I have a few questions for anyone else whose suppier is in China

[ca-tosk]

I hope someone here can shed some light on this (without ripping the sh*t out of me for not knowing) - I'm looking for an answer.

Whenever I list items on Ebay (items that will be shipped from the Orient), I have to select an incorrect shipping carrier/method/shipping time.

If you have experienced this, you will see that Ebay's shipping times for intl shipping don't match what the real carriers are offering. Ebay allows you to select an intl shipping time of 35 business days (7 weeks).  The actual carrier will tell you their economy method is 60 days plus handling time (9 weeks +). 

I'm not 100% sure about this, but It looks to me that Ebay is using intl shipping times as if a package is being shipped from USA or Canada to some intl destination, and not the shipping times for these oriental carriers to get packages from Singapore or China to the US. 

If this is happening, could someone here confirm what I suspect ? And if this is the case, how does one get Ebay to add correct shipping times to their listings to allow for shipments originating from a foreign carrier ?

[bonjourami]

As your items are listed as coming from NY, not China,thats the shipping times you are getting. You are getting some bad fb's about your shipping times, because buyers think the items are coming from NY.That can hurt you on Ebay with future listings.

[sabsh-89]

Registered in Canada, claims items are in New York, ships from China, and wonder why shipping times are off...

[mg152]

This is not going to end well for you unfortunately

[penguins_dont_fly]

@ca-tosk 

If your items are coming from China ... the Item Location in the listing should be China (not NY).

And the shipping method should not be USPS Parcel Select.

1) Change your item locations to the actual country the item will ship from.

2) Change your shipping method to a generic "Economy Shipping from outside of the US"

[ca-tosk]

Thanks for your replies everyone. Unless I'm not catching something, I don't think my items are listed as being in NY. I am located in Canada, but I have my item(s) location(s) listed as China or Singapore, as the case may be. Is there anyone here that is in the same boat as me (shipping from the orient) ?

The last time I listed, I did notice that ebay is in fact showing the items as being shipped from the proper location, and not an intl shipment originating from Canada, so that's ok. This discrepancy is causing me a lot of grief especially when an impatient buyer wants their item sooner than what I have quoted.

So, is there anyone here in the same boat where I could compare notes ?  thanks in advance guys - TT

[penguins_dont_fly]

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@ca-tosk wrote:

Thanks for your replies everyone. Unless I'm not catching something, I don't think my items are listed as being in NY. I am located in Canada, but I have my item(s) location(s) listed as China or Singapore, as the case may be. Is there anyone here that is in the same boat as me (shipping from the orient) ?

The last time I listed, I did notice that ebay is in fact showing the items as being shipped from the proper location, and not an intl shipment originating from Canada, so that's ok. This discrepancy is causing me a lot of grief especially when an impatient buyer wants their item sooner than what I have quoted.

So, is there anyone here in the same boat where I could compare notes ?  thanks in advance guys - TT

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@ca-tosk @

[annadryl]

Rocky boat to be in! I would just buy the good selling items to have in my inventory and ship them myself. Are you really dropshipping from wholesalers or just ordering and shipping from other sellers? Buyers don't like it, and ebay is cracking down on that...

[ca-tosk]

Thanks for your all of your answers so far - 

Ok, I have triple checked, and I have the items in question listed with the correct location/origin (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc etc). I have selected "Economy shipping from outside the US".  Under this heading, there are 5 choices there to select from. I always select the longest time, which is "Economy shipping from China, Taiwan,... to worldwide 11 to 35 business days".  

So I am still faced with an actual carrier shipping time of 60 days (9 weeks, plus 1 day), and ebay automatically adding a shipping time of 35 business days (7 weeks) to all of these listings.  Could this just be an ebay oversight ?  I still feel like I'm missing something, since other ebay sellers must have encountered this problem thousands of times. 

Anyone ?

[jklfindings]

Some of your items say they are coming from China, some from NY, and some from Michigan.  

As a side note and a heads up, you're selling lighters that look like 10oz gold bars.  They say 999.9 Fine Gold on them.  You will eventually run into an issue selling those in the US, since they are not made of actual gold.  I know it should be obvious that they are not, but you're walking a fine line.

[ca-tosk]

Hi people - thanks again for your answers here. I should clarify a few things. I do have some items listed as coming from NY, a few from my location, some from Canada, and some from the orient. It is the items from the orient that I am having problems with.

[ca-tosk]

Hi sabsh-89 - What you're saying here doesn't have anything to do with what I've asked. I know I list items from several different places, as you've noted, but its the ones coming from China that I have a problem with. Items coming from NY and Canada have excellent shipping times, and ebay allows you to select the correct method. No problem there.

[ca-tosk]

Hi there Penguins ... - OK, thanks for your answer. It obviously took some time to check out some stuff and reply, so thanks for that. I'm sorry to come across here as snarky, but what you are saying here isn't what I have asked.

The items I list from NY and other sources have their own excellent shipping methods  (whatever is listed there - UPS or ?). That's all good. The ones I'm asking about are items from China (coming from what I have been told are wholesale suppliers - DHGate, ChinaBrands, etc). I also have bought items in qty that I ship from home. 

I am asking about items shipped from China.

[a_c_green · Accepted solution]

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@ca-tosk wrote:

If you have experienced this, you will see that Ebay's shipping times for intl shipping don't match what the real carriers are offering. Ebay allows you to select an intl shipping time of 35 business days (7 weeks).  The actual carrier will tell you their economy method is 60 days plus handling time (9 weeks +). 

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This may not answer the question you're asking, but I really think your root problem here is that "economy" international shipping is intended more for freight or wholesale shipments, not commercial sales. The assumption for international shipping on eBay is that the item will be going by air, not boat.

An estimated "economy" international Shipping time of 7 weeks is just insane for a single sale to a private buyer: they'll be shrieking for their product within a few weeks, even before their first month of waiting time has elapsed. If you can't get the item to the international buyer within, say, three weeks tops, then you need to find a better (i.e. faster) Shipping method.

I would suggest that you buy these slow-boat-[from]-China items yourself, have them shipped to you, and then once you have them, you can list them with fast domestic Shipping methods instead. Good luck.

[disneyshopper]

If you don't like a_c_green's suggestion, you could add a HANDLING TIME of 14 days or so to the items shipping from Asia, so the estimated delivery time will be closer to 60 days.