I want to buy only US but......it ships from China, HK ?

[escuintla]

This really "hisses" me off.

I wanted to buy a monopod for my phone, so out of curiosity I went to do my regular search. I clicked "only US" and as other sellers or buyers have stated there are sellers with a location in XXX city or state, but item ships from Hong Kong, China, yada, yada, yada. 

And, it takes like an eternity to arrive. 

What happened Ebay?

[second-chance-sa1es]

My Missus and I were curious about this ourselves about a week or two ago, so I will tell you what we learned. (it wont fix the problem but it will add perspective on how screwed up and broken eBay is)

We figured that this would be primarily drop shipping items so we went and we signed up for an AliBabba account and pushed a test listing forward to eBay from her Shopify account to her eBay account. Here is what we learned.

When you do that it will default the listing to ship from whatever your home address is set to. So when the listing went live it showed up as if it was shipping from here in the US even though it was coming from......Hong Kong. We didnt want to leave this test listing up for too long as we are not part of the drop shipping crowd nor do we have any desire to sell that trash or be misleading to any potential customers.

Chances are that this is the case with your mono-pod seller. US based seller who is listing from some sort of a third party drop shipping provider. Probably a serious violation of some sort, and if it isnt it should be.

[slippinjimmy]

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@escuintla wrote:

This really "hisses" me off.

I wanted to buy a monopod for my phone, so out of curiosity I went to do my regular search. I clicked "only US" and as other sellers or buyers have stated there are sellers with a location in XXX city or state, but item ships from Hong Kong, China, yada, yada, yada. 

And, it takes like an eternity to arrive. 

What happened Ebay?

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Try again...that listing number clearly says "Ships from United States".

There is also a notice that the seller has an extended handling time.

eBay gave you the results you asked for, product which shows the USA as thre shipping location.

Sure it's possible perhaps even likely that it actually ships from China but eBay cannot know that the seller might be lying.

So now you know what may have happened.....Seller lied. It's a problem for sure and like a lot of the problems on eBay it's caused by sellers.

[escuintla]

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@slippinjimmy wrote:

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@escuintla wrote:

This really "hisses" me off.

I wanted to buy a monopod for my phone, so out of curiosity I went to do my regular search. I clicked "only US" and as other sellers or buyers have stated there are sellers with a location in XXX city or state, but item ships from Hong Kong, China, yada, yada, yada. 

And, it takes like an eternity to arrive. 

What happened Ebay?

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Try again...that listing number clearly says "Ships from United States".

And trying I did. 

Shipping:
$1.72 Economy Shipping from China/Hong Kong/Taiwan to worldwide | See details

Item location:  <------------- 
Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

Ships to:
Worldwide

This is why all searches are full of listings that waste your time looking at. 

[second-chance-sa1es]

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@slippinjimmy wrote:

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So now you know what may have happened.....Seller lied. It's a problem for sure and like a lot of the problems on eBay it's caused by sellers.

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What??? How do you figure that 'a lot' of the problems on eBay are caused by sellers?

1. Ebay opened the flood gates to this drop shipping nightmare that we are living in (not the sellers)

2. Ebay created and maintains the system and is responsible for anything it does or doesnt do to protect its users and investment.

3. Ebay knows that this problem exists and has chosen not to do anything about it.

I see little to no evidence to suggest that sellers are at fault 'a lot' of the time. You sure you arnt an eBay CEO in disguise?

[apartmentk9west]

To filter out the foreign sellers (but list US residents) I do a couple of things.

First: Take the time to READ the feedbacks for a seller.  Don't just read their positive percentage that appears on the listing!!  It is very deceiving.  Take the time to click on the feedback icon and read the many negatives the seller has in 1 month.  And then how many in the past 6 months.  It makes your nerve ending tingle!! Even though the feedback says 99.4%, the seller may have 40 or more negatives in one month!  Can you imagine what kind of seller that is??  So ALWAYS READ the negatives the seller has received in one month - don't go by the percentage of positive feedback!!

Secondly: If the picture on the listing is a "stock" picture, most likely it is a foreign seller.  They may not always be the case, but most often it is.  Look for the pictures on a listing and you can clearly see some were taken with a "home" setting (a wall, a carpet, steps, etc) and home camera.    The foreign sellers will have stock pictures that all look alike.  It does not take a lot of time to scan the pictures and see the difference between  stock pictures and the  "home based" pictures taken by REAL people.  (We, home-base sellers, are still out there, but more difficult to find with all the stock pictures from foreign sellers!!)

Third:  Check HOW MANY feedbacks that seller has received.  If it is in the 100,000 range, BEWARE!  Some even reach 1 million feedbacks!  Now how do you think that many is possible!  Yes, foreign businesses - almost like Sweat Shops!   Us home-base sellers, rarely reach even 50,000 feedbacks.  Just because they have 800,000 feedbacks, does NOT indicate they are excellent sellers!    So many people don't read the seller's feedbacks and then fall victim to their "cheap" deals and regret it later!!    I rather pay a couple of dollars more to a "home-based" seller with fewer feedbacks and have a successful transaction.

Why doesn't eBay kick off sellers who have more than 4 negatives a month (one a week).  That would eliminate bad sellers in a hurry!!!  Many bad sellers have much more negatives in a month!  It's time eBay change their feedback system!!

[alcoforever]

Another thing you can do is check the seller's country of registration.   Many of them will show China even though item location is shown as USA.   Avoid those sellers.

[second-chance-sa1es]

I agree with you on every point except the last one. Other sellers have used the FB system to damage their competition and shady customers use it to damage sellers in the hopes of getting to keep the item for free.

