Are ebay sellers based in USA or China, other Countries.. and, another hidden fee? Okay, Lets see!

[props001]

Went shopping here on ebay for an item.  Noticed a lot of real cheap auctions or buy it now's listed for said item. I also notice when I check where their location is, it will usually say mostly "California" or some other USA based location. But when I click their feedback number and it goes to their feedback profile is will say "China" or some other out of country location. Wouldn't this be considered deceptive selling? Why would I want to buy from a seller that has two locations. Where are the honest sellers?  

Part 2

I sold it item on ebay, well the last time I did sell here anyway. I did "not" use ebay shipping option. When I got invoiced I noticed a ship fee for said item. I contacted ebay, asking why? We'll ..... ebay says..... We have sellers who list items real cheap and add the difference to their shipping amount which we loose out on. I said okay? We then charge "every ebay seller" to make up that difference in money we loose, so all sellers are required to pay that fee. So let me understand this. You charge "me" a ship fee because some "other" seller is trying to avoid your ever so increasing fees, is that correct? They says simply ..... "yes"

Thoughts??

[eburtonlab]

@props001 

[W]hen I check where their location is, it will usually say mostly "California" or some other USA based location. But when I click their feedback number and it goes to their feedback profile is will say "China" or some other out of country location. Wouldn't this be considered deceptive selling?

It is not deceptive if the seller is located in China but ships items from a warehouse in California.

If the item is not actually located in California, then it is deceptive. That would be item location misrepresentation, which you can report to eBay.

Keep in mind that sellers registered in the US might also drop-ship items from overseas, so just because a seller is registered in the US does not guarantee that the items are being shipped from the US.

Reading seller feedback is often a good way to discover if a seller has a reputation for deceptive practices. Checking estimated shipping dates is also a good way to determine how far away items are shipping from in many cases.

[eBay] charge[s] "me" a ship fee because some "other" seller is trying to avoid your ever so increasing fees, is that correct? They says simply ..... "yes"

eBay charges a percentage fee based on the total item plus shipping cost to discourage sellers from selling a $100 item for $1 and adding $99 for shipping and then only paying fees on the $1. By charging based on total cost, such gaming the system does not actually benefit the seller. That way, a seller that offers a $100 item with free shipping is not at a competitive disadvantage -- both sellers  pay the same.

eBay could choose to raise the fee percentage and only apply it to item cost and not shipping; in that case, sellers that offer free shipping would pay a much higher fee, and dishonest sellers would pay much less. Sellers that charged actual shipping costs would likely pay about the same amount per sale as now, but would lose sales to dishonest sellers that could offer lower total prices by avoiding fees.

[therogue-trader]

"That way, a seller that offers a $100 item with free shipping is not at a competitive disadvantage -- both sellers  pay the same."

Actually they are, since sales tax is often not charged on the shipping cost.  A seller with X item at $1 + $99 shipping is likely cheaper than another seller with X item at $100+ free shipping

[mudshark61369]

@props001,

You must not have sold anything for many years if you ran into the 10% fee on the shipping costs and questioned it.  I think ebay started doing that about 10 years ago.

As for chinese sellers giving a U.S. location. Often they do that because they think they will get more U.S. buyers that way.  Some registered and set up warehousing in this country but stopped shipping from them, because they had to pay higher shipping rates for domestic shipping than if they shipped from China.  The chicom govt. subsidizes the domestic portion of their shipping and a U.N. treaty gives them a much lower US shipping rate than even bulk sellers get. 

Below is a list I use to see if a seller is located in China or the U.S.. and where they ship from.

Indications on listing pages;

1. Item location not giving a city or state Ex. Ca. /USA, Many places USA, USA/USA.
2. Extended delivery or handling time frames. Especially, from supposed U.S. based sellers.
3. Very low prices w/ Free shipping
4. American flag symbols and many statements of being a U.S. Seller
5. The same photos and listing templates used by many other sellers
6. Measurements that are both metric and inches.
7. Use of Asian models in photos
8. Verbiage in descriptions that do not sound like they were written by a person whose first language is English

On feedback profile pages;

1. Country of registration ... sometimes.
2. Very high volume seller registered between 2010 and now.
3. Feedback percentages below 98.9%
4. Neutral and negative feedback sometimes in the hundreds  (you can click on those numbers to read only those comments)  look for slow shipping, non delivery,  partial orders received, use of fake tracking numbers, items shipped from China comments, as well as the poor quality ones.
5. Very high feedback number, but only a few hundred items sold in the last 12 months.  The seller probably switches between accounts, when one gets too many negatives.
6. Replies to non positive feedback that indicate English is not the persons first language
7. Repetitive replies to non-positive feedback