It really depends on the case, I believe. I've had two issues in which I specifically stated that I wanted to buy a product from inside the US (because of shipping time) and as soon as payment was made via PayPal, I get a confirmation email that money was paid to someone in China. Immediately I knew I was now in the grasps of a dropship deal. So I have to wait, on both occasions, while these guys ship my stuff from China to the US, and then inside the US ship it to me. That's 1-2 weeks extra waiting time.
OK, I could deal with that, but when the item arrives (smartphones, in both cases), it is not exactly legit. First one was supposed to be a brand new Samsung Galaxy S6, in the box, unnopened. As I open the box that wasn't sealed, I see the charger, headphones, and charger cable are not Samsung. Turn the phone on and run a hardware check, it was a refurbished phone. Sent back for full refund. Seller didn't even try to argue.
Second time is still ongoing. Ordered a Pixel 2, got it, opened the box and same thing: fake headphones, charger cable, charger, missing quick transfer adapter, the phone itself is missing all protective adhesive and (this one is the cherry on top of the cake) has a screen protector applied to it! Unlike the Samsungs, Google phones don't have a feature that you can check if it has been serviced or tampered with before. So I don't even know if this phone is new, and all indicators point to the fact that it is not.
Alright, suppose the seller wants to do a full refund, then I send this back, seller takes picture of another item, posts on eBay to make it look legit, then charges me return shipping to send me back the completely fake product. I wouldn't put it past someone that is selling people hundreds of "not as described" products. I'm one of the few that actually inspect the product and check it closely to see if it is legit. Most people don't even realized they've just been scammed. So, then we would have zero buyer protection. The scams would just run on the other end.
Also, with some of these dropship types, you need to actually know to avoid a partial refund. If you get a partial refund and your product breaks the next day, you're done. No more resolution possibilities with eBay.
That said, I don't know if there is a good solution for this. I've seen that people have started listing products individually with serial numbers in order to prevent return/"not as described" shipping scams, but that doesn't work for every single product.
