China to Canada not arriving? Ebay has a problem and must step in

[oragex]

Hello fellow Canadian members

It is well known that a very large percentage of items bought from China are never received by the Canadian buyers.  This is only a problem in Canada, not in the US.  It is a widespread problem for the Canadian buyers.

There have been already discussions on this.  For example  https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/China-to-Canada-not-arriving/td-p/206561

I want to resume the situation, and to ask the Ebay management to work out for a durable solution for this issue.

The problem started years ago, when the Canadian Customs were being very slow in inspecting the packages from China, creating this way a large delay in the delivery to the Canadian customers.  This delay caused many Canadian buyers to ask for refund, which hurt and created a distrust from the China sellers.  Ultimately, the Chinese sellers started to mark a very long shipping time for their items bought by Canadian members, a delay which goes past the 60 days limit the Ebay allows for leaving a feedback.  As of 2019, a majority of China sellers actually never ship out their items to Canada, because the Canadian buyers wait over 60 day to receive their items and cannot any longer leave a negative feedback for a missing item: this way the Chinese sellers feedback is not affected by the items they never shipped out.  More over, the Purchase history page does not allow asking for refund after 60 days from the purchase, so many Canadian members don't ask for a refund when their item is missing.

It is important to note that these missing items never arrive to the destination, not even 6 months or 1 year later.

Ebay must put pressure on the Chinese sellers, to prevent them from escaping when they don't ship out the items to Canada.  Ebay must extend the feedback time limit to be longer than the shipping time limit.  Same for the refund time limit on the Purchase history page.

I am also asking Ebay to communicate with the Canadian Customs.  The Canadian Customs are too slow to process the items from China.  In comparison, the US Customs are much more efficient.  The Canadian Customs must improve their process.  Ebay management as well as any Ebay member can communicate with the Canadian Customs  with this form https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/contact/feedback-retroaction-eng.html

As a Canadian buyer, I will stop purchasing for now from China, because there is no reason to purchase when most of the items never arrive.  It is sad, but necessary.

I think only Ebay can help with this issue at this time. 

I am attaching a video explaining how the Chinese sellers take advantage of the shipping delay to never send out their items to Canada and never get a negative feedback for this  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqHKIOAdVH4

Also a video showing how to get refund for a missing item after the 60 days delay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBzuL7wSo4Y

[femmefan1946]

I disagree with many of your premises, but basically, this can be a case of caveat emptor.

• read the shipping time and don't buy if it will be over 30 days
• read the feedback and don't buy if there is a pattern of complaints about slow shipping, non-delivery, poor quality, counterfeits, and poor communication.

Most Chinese sellers are honest, but there are a lot of them and some small percentage of those are not.

Most of the problems you complain about are not shipping, or processing problems.

They are sellers who never ship anything, because they have no products, only pictures and a website.

[patken123]

 I think you should look for those Chinese sellers who offer faster shipping methods like e-packet , that's if you are willing to pay the extra $2 to $5 ( on average),  IMHO it is well worth it , even other  online vendors who sell on  banggood or Ali express do exactly that, (offer 3-4 options to chose from) ,those old days of buying  from that part of the world with free shipping and have the order in 2-3 weeks are long gone , 

[oragex]

Unfortunately, there are no longer sellers with shipping time under 60 days.  At least for the items I need, I simply cannot find anyone with a shipping time inferior to 60 days.  I have to say, once the Chinese sellers learn a trick, all of them get into the same thing. 

Of course, I also have the option of not purchasing any longer from China on Ebay - the obvious option as of now, however this doesn't solve the issue.

You didn't read entirely my first post.  I explain there how the sellers keep a good feedback, while still not shipping out a percentage of their sales.  Have a look again at the first comment on this thread.

I disagree with the assumption that most Chinese sellers are honest.  They are honest if they have no choice.  Unfortunately, the way Ebay is managing the shipping time and the feedback time limit, the Chinese sellers have found a small crack in the system, and trust me, they WILL take advantage.

Again, have you looked at the link in the first post ?  That is an older discussion with plenty of people complaining about a large percentage of items never received. Those are not items out of stock or 'phantom' listings. 

