Alleged Aussie Seller Located in China

[ausgeoff1946]

There's a regular eBay seller who lists the location of all his items as "Darwin, Australia" but who's actually based in China—from where all his stuff is sent.  I've reported this in the past to eBay, and I note that numerous buyers have negged him for this same complaint.  He's obviously operating as a drop-shipper, but tries to hide the fact that he's off-shore.

How is it that he's allowed this blatant misrepresentation and breach of eBay's rules?  And what's the point of having the "item location" description in their ads if it's bogus?   I also note several other sellers getting away with this practice.

—Not good enough eBay. 

[phorum_junkie*]

Having a hard time with this one. You know they have dreadful feedback saying stuff is not in Darwin but you buy from them anyway??  It isn't just one particular seller, the majority of sellers of cheapo items listed as being in Darwin are shipping from Asia.

Ebay claim they can do nothing because the sellers are registered in China etc and their local site won't do anythng.

If it is any consolation I have often received things faster coming from China than from NT.

[ausgeoff1946]

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@phorum_junkie* wrote:

Ebay claim they can do nothing because the sellers are registered in China etc and their local site won't do anythng.

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If eBay Australia wanted to be really nasty, they could just cancel the seller's account.  This would preclude people from listing bogus item locations in their ads, and also warn other off-shore sellers from doing the same thing.  It's ironic that eBay claims to be always doing their best to maintain truthful adverising practices, and to respond to fraudulent information, but they let this major, repeated breach continue—and have for years despite frequent complaints.

At the end of the day of course, it's always about maximising eBay profits, so there's NO way they're going to even think of banning a seller—despite their contimued fraudulent activies and breaches of eBay T&Cs.  Does eBay even warn them?  I'm guessing not.

[lyndal1838]

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@ausgeoff1946 wrote:

He's obviously operating as a drop-shipper, but tries to hide the fact that he's off-shore.

No, the seller is not operating as a dropshipper.

A dropshipper is usually located in Australia but has his items sent from overseas.

The "Darwin based" sellers are not even located in Australia.....they are Chinese sellers located in China and sending from China.

As for ebay issuing a warning.....what part of PJ's post do you not understand?   Ebay AU cannot do anything about the Chinese sellers.  It must be reported to their local ebay site and they do nothing about it.

If you are aware of what is happening you could just avoid the sellers but in view of the fact that post from China is often quicker than from the NT you could just choose to buy and then ding their stars when the goods arrive from China.   That will probably do them more harm than not buying in the first place and you get what you want at the price you want to pay.