How on Earth do they do it?

[inhawaii]

I just bought a cell phone charging cable for $2.22 with free First Class Mail shipping from California. 9,000+ sold. What am i missing here? How can they sell a item for LESS than what shipping costs?

OEM Samsung USB-C Type C Fast Charging Cable Galaxy S8 S9 S10 Plus Note 8 9

[mam98031]

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@marinermikes wrote:

If the listing has a American flag in it or says it's from the U.S. then it's from China. I've complained about this. I've been burnt with this a couple of times and it really ticks me off.  Look at the pay pal address. That will give you a clue.

Yep it's against eBay policy but eBay turns a blind eye. That's not the only issue they allow to go on with these Chinese sellers.

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It isn't just sellers from China.  I realize many sellers are having to compete with them unfairly, but are NOT the only sellers that do this.  I've seen them from all over the Globe.

Report them as you experience the problem.  

[mam98031]

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@marinermikes wrote:

That would be when you look at the Pay Pal address and it's in Chinese.

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You can't see addresses for sellers from PP records.

When you have a transaction on Ebay.  Both parties are given the other party's name, address, phone number and email address.  This is information from your Ebay set up, not PP.

[mam98031]

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@gwzcomps wrote:
Many of the lying Chinese sellers have a US depot that they ship from China to. That is how they get around it to the best of my knowledge. The one I dealt with gave me some DHL global ship tracking number. I bought what was supposed to be a genuine Samsung manufacture refurbished battery here. The contacts were scratched to hell and the battery was bulged and dangerous. Overall everything they said was a lie. Complained to eBay 2 million feedback ago when it happened. They now have over 4 million feedback and top rated status. Sell enough trash and I guess it doesn't matter what you do on eBay.

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It takes more than one complaint.  It may be that others think Ebay won't do anything and therefore they don't complain.  IDK, but I say complain each and every time you have these kind of issues.

[mg152]

Be very careful. I bought a cheap charger for my new iPhone some years ago, I plugged it in connected my new phone and boom! Smoke everywhere and my new phone was an expensive paperweight. I couldn’t return the phone cause I’d had it more than 2 weeks plus it was my fault anyway, the seller didn’t have to refund. I was SOL. If you like your phone don’t buy cheap charging cables. If I weren’t right there I might’ve lost more than my phone.

[mg152]

It will not be OEM when you get it. Please read my other comment, you could put your family in danger of a fire.

[pjcdn2005]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

If I'm looking at the right listing, they are in the US 

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Just because a listing says the item is in the USA does not mean the item is actually in the USA. 

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Why did you not quote the whole sentence?  I did suggest that it was in the US just because that's what the listing  says.    I mentioned that the listings I was looking at had the gsp for international sales.  Do you think that if the item was in China they are planning to send it to the US first if an international buyer makes the purchase?    It's possible I suppose but seems unlikely.

[long-gone]

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@inhawaii wrote:

That would P me off because i'm hoping to get in in a few days. 

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States in the listing "Guaranteed by Sat, Jan. 25".

If it doesn't show up by Sat. I believe that you can get $5 from eBay since it's guaranteed to be there on Sat. 

I could be wrong and if I am I am sure that I will be corrected.

[redmodelt]

I contacted Pay-Pal to ask what the extra fee was, I was told it was a fee for sending money out of the country. The package was shipped from an address in California.

[ittybitnot]

How on Earth do they do it?

Basically, I would say epacket from China with a knockoff item.    You get a tracking number yet?    Just for grins and giggles go calculate a 3oz. first class parcel from a CA zipcode to yours.   I would venture to say that price is going to be higher than your total cost just for the shipping. 

They don't rent warehouses for this sort of thing for  USPS domestic mail cost too much. 

[mam98031]

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@redmodelt wrote:
I contacted Pay-Pal to ask what the extra fee was, I was told it was a fee for sending money out of the country. The package was shipped from an address in California.

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@redmodelt 

Still doesn't answer the "offshore" comment you made earlier.

Buyers don't pay fees to PP to pay a seller.

For sellers there is a higher fee for international buyers.

[marinermikes]

Mam. Not sure what you mean but when I go to the Pay Pal transaction for a particular item and click on the user it shows the email address for the sellers pay pal account. Just went to one of my transactions and looked. it is there.

[marinermikes]

Let me be clear. I'm not saying these items are being shipped to you directly from China or where ever. Most of these sellers have warehouses in California, Oregon or where ever. That's how they are being able to say shipped from the USA or just plain USA. It's still the same junk product that they trick you into buying. Don't know how it's shipped so cheap.

[redmodelt]

Offshore meaning the money went to a bank that was not in the United States and I was charged a fee. That is what I was told. A fluke, a glitch in the system, I don't know it was about 3 years ago.

[mam98031]

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@redmodelt wrote:

Offshore meaning the money went to a bank that was not in the United States and I was charged a fee. That is what I was told. A fluke, a glitch in the system, I don't know it was about 3 years ago.

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That isn't what "offshore" typically suggests.  But OK.

[inhawaii]

Just a update on this. The item arrived yesterday.  It was shipped (in what looked like a new padded envelope) from California via USPS First Class Mail zone 8.  It "looks" OEM but let' s assume it's not.

We all know shipping cost $3.09.

Fees about 45 cents.

Let's say the padded envelope cost a nickle.

Let's say the cord itself cost a nickle.

That's $3.64.

I paid $2.22.

The questions remains HOW DO THEY DO IT?