eBay

whitman01302012 · ‎06-26-2018

I bought an item listed as being located in Dayton, NJ ~ which is a short 2.5 hour drive from my home in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. They gave me a DHL tracking number, which DHL never had any record of, until today. Here we are 11 days later, it's only just now showing up on the DHL tracking -- in doing some research I found out that the seller is using an international shipper, researching a bit further it showed the item location as Pamona, CA (spelled incorrectly on DHL records) and was supposed to be delivered three days ago. Now, if the item is located in Dayton, NJ, why would they ship it, via an international shipper, to Pomona, CA? Simple. Because the item isn't located in Dayton, NJ ~ it's probably coming from China. PayPal confirmed that the recipient of this payment is Non-U.S. - Verified. Had I known that, I wouldn't have ordered the item. I specifically put "US Only" in the item search before I bought it. I called Ebay, they didn't seem too concerned about it.

gkyn29 · ‎06-26-2018

You can report the item for location misrepresentation from the item's page (not the seller's).

You're feedback can also reflect this displeasure as you see fit.

agent006140 · ‎06-26-2018

DHL is a world wide shipper,it does have US facilities.

HE COULD BE DROPSHIPPING FROM CA.

how much did you pay for shipping and is the item price dirt cheap?

gkyn29 · ‎06-26-2018

@agent006140 wrote:
DHL is a world wide shipper,it does have US facilities.
HE COULD BE DROPSHIPPING FROM CA.
how much did you pay for shipping and is the item price dirt cheap?

That doesn't explain the non-us verified which is always a dead giveaway.

agent006140 · ‎06-26-2018

thats why I dont buy anything I seriously need on Ebay.

gkyn29 · ‎06-26-2018

@agent006140 wrote:
thats why I dont buy anything I seriously need on Ebay.

Exactly. I have a $5 limit for foreign transactions and am always surprised when it actually shows up.

nancycyburban · ‎06-26-2018

@gkyn29 wrote:
You can report the item for location misrepresentation from the item's page (not the seller's).

You're feedback can also reflect this displeasure as you see fit.

Good To know. Like gkyn29 I do not purchase from sellers outside the USA.
This includes sellers who live outside the USA an drop ship using US drop shippers (try getting customer service from them)
I usually click on the sellers name and view their states

Example below was copied from a stat and XXXX out seller name - Note the line in Red below :

**************************
User ID XXXXXXXXXXXX (Feedback score 4105)

100% positive feedback

Items for sale Visit store Contact

Based in Indonesia, XXXXXXXXXXXXX has been an eBay member since Apr 04, 201
********************
100% positive feedback or not, I would not buy from this seller. This is my policy because I have also had the problem is having.
Now, interesting thing; I just had a purchase (XXXX is the buyer) from this seller based in Indonesia. Shipping address is in CA (I do not ship Live Trees outside the USA). So what is going on here? Am I going to have to vet all of my buyers for location now too? Or have they just moved here and are setting up their home 🙂

Problem here is I do not see what eBay can do to put a stop to this, other then prohibiting sellers living outside the USA from using drop shipper's inside the USA; That is not going to happen folks.
This is likely what is happening to you. Your seller is either, a seller drop shipping (not the actual shipper), or is themselves the the drop shipper and is located in the USA. The item location is the drop shippers location.
In your case the drop shipper is either drop shipping your purchase from outside the USA (yes this happens) even though their offices are in the USA, OR They were out of stock and waiting for goods coming from somewhere (in or out of the UA).
Anyone can process an order and pre-print a label if they know the size and weight of the package (drop shippers do).
It is just going to be another round of buyer beware until their lousy customer service etc catches up to them. Eventually they will go away, but the sellers they are taking business from, & the buyers they are abusing, in the mean time are the ones who suffer.

BUT... You say AHA ! >>> How is what they are doing different from someone living in the USA using the same drop shipper?? 🙂
Fair Question. Not all drop shippers are the same.
Some work better without supervision then others.
Some need follow up or they sXXXX Xp, but have no formal format in place to do such follow up. Getting info is like pulling teeth.
Some are in the USA, but are not native English speakers. Getting correct description, shipping etc or other information from them when something goes wrong is next to impossible.
Some of these are not natives English speakers are genuine residents, in the USA emigrants. They are running family businesses, genuinely importing and stocking goods in the USA, but are just doing a poor job communicating stock levels and availability to the people they are drop shipping for.
Some just are new & learning as they go along.
It can be difficult to tell the honest, but slightly inept companies (you can work with these guys, you just have to work harder and differently); from the dishonest companies, you don't want to touch with a 10 ft pole.
If you are a buyer, I would say that if their store is organized and professional, with reasonably good descriptions and Item Specifics, chances are you can take the risk with something small first time out and see how it goes.
If you are a seller looking to work with one of these companies as your drop shipper, try asking questions of their customer service; see how that goes 🙂 it will tell you a lot.

annishughes · ‎06-26-2018

Quoting just the part of your post that I can respond to: "Now, interesting thing; I just had a purchase (XXXX is the buyer) from this seller based in Indonesia. Shipping address is in CA (I do not ship Live Trees outside the USA). So what is going on here? Am I going to have to vet all of my buyers for location now too? Or have they just moved here and are setting up their home Smiley Happy"

The Indonesian buyer may be using a US-based shopping service that handles bidding, receives the items, then ships them on to the buyers in other countries. You would ship to the US address provided, and all the other details of shipment would be handled by the service.

Both using and providing a shopping service like this is a legitimate business practice. If the buyer is trying to import live trees to Indonesia and that's forbidden by Indonesian Customs, then that's the buyer's problem, not yours. Like you, I ship only within the US (though I'm not selling live organisms). I've had a few international buyers using US-based shopping services, and the transactions have gone perfectly every time -- much more smoothly than my sales to non-paying American buyers.

I use a shopping service based in Japan to buy on Yahoo!Japan auctions (the Japanese equivalent of eBay). Now and then a Yahoo!Japan seller will cancel a bid that I've placed through the service, because they recognize the service's bidder ID and don't want their items to leave Japan -- even though the sellers themselves won't have to handle the international shipping. It's always seemed like a xenophobic kind of move to me.

nancycyburban · ‎06-26-2018

@annishughes wrote:
Quoting just the part of your post that I can respond to.....

The Indonesian buyer may be using a US-based shopping service that handles bidding, receives the items, then ships them on to the buyers in other countries. You would ship to the US address provided, and all the other details of shipment would be handled by the service.

Both using and providing a shopping service like this is a legitimate business practice.
*******
Yes I have delt with these forwarders before. I have no problem shipping Ceramics and hardgoods to them.
Live trees are a problem. If they forward them without watering they die. Even if they open the box and water them, they can die from too much transit.
My shipping is expensive because both because live trees are both insured and shipping is timed to before the weekend and alive.
I am just naturally suspicious of an indonesian buyer buying a Korean Lilac from NY 🙂 but that is just me . ******

I use a shopping service based in Japan to buy on Yahoo!Japan auctions (the Japanese equivalent of eBay). Now and then a Yahoo!Japan seller will cancel a bid that I've placed through the service, because they recognize the service's bidder ID and don't want their items to leave Japan -- even though the sellers themselves won't have to handle the international shipping. It's always seemed like a xenophobic kind of move to me.
*********
Do they have the equivalent of Global Shipping? Really, in my other business (collectibles) I shipped a package to Australia early on, and decided never to do it again. It was just too much work for too little money. (even the owner deserves minimum wage) 🙂
It may not be xenophobic, it may be other considerations.