Comics-scifi_collectibles Is a Volunteer Community Mentor.
@ben_hutcherson wrote:In the past, I've bought a fair bit from sellers not in the US. I'm happy to do it if it's something not normally available in the US(or a rare item of something I collect that just happens to show up elsewhere) or if I don't need it in a hurry and the price+shipping makes sense for me. More recently, however(COVID era specifically, but going back a bit further) I've mostly avoided international sellers because US customs seems to be a gigantic black hole where items fall into and hopefully come back out 2-3 months later. The few times since then I've bought internationally, I've basically just stuck it to the back of my mind, not even thought about it and maybe checked the shipping status if I was otherwise looking at my purchases, and just been pleasantly surprised when it did finally show up.
Not too terribly long ago, I bought an item that was around $100. It wasn't large, expensive, or overly rare(just fit right to what I was looking for at the time). I had several similar options available, but paid a bit more for this one than some other options because it specifically listed the seller's location as the US. The location up-top was a city in Florida, and the seller was registered in the US. Shipping was a bit higher than I'd normally expect for this type of item($16.50 for a fountain pen) but at the same time, again, total cost made sense and it claimed "Fed-Ex Expedited" which I thought could explain the cost if it was overnight/second day.
Fast forward a couple days later and I start wondering where the item is since it had been marked as shipped. Sure enough, I look at the tracking info and it had apparently been shipped from South America and was now caught in customs.
I went over the listing with a fine toothed comb, and finally found a small print reference to "the cost of return shipping to Uruguay." I know I should have read every little line, but at the same time I took Ebay's shipping location as being correct and not needed to dig to find that bit of information.
Even though it's not something I need in anything close to a hurry, I'm still a bit upset that I chose this particular one when I could have saved money(or gotten a better example) if I'd bought from an overseas seller.
Is there a policy against misrepresnting your location in a listing?
@ben_hutcherson You can use the report item link on the listing to report it for item location misrepresentation.
The problem is ebay has no way of knowing that a seller is lying about the location of the item unless they are reported.
If your item is more than a day late then file an item not received refund request
Find your item here:
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/returns-refunds/get-help-item-hasnt-arrived?id=4042&st=2&pos=2&quer...
4 business days after you file the refund request ask ebay to step in and help if the seller has not refunded you. If you do not ask ebay to step in and help then the case closes after 21 days and you lose.
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/returns-refunds/ask-ebay-to-step-in?id=4701
You have 30 days from the last estimated delivery date to file a refund request on ebay.
If it is over that you can file a refund request on PayPal up to 180 days from date of purchase.
File the claim here https://www.paypal.com/disputes/
Escalate the dispute to paypal if the seller doesn't refund you after a few days. If you do not escalate the dispute the case closes after 20 days and you lose.
https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/how-do-i-escalate-a-dispute-to-a-claim-faq822
Or if you did not pay using PayPal you can file a chargeback with your bank or credit card.
