My rule of thumb is to keep the sale under $20, because I'm too cheap to shrug off anything higher than that, lol. 

[caron_steve]

Ciny2K, I understand your philosophy about keeping the amount under $20 so that the sting of a loss is bearable, but how many times should it be bearable? And what about the virtue of honesty? By saying that buying anything from China is a risk is the buyer's responsibility is fine, but why do we put up with a flawed process in the first place? I'm just saying that EBay's flawed ratings policies are allowing for a dishonest selling culture overseas. For us, it's theft, for them and Ebay, it's just business. Oh, and as for ChinaPost being suspect; I allow that that's always a possibility with any postal service, but such a crime in China would come with huge consequences, likely even tenure in a labor camp.

[patken123]

In cases of "item not received",I do not rely on ebay to take my side ,I only expect them to follow their own rules and policies  ,but since these rules are dependant on the ebay's  interpretation, therefore at times they are flawed .

Which means we have to have our own rules when it comes to purchases from China/HK/etc.

These are the rules(borrowed a couple from Femmefan )I follow when shopping from those countries:

RULE #:

#1=Don't buy anything from China that is too expensive to either return for refund or toss.

#2=Never allow a seller to offer a replacement.

#3= don't buy from sellers with less than 99.8% positive feedback.with less than at least 500 items sold.

#4= Carefully read their negative FB .and the seller's response to them.

#5 try to communicate before buying to gauge their responsiveness. 

If anyone else has more rules to add,please feel free to post. 

[ciny2k]

Caron_steve, I hate to sound like a jaded old skeptic (oops, impossible, lol) but whenever I make a purchase sight-unseen, I'm doing it knowing that I might end up disappointed. I'm not always 100% satisfied with every single ebay item I've ever received - I might not like the quality of the leather, or the size is wrong, blah blah blah. But that's a risk I'm  willing to take, the  gamble that comes with the bargain. Not wanting to blow more than $20 on something I might never get is one of my personal rules. Just like how I'll *never* buy anything breakable and have it shipped through GSP - I've read enough horror stories here to learn from others, but that's a whole different problem. I just don't think you can bring up the "virtue of honesty" when you don't know who the dishonest party is. Is it the seller, or is it their postal system, or how they ship the goods, or what? Did your seller offer a refund?