Over charged Foreign fee even the store is in VIC Australia by paying PayPal

Over charged Foreign fee even the store is in VIC Australia by paying PayPal

 

I have had quite a few this matter happened to me when buying from eBay and paid by PayPal.

 

from my Westpac bank:

13 Jun 2019 FOREIGN FEE AUD 7.97Click for details
13 Jun 2019 PAYPAL *ANKECHUANGX 4029357733 HKClick for details -$273.96

 

SANNCE 5in1 1080P HDMI 8CH / 4CH DVR CCTV Security Camera System IR Night Vision

 

Message 1 of 3
Latest reply
2 REPLIES 2

Over charged Foreign fee even the store is in VIC Australia by paying PayPal

Your link is to  Ebay  Hong Kong,  so it would appear the seller is registered and operating from Hong Kong

Message 2 of 3
Latest reply

Over charged Foreign fee even the store is in VIC Australia by paying PayPal

As gutterpunkz has indicated, your seller isn't registered in Australia.

 

If you click onto the seller's feedback profile page (on eBay.com.au), you'd see the following information:

 

Member since: 17-Oct-14 in China

 

Sellers registered on eBay.cn (eBay China) are not subject to the same policies and regulations as sellers (and buyers) registered on eBay.com.au (eBay Australia). That's just to clarify the situation, which could be confusing because the seller has put the actual item location as an address in Dandenong South. That is not the address of a business, but rather it is a "purpose designed multi-unit Industrial Estate for high end logistic users. Ideally suited to the transport, warehousing and third party logistics sectors..."

 

The seller is in China. The goods are probably in China at the time of ordering and then shipped to the Industrial Estate address (warehouse) from which it's despatched to credulous Australian buyers. (It is possible that the goods are in the warehouse at the time of ordering, because Chinese sellers are allowed to ship their items to Australia and store them in warehouses via logistics companies who specialise in this. But in practical terms, it makes no difference. This comes under "Just In Time Fulfilment", of which more further down.)

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

 

Spoiler

The item listing says "3 year warranty". I've posted many times about so-called warranties on products sold by Chinese sellers. Suffice it to say... the warranty is not enforceable. You cannot rely upon it.

 

The listing gives the impression of the seller being an Australian seller. That is not the case. (You need to click onto the seller's feedback score which will take you to the seller's feedback profile page where it states in which country the seller is registered.)

 

The seller's feedback percentage is abysmal! 98.8% is terrible for a high-volume seller. (I would not purchase from a high-volume seller with less than 99.5%.)

 

This isn't a known brand item; it's clearly (very clearly) made in a Chinese factory without the quality control that would be in place if the factory were producing the item to the specifications of (and under contract to) a major brand name. The components would be the very cheapest that would do the job or give the impression of doing the job for a short period of time. Will this product perform as promised? Will it have the specs promised? Will it last? I think the answers are "probably not", "no", and "probably not".

 

Can you rely on the company to assist if something goes wrong, say, six months from now? No. By then, it will be too late to open even a PayPal dispute. Your complaints would fall on deaf ears, although if the problem occurs before the dispute time is up, you'd be receiving friendly pseudo-helpful replies asking for you to provide this, do that, wait a little longer while a replacement is sent, etc., etc., until they've strung you along past the point of being able to open a dispute. Then - deafening silence is what you'd hear.

 

Can you rely on Australian Consumer Legislation to assist you? After all, the listing blatantly states 3 year warranty! But... no.

 

This post, this post, this post, this post, and this post/thread - they give some valuable information about Just In Time Fulfilment, about how useless a warranty stated on an eBay listing is unless the item is sold by an Australian business who is an authorised seller of that particular item, how poor quality components are not only going to make cheap unbranded Chinese items prove faulty, but also cause huge risk of property damage, injury, and even death.

 

Getting back to the issue of the amount that you were charged... I personally think that is the least of your worries. However, assuming that you don't want to return the item on the basis of Not As Described (if you can find a professional to check the specs and be prepared to state on letterhead that the specs don't match), and your concern is simply about this foreign fee, it could be that the seller has set up their PayPal account to accept payment only in, say, RMB/CNY (Chinese currency). If that is the case, I am not sure that there's anything you can do about it.

 

If you want to pursue it, call PayPal Customer Service

1800 073 263 (toll free)
+61 2 8223 9500

Go to this page (https://www.paypal.com/au/smarthelp/contact-us) for your one-off passcode.
[You'll be asked to enter this unique code on the phone.)

Customer Service hours

6am to 10pm AEST Monday to Friday
8am to 7pm AEST Saturday and Sunday

Message 3 of 3
Latest reply