LIED in Listing About Domestic Shipping Origin

[christian_huls]

I learned my lesson about buying items that are shipped from China, and the next time I ordered something, I selected NORTH AMERICA on my search. I purchased an item that has:

Shipping: Free Economy Shipping. 
Located in: Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States

But after I paid for it, I got a tracking number that shows it being shipped FROM freakin' CHINA.

What can I do? Isn't this misleading? 

The estimated deliver is over a MONTH. I can't file a return until I HAVE it, correct? Should i report the seller? 

[ittybitnot]

Should i report the seller? 

@christian_huls 

I would for item location misrepresentation.   

It would be a good idea as well to check the "estimated delivery date" before you purchase (not available for auction format), and the location country of the seller.  Actually read the feedback they received (takes extra steps now to reach the proper page now).  

There are also many other telltale signs that help you determine in advance that you should use the back button.  Indeed, eBay should have some sort of responsibility for this sort of thing, but .....

[mudshark61369]

@christian_huls,

Because ebay helped many China based sellers register in the U.S. it can be hard to determine if a seller is really a domestic seller or not.  Often when shopping using Price: Lowest... or Best Match most of the first results will be chinese sellers. Trying to weed them out takes a bit more time but below are indicators I use to do that.

On Listing pages:

• Items priced below brand named prices.
• An item location address that does not give a city and state Ex: USA / United States - New Jersey / USA etc.
  
• Extended delivery or handling time frames. (Click on the Shipping, returns, Payments tab)
• The use of U.S. flag symbols and several mentions of being a U.S. seller.
• Seller's username sometimes.
• Selling items listed by many other sellers, often using the same stock photos.
•  High volume seller with a feedback percentage below 98.9% registered between 2011 and now)
  
• Item descriptions that have wording in them that doesn't seem like it was written by a person whose first language is English.
• Item titles giving a brand name, and photos showing a brand name label, but in the Item Specifics it says Brand: Unknown or no brand given.
  
• Items for sale with no name or an unrecognizable Brand Name.
• The use of metric and standard measurements.
• Photos with Asian models in them.

On a Feedback profile page:

• The seller's country of registry, sometimes.
• High volume seller registered between 2012 and now.
• All or most feedback is for Private listings.
• Hundreds of neutral and negative feedback. Some may still have a percentage over 99%
• Neutral and Negative feedback saying items came from China. That took a long time to arrive. Missing items from multiple quantity orders.  Cancelled purchases.  Poor communications. Clothing smaller in size than normal.  Many mentions of poor quality items.  (click on the numbers of neutral and negative feedback received, to read only those comments).
• Responses to negative feedback written by someone whose first language does not appear to be English.

It may take a little time to use the above lists, but after a while it becomes second nature, and in the long run can save time and possibly money. 

[mudshark61369 · Accepted solution]

@christian_huls,

I meant to post the info on how to report the seller for item location misrepresentation in my last post.

Use the link below to contact ebay. 

On the first page use the blue  Report seller button.

Next page select seller has violated an ebay policy > Continue

Next Pg. enter the seller's username,  select Other, then in the text box write.

The seller gave Ft. Lauderdale as the item location, but tracking shows the item shipping as originating in China. Post the service & tracking #. 

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/resolving-issues-sellers/report-issue-seller?id=4022

[christian_huls]

I appreciate the advice. And normally I look for those things.

If you look at the listing today (5/10), it says:

Shipping: Free Economy Shipping. See details for shipping
Located in: Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States
Delivery: Estimated between Tue, May 14 and Sat, May 18 to 39532

So, they claim 4 to 8 days max, which seems normal, and they give a city and state.

Also, the price is average on ebay for the same item.
There are NO US flags on the listing.
The username is not a giveaway.
They are a low volume seller (67 items) and have 100% feedback.
Item description is just a copy paste from NECA toys.

They ARE using stock photos, though. And the brand says, "Does not apply." But these are the only two possible giveaways...

[christian_huls]

Thank you... doing this right now. I appreciate the step by step instructions, because I had NO IDEA where to do this or how.

The force is strong with this one. 

[christian_huls]

Oh man, when I submit the report, I get:

We ran into a problem. Please try again later.

Ugh...

UPDATE: Got it submitted. I had the username wrong...

[tinsoldierunderground]

Sounds about right; ebay, where today's glitch is tomorrow's 'improvement'.

[redlinear]

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@christian_huls wrote:

I learned my lesson about buying items that are shipped from China, and the next time I ordered something, I selected NORTH AMERICA on my search. I purchased an item that has:

Shipping: Free Economy Shipping. 
Located in: Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States

But after I paid for it, I got a tracking number that shows it being shipped FROM freakin' CHINA.

What can I do? Isn't this misleading? 

The estimated deliver is over a MONTH. I can't file a return until I HAVE it, correct? Should i report the seller? 

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I'm not all that nice when that happens to me.  
I go ahead and order another one, and when the deceptive listing item arrives, I file a return.