[oragex]

ePacket is a good idea. but as of 2019, still too few items/sellers have this option.  I did purchase with ePacket in the past, when it was offered, and indeed it comes quickly - around 2 weeks, and rarely had a problem with it. Unfortunately, too little sellers offer this option by default - sometimes I had to email and ask them specifically, but since the option is not automatized in the listing, the seller can take the extra money and ship with the standard post - or even not ship the item at all.   For now Aliexpress is indeed a safer option, just wish they had all the items listed on Ebay.

[retroman_studios]

You raise a fair number of points.

However, it's not as simple as "Chinese sellers are crooks and eBay needs to punish them".

That's essentially what I hear, and I understand where that's coming from: frustration when it seems as though eBay is siding with sellers and allowing them to continue with "bad" practices.

Part of this frustration comes from lack of knowledge on the part of buyers who click "buy it now" but don't take a moment to familiarize themselves with eBay's policies and how to open cases. This in turn is complicated by eBay's "hiding" of purchases or the ability to open a case when delivery is past 60 days in the way most buyers do, by means of purchase history links. The solution is to go directly to the eBay resolution center and open a case from there, but that's not common knowledge.

The MBG allows buyers to open a not received case up to 30 days after the estimate of delivery, even if that estimate was 90 days. eBay's method for cases is rather.......clumsy but once you know how to do it, it can be of great help.

The more cases people open against a seller, the higher the chances of eBay suspension, because eBay sees a very noticeable metric. The issue is, it seems people like to complain more than get the money back. People want a voice. The voice isn't going to get your money back, but opening a case will, and if enough cases are opened, that will shut a business down faster than by yelling/ranting/complaining on a seller's feedback page, which a small percentage of people read anyways.

So you are correct that eBay needs to do something.

eBay needs to educate buyers and make the tools to protect themselves simpler, easier to locate. As it stands, if you are not savvy about eBay you are more likely to be scammed or taken advantage of. Knowledge is power.

So perhaps eBay can support some sort of training where users are asked to do a quick survey or info card where top tips for safety are mentioned, then get a small discount code for completion.

[oragex]

Oh no,  I don't favor approaches such as "Hope Ebay will punish the cheating sellers".  This is a punitive approach.  A much better and especially efficient way, is to create a mechanism that either prevents the fraud, or even better, encourages not to commit it. Again, such fraud was made possible by a weakness in the Ebay's policy.  This is why I believe Ebay must step in and correct the technical aspect of these transactions:  namely extend the feedback and refund timeline past the expected shipping timeline.  It is very easy to do, and I'm quite sure it will solve any further problems without hurting anyone.  After all, Ebay has only to win, commercially speaking.

I am sure this sort of fraud has escaped from Ebay's radar until now.  I believe Ebay has allowed Chinese sellers to extend the shipping timeline past 60 days, without realizing this will prevent buyers from leaving negative feedback (when needed).  I'm sure Ebay will realize at one point what is going on, and will remedy the situation.

I also like to mention that I'm not frustrated - I was only until I understood what was happening and what was creating the situation.  At this point, I am switching to Aliexpress and hope in the future to be back to Ebay.

[cooroxd]

So how does this happened? My postal code is in Vancouver. Port of entry from china is Vancouver but my package ends up in montreal airport? Wth is going on here? 

[reallynicestamps]

While it could be a fat fingered typo, it is also possible that the purchase went the opposite way  (west not east) to you.

This could be part of spoke and hub delivery systems, where all the packages to a destination (like North America) are sent to a single point and then that large shipment is broken up into more detailed shipments.

If you ever went to Cuba by way of Calgary and Toronto, you've experienced the same system.

It feels counter-intuitive, but it is apparently more efficient than more direct shipping. 

More important, your purchase is in Canada and moving towards you. 

If the shipment is late, you are covered by eBay's Money Back Guarantee which is claimed through the Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page.

[alezna]

Hi, just want you to know that Estimated Delivery time is not determined by the sellers, but by Ebay, based on several factors such as handling time, shipping method, sellers and buyers zip code. I agree that the leave feedback option should be longer than the estimated delivery time. 

