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Is there a way to tell if a seller is actually in the US?
Twice within about a month I've been duped by some foreigner that's selling something they don't even have. How can I tell whether or not it's someone actually in the US?
3 comments
sddltrmp56
OP3 years agoThanks for the response. Everything you suggested I do do. But what I'm seeing is they claim to be in the US but they're not. First thing I notice is when they reply to my question When it isn't sent until the middle of the night then I know they're in another country. Not alot of folks in the US send messages in the middle of the night. Second of all they can't produce a tracking number. Big red flag. Then it takes an act of God to get them to give me my money back. You are right tho that ebay doesn,t really care. They just see that money flowing in and that's all they care about. I've been on ebay for 20+ years and it has really gone down the tubes. I know there's reputable sellers on here but trying to figure out which is which is getting to be a nightmare. Amazon is getting the same way with lies about their products. Thanks again.
eburtonlab
Mentor3 years agoIn many cases it is possible to notice signs that a seller is drop shipping just by reading a few feedback comments or noticing that many other sellers are posting the exact same description and photos (which are often scraped directly from a retail site). Or by noticing that a seller is selling an odd assortment of multiple quantity items that look like they were chosen at random from a catalog. Or because the seller is shipping heavy items for free when it seems unlikely that an individual seller could profitably ship such items without relying on economies of scale that large retailers take advantage of.
eburtonlab
Mentor3 years agoThe "US only" item location filter selects items that are listed as being in the United States; however, as you may have seen, not every seller that lists items in the US ships from the US as they should. You can report such sellers for item location misrepresentation, but until eBay actually cracks down, your best course of action is to avoid such sellers entirely.
Before ordering you should check the estimated delivery dates -- that is usually a good indication of how far away items actually ship from. Also, going to a seller's profile page or feedback page will tell you where the seller's account was registered. If a seller is registered overseas, that raises the likelihood of an item shipping from outside the US, particularly for multiple quantity commodity items. Checking seller feedback will often reveal if there are problems with long shipping times, canceled orders or other supply chain warning signs.