Here is one I recently dealt with: (Note: Virtually every seller in these forums has a similar story this is not isolated)

buyer bought game. Game got to home, two days pass and buyer leaves me neg feedback claiming the game quit working on day 2. Ask yourself who the hell leaves a neg feedback for a broken item but doesnt initiate a SNAD?

Knowing fully what was going on I responded to the FB saying if the item was defective I would be happy to issue a refund. Then I contacted the buyer by message who gave me his story. then refund was open. Item gets back to my home, I pop it into a console and it works fine, saves fine, loads fine, Bogus return. I contact eBay and they might has well have told me to **bleep** off.

To complicate matters this happened around the time that my competition falsely accused that item as well as about 8 others of being reproductions (when they were not) Story still gets interesting, my buyer was on a pretty low FB generic account.... and surprise surprise from the same state as the competition that falsely reported me.

Banning sellers for neg feedback gives sellers a method to get rid of competition likely for good and buyers a great new method to put our coin purses in a vice.

That said eBay really should do away with these drop shipping trash stores.

[second-chance-sa1es]

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@alcoforever wrote:

Another thing you can do is check the seller's country of registration.   Many of them will show China even though item location is shown as USA.   Avoid those sellers.

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This will work but only for the drop shippers who registered from outside of the country. If the drop shipper is a US resident, this method wont stop those people.

[alcoforever]

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@second-chance-sa1es wrote:

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@alcoforever wrote:

Another thing you can do is check the seller's country of registration.   Many of them will show China even though item location is shown as USA.   Avoid those sellers.

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This will work but onlyu for the drop shippers who registered from outside of the country. If the drop shipper is a US resident, this method wont stop those people.

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True.   Then you look at estimated delivery time - long times or extended handling times are ones to avoid then.

[marinermikes]

This has happened to me on several occasions.  Really makes me mad when I find out I've been duped into buying from China. I now look at the shipping times to determine where its coming from!

I really  wanted to leave negative feedback over this issue but didn't. I just didn't leave any feedback at all.

[gracieallen01]

Just out of curiosity, what difference does it make?

I would prefer buying US made/sold, too, but it isn't there any longer.  If a person isn't selling OOAK or antique, then in today's market, the US seller is probably selling something that was made in China.  The US is a 'user' country, that is service oriented and any manufacturing by American companies is frequently farmed out.  Even big corporations often farm out, to overseas 3rd parties , programming and customer service and such things.  About the only thing that one can almost fully guarantee is really from the US (anymore) is land.

I'm old, and don't have all that much time left, relatively speaking.  When I work on a project, I usually want to do it 'today' so if I need something, I go to the store rather than wait for shipping - from anywhere.  If I look at the tag on the item, it frequently says 'Made in China', but I don't have to wait for shipping. 

Whether the seller is US based or not, most of what is sold in this country is from another country and a vast amount is from China.  Somewhere along the line, it was shipped from 'there'.  So, I guess it boils down to, if you have to buy on-line, find someone with a shipping time you can live with.

[ja-2149]

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@escuintla wrote:

This really "hisses" me off.

What happened Ebay?

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Hi @Anonymous, can you block listings like this from being posted on eBay? The estimated delivery:

Estimated between Thu. Apr. 4 and Wed. May. 8

puts this beyond the 60 days from payment within which eBay can reverse the payment if needed.

Buyers rely on your promise that an eBay MBG request can be started up to 30 days past the last estimated delivery day, but are unaware that eBay cannot reverse the payment.

[escuintla]

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

Just out of curiosity, what difference does it make?

I would prefer buying US made/sold, too, but it isn't there any longer.  If a person isn't selling OOAK or antique, then in today's market, the US seller is probably selling something that was made in China.  The US is a 'user' country, that is service oriented and any manufacturing by American companies is frequently farmed out.  Even big corporations often farm out, to overseas 3rd parties , programming and customer service and such things.  About the only thing that one can almost fully guarantee is really from the US (anymore) is land.

I'm old, and don't have all that much time left, relatively speaking.  When I work on a project, I usually want to do it 'today' so if I need something, I go to the store rather than wait for shipping - from anywhere.  If I look at the tag on the item, it frequently says 'Made in China', but I don't have to wait for shipping. 

Whether the seller is US based or not, most of what is sold in this country is from another country and a vast amount is from China.  Somewhere along the line, it was shipped from 'there'.  So, I guess it boils down to, if you have to buy on-line, find someone with a shipping time you can live with.

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My point is that if I order anything from a buyer after he was filtered by Ebay as "local" or in the US, I expect him to be selling within the US disregarding if the thing is made in China or Mars.

I expect Ebay to provide me with a list of sellers on the US platform. By me finding that cheap item, then clicking, and finding out he snuck in, which made me waste my precious time, makes my blood boil. 

I ended up buying that thing from a buyer in CA, same thing, but more expensive. Time is the essence the Realtors say. 

[escuintla]

From the same Ebay rules of engagement:
Item location misrepresentation
When a buyer purchases an item, they expect it to be shipped from the item location included in the listing. Including false, inaccurate, vague, or misleading item location information may lead to confusion around delivery time and shipping costs.
What to do
Include accurate item location descriptions. The city and state, or city and country should match appropriately. For example:
Hong Kong, China
Sydney, Australia
Omaha, Nebraska, United States
What not to do
Provide incorrect or inaccurate item location
State 'U.S.' when the item is actually being shipped from China
Include inaccurate, vague, or misleading item location descriptions, such as:
Beijing, United Kingdom
Hong Kong, United Kingdom
Worldwide, Singapore
Direct from manufacturer to, United States
Somewhere in Florida, United States
Include item location information in the item description that doesn't match the information in the item location field
Include inconsistent information in your return policy around the item location which may result in higher return costs or confusion for buyers.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/selling-practices-policy?id=4346&st=2&pos=1&quer...