As to request refund option, it is available after the estimated delivery time has expired, just contact the seller and choose I didn't receive my item topic.

[femmefan1946]

Keep in mind that feedback is not used by eBay to assess member accounts.

That is done by Disputes and Claims in the Resolution Centre and by other metrics that are more behind the scenes (shipping promptly, using tracking, Reports).

Feedback is used by future customers of that seller.  And Feedback Left for Others is used by sellers to assess Best Offers and auction bids.

Feedback is entirely voluntary and has never been left for more than 40% of transactions in all my decades on eBay.

[oragex]

 I would like to post an update.  I have called Ebay and the representative mentioned they are aware of Chinese sellers taking advantage about the feedback timeline being shorter than the Delivery date.  She mentioned Ebay is working on this and soon will modify its policy.  Ideally Ebay must expend the feedback timeline and the "I didn't receive my item" duration past 60 days - to make these stay on the History Purchase page at least as long as the Delivery date of the item.  I recommend everyone with similar problems to contact directly Ebay by phone and make a suggestion/complain on this subject.  Here's how to contact them, be sure to use the button "Let us call you" (it works much faster than calling them)  Go at the bottom of this page   https://www.ebay.com/help/home

[illogik4l]

80% of my orders never arrived lately and I'm having a hard time get them refund.

No options to ask ebay to step in.

Sellers use loopholes in the system to avoid refunding or use fake tracking number.

I'm I the only one?

I'm very disappointed and won't buy anything on ebay anymore.

[reallynicestamps]

@illogik4l 

No options to ask ebay to step in.

That should be the Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page.

But the eBay dispute period only starts on the last day of the estimated  delivery period and run for only 30 days.

If the delivery window has not yet closed or if it closed more than 30 days ago, you should go to Paypal.

The PP Buyer Protection runs for 180 day (six months) from Payment.

The PP Resolution Centre is at the top of your PP account page under Tools.

The dispute is Not Received.

The first suggestion is to Contact the Seller. But it is not a command.

All you want from the seller is possibly a tracking number that shows the item has arrived in Canada, but really you want a refund.

If you get neither, ask PP to step in and Escalate to a Claim.

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

If you need more advice, after following those steps, come back here and ask again.

Also- feedback is not used by eBay to assess seller accounts, but any FB under 98% is bad, under 99% for overseas sellers.

Under 95% is bloody awful.

Read the negative and neutral feedback for patterns of poor service, slow delivery, bad quality, and terrible communication. Then don't buy. It won't get better.

[redqube]

Is this a new trend (items from China not arriving) ? Personally I've bought many items from China through ebay (mainly cheap electronics) or other novelty gizmos that I can't find anywhere else. I have received every single item I have ordered whether shipping was free or not. Some sellers have warned me that shipping would take some time and indeed,  it has taken anywhere from 15 to about 40 working days but 3 weeks to a month has been the average for me especially on items marked "free shipping".

Maybe I'm just lucky but I doubt it.  I pick the Chinese sellers with the most feedback ratings / big sellers and compare their feedback ratings with each other before I pick the one I will buy from. Most of their prices on same or similar items are pretty much equal.

[15westcoast]

Hello,  I resist the temptation to buy anything from Chinese sellers.

I have had some items arrive after long, long delays.  Some items have

never arrived.  Some items were not of the quality that was advertised or

expected.  Some Chinese sellers do not communicate or leave feedback.

So, after these experiences I no longer look at any items that are being sold

from China.  Sometime

[15westcoast]

 Continued :  Sometimes a bargain is not a bargain.  The delay problem for me was not

with customs holding the package (small package) but the delay with the mail in transit

from places in China.

[i.ezac.nv02whau]

Last couple months my packages haven't shown up. I suspect Huawei or some trade dispute or HK issues. I got my refunds fine except for one reluctant seller.

[i.ezac.nv02whau]

Make a repeat purchase from the seller that cheated you before. Then submit your feedback for the previous item, and say so

[illogik4l]

Tried everything... case closed without refund, sellers send smileys when u tried to talk with them and ebay dont seem to care at all. Cant ask them to step in and cant appeal of the closed case.