The current situation with China based eBay sellers

[kaibacorp*]

Looking at my purchase history over the past 60 days:

Purchases made: 25

Number of purchases made from Chinese sellers: 6

Number of purchases from Chinese sellers that have not arrived yet: 4 (For some reason eBay allow 2 month postage times.)

So I have two items from China.

One of the items I bought from China that has arrived was supposed to be an Xiaomi Mi robot vacuum (costing hundreds.)

The seller instead posted me a piece of asian lego. I'm in the middle of chasing this up through eBay.

The other item I bought from China was as described.

From that information 50% of purchases from China are scams.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE.....

Also I have 4 cancelled orders.

Two of the 4 cancelled items were sent from China.

They were not technically "cancelled" orders, they sent me fakes/different items.

I took it up with eBay and for these items I got my money back.

I have no issue here except my wasted time.

But, I can make a few comments on the Chinese sellers selling fakes/not as described items.

Item 1 was a solar porch light with a momement sensor. Instead I got sent a solar porch light without a sensor.

Item 2 was a 5GHz Dual Band WiFi Wireless Adapter Dongle. Instead I got sent a  2.4GHz WiFi Adapter.

So, you can kind of see what's coming out of China. They are not exactly fakes but not what they have listed the item as being.

Also, both sellers argued the point, they at first refused a refund saying that the items were as described.

If you include the so-called cancelled orders, the percentage of scams/items not as described coming from China is 75%.

[joztamps]

You know what?

If I were you, I'd stop buying from China.

Retrospectively, if possible.

[lyndal1838]

Well I have had a completely different experience.   In the last week of June I made 6 purchases from China and 2 from India.

Most of them had delivery estimates in mid to late Ausust.

All have arrived, mostly within 3 weeks and one even arrived in 4 business days, another within 6 business days.

All were as described.

[kaibacorp*]

I have eBay and PayPal's magical armor on.

Chinese sellers cannot harm me. 🙂

[kaibacorp*]

I suppose eBay themselves would be able to provide better statistics than single users.

I would guess that the number of reported problems from China would be exceedingly high in comparison to other countries.

The problem of fake items is not only an issue on eBay but is coming out of the screen and into real world.

Have a look at this article: Brisbane mum snaps photos showing teams of shoppers stripping baby formula from shelves
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/brisbane-mum-snaps-photos-showing-teams-of-shoppers-...

"A lot of Woolies and Coles now will put a tin (baby forumla) of each type in the locked-up cupboard where they sell cigarettes, to sell to desperate mums.”

In short, there was a scare in China because fake baby forumula was harming babies.

Obviously, they don't want their babies being harmed, so now they are shopping in Australia and now Aussie mums can't get access to baby forumla. And you can link that back to Chinese counterfeits.

[davewil1964]

Most mum's could always use the alternative.

Baby formula shortages are really a first-world problem.

Anybody who buys electronics online, much less from China, is asking for trouble. You might have got your money back (and kept the items for nothing) but that doesn't mean you got what you wanted. Unless that was freebies.

[lyndal1838]

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@kaibacorp* wrote:

I suppose eBay themselves would be able to provide better statistics than single users.

I would guess that the number of reported problems from China would be exceedingly high in comparison to other countries.

---

So why did you bother posting your experiences if ebay can provide better statistics.  Or don't you like single users who have completely different experiences.

Whether ebay can provide better statistics is a moot point......the question is will they.  The answer is NO.

Again, as far as I am concerned I have had no more and no less problems with Chinese sellers than sellers in any other country.

I bought some flash drives that were not the stated capacity....in the days before I was wise to the problem.  However, they have done a great job for 10 years now and have never let me down.  Otherwise, no major problems that the sellers have not fixed in quick time.

I have never had to send anything back to the sellers, which is more than I can say of sellers in other countries.

[digital*ghost]

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@kaibacorp* wrote:

I have eBay and PayPal's magical armor on.

Chinese sellers cannot harm me. 🙂

---

Armour is nowhere near as good as common sense. 

And before you take offense to that (if you haven't already), I'm not suggesting you don't have any nor that you don't use the sense you have, but since we're going with an armour analogy, would it make more sense to A) don some armour and go walking through a minefield, hoping that no shrapnel makes too much of a dent or pierces it, or B) keep the armour in pristine condition, put a little effort into researching where you travel through, and bring said armour out only when absolutely necessary so that it can do the best job of protection possible? 

Purchasing indiscriminately "because PayPal" etc is a surefire way to all but guarantee you get hit sooner or later, because neither eBay's nor PayPal's protection is foolproof (nor particularly magical). Not only that, buyers who open too many claims can very easily find themselves barred from using the services entirely - I'll call that "death by over-protection". 

Buyer protection isn't an armour, it's a tool - but, just like armour, it can easily break or fail, especially when over-used.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

your sampling would make your statistics not valid.  As lyndal posted, she has had a different buying experience to yours, as have I.  Would that mean that 67% of Aussie buyers have no problems with what they buy from Chinese sellers?  I think not.

I agree with others that you need to rethink your buying strategy for some types of items.

If you are going to continue to buy plug-in appliances direct from China, therefore potentially bypassing Australian certification and standards, I would suggest you check with your house/building insurer to see if you would be covered for total loss of house/building in the event of your robot vacuum causing your house to burn down.

Furthermore, check to see if you would be covered if a visitor to your house is electrocuted if they make contact with the power cord.

Now, I am sure that if you ask your Chinese sellers whether the electrical items meet Australian standards they will say “Yes” . . . . . . but good luck with that holding up in the event of a catastrophe caused by the item.

[kaibacorp*]

"So why did you bother posting your experiences if ebay can provide better statistics.  Or don't you like single users who have completely different experiences."

Don't worry I think I wont posting anything like this in the future.

I can explain it to you if you want?

Is there a rule on the forum that you cannot post (in this case) limited statistical information?

Is there anything wrong with it?

"if ebay can provide better statistics." Will eBay provide this information? I highly doubt it.

The reason why I posted the information; a small survey is better than no survey. It's just about sharing information, it may be useful to someone down the track.

And I don't understand your comment "single users who have completely different experiences."  I'm not too sure what that is in reference to, sorry?

I think I will just probably stick to posting if there's something at stake. Like if I stand to lose money through eBay or something like that.