Avoid buying from Chinese sellers selling in Australia at any cost (very dodgy)

[astronaut_77]

My experience with Chinese sellers in Australia is very bad, especially when it's a high value item. This seller  listed a Xiaomi 14 Pro phone and in the description says that it has eSIM, when I received it, I found out that it doesn't have an eSIM, contacted him, he argued that the eSIM only work in Europe, although that it's not true (as per Xiaomi customer service themselves as Pro version is only for Chinese market and there is no eSIM in China), yet the seller still blame me for not contacting him first asking about eSIM!!! Told him that item description says it has eSIM, as well as he is selling in AU! He asked me to return it but not to say that the reason for the return is that I changed my mind, took him so long arguing about the return and asking me to return it using the cheapest way possible, although the item is sold for $1519.62, as well as to add a coverage value of $300 (of course if something happened to the phone on its way back it will be on me, and he is in the clear), then finally after the phone was received, he is still stalling to refund me, and eBay is stalling too, telling me that the refund approval needs to be handled by a secondary team that handles high value items, I bought the phone on the 24th/July, received on the 3rd/Aug, I requested the return then next day 4th/Aug after inquiring about the eSIM. And from the 4th/Aug till the 16th/Aug (the date I actually returned it via AusPost) the seller was arguing about the return cost and every step of the way when I contacted him, he was asking me to change my negative feedback, I was actually willing to change it if he was genuinely willing to help and refund me smoothly, but he didn't. Now he received the phone since 29th/Aug and today is 2nd/Sep, yet he hasn't refund me as kind of payback for not changing my feedback. And even when I asked him why the refund wasn't processed yet, and in order to stall, he asked me if the phone has any collision (his own word) instead of inspecting it (although I packed it and protected it very well)
So please avoid buying from any Chines seller sells in Australia. THEY WILL SCAM AND MANUPULATE YOU

Now after this terrible experience with this seller and eBay customer service, I will NEVER EVER buy any item over $30 from eBay again.

I tried Amazon in the last 2 month for about 9 items, and they were very good in everything, delivery time and item description and customer service, I will switch to Amazon for sure.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

sorry, I didn't read all of your post.  It hurt my eyes ... being such a large slab of text, devoid of obvious paragraphing (try inserting a blank line between paragraphs).

I'll try again in the morning, although, I fear that moderators will be along to edit out the seller ID in the first bit of your post (that, I did see).

Cheers

[gutterpunkz05]

You say the returned item was received by the seller on  29th Aug, Thursday.  Your post here is dated 1st Sept, Sunday,  so a total of 1 business day has elapsed.  The seller has 3 days to authorize a refund, and then of course there is ebay and bank processing times to be considered.

Anyway your effort to name and shame the seller will be rendered useless shortly, probably quicker than you receive your refund.

[countessalmirena]

OP, you don’t need a back-and-forth with the seller.

If the item’s not as described, you open a refund claim/dispute, wait the minimum time as per the MBG for seller to agree to refund and to provide return label, and if seller fails to do so within that minimum (3-day) period, then you “ ask eBay to step in”.

[sugar249]

You have being a member for 15 years, and from all the negative feedback you have left, you don't appear to have read the Ebay money back guarantee or the process of claiming it,  you don't deal with the seller,  you open a claim.

[springyzone]

That is a huge amount of money to spend on trust. Massive really. When something goes wrong with a purchase of that amount, you really, really need to do your homework to make sure you get a refund.

I feel as if you may have made a few strategic mistakes along the way, unfortunately.

The first was, as you now know, to buy a phone on ebay from a random Chinese seller.

Buying these sorts of items from any random seller is a recipe for disaster. You need to buy from a store or authorised seller. For that sort of money, I'd be wanting a proper warranty and often you won't get it on ebay.

Your second mistake was trying to sort this out privately with the seller and arguing back and forth.

I know ebay encourages people to contact the seller but really and truly, for something like this, go through proper ebay channels, straight into an official ebay cclaim for item not as described. That way, for an Australian purchase, the seller will be up for return postage & need to issue you with an appropriate label. 

If you don't get that refund soon, get ebay involved. Contact them through chat, ask to speak to someone. Explain. Quote the tracking etc. And if the seller has tried to manipulate you by suggesting you need to change feedback before a refund, report it as extortion and ask ebay to look at the message.

It is against ebay regulations for a seller to do that.

Don't change your feedback, you don't have to, and if you did, there is no guarantee the seller would do the right thing by you anyway.

And yes, be very careful what you buy on ebay and which sellers you buy from. Read their feedback, check where the seller is located (not just the item, as some sellers are overseas but can list items as in Australia). It may take a little bit of effort to spend that time checking, but it helps avoid problems later.

[sandypebbles]

97.1% feedback

I would have run a mile and then another mile

You do not have to play along 

Don't support dodgy sellers in the first place

I am glad you are switching, you have bought from several dodgy sellers, helping them stay in business for a long time now

The less people doing this, the better off other buyers and genuine sellers are going to be

[davewil1964]

as per Xiaomi customer service themselves as Pro version is only for Chinese market

Why did you buy it then?

[astronaut_77]

I did, I opened a refund claim/dispute which upset the seller, because he obviously didn't want me to say that the item is not as described, he wanted to look like it's my fault of ordering, blaming me for not messaging him first before I buy, I told him "why I message you when you clearly saying in the item description that it has an eSIM, as well as you sell in AU", but eBay put the case on hold for 5 days, and when I contacted them after 5 days, they said that they will need to put the case on hold again for another 3 days and give the seller time, instead of taking an action and force the seller to either send me the return shipping cost or sort out a return label.

Then after the seller finally sent me the money, the parcel took too long in Chinees customs, and when was received finally, I asked eBay to refund me or ask the seller to refund me, they said they will have to pass the case to a secondary team for high value items, which will take 2-3 days, but even after 3 days, I had to contact them again, they asked me to provide a copy of the return receipt, which I did, then again they said no no, we will need a proof of delivery instead of a receipt, I told them it's an express post, it requires a signature on delivery by default, they said that they will pass the case to the secondary team AGAIN for the second time as it's a high value item.

I was tight on time because I used AfterPay, and AfterPay put the next payment on hold, but told me that if the refund won't be processed before the 3rd payment, I will need to pay 2 payment together.

My whole frustration was that I will still need to pay 3 installments for an item that I have returned, as well as I paid for another Xiaomi phone from a local merchant (different model that has eSIM).

That was almost a total of $2300

[astronaut_77]

I did, I opened a refund claim/dispute which upset the seller, because he obviously didn't want me to say that the item is not as described, he wanted to look like it's my fault of ordering, blaming me for not messaging him first before I buy, I told him "why I message you when you clearly saying in the item description that it has an eSIM, as well as you sell in AU", but eBay put the case on hold for 5 days, and when I contacted them after 5 days, they said that they will need to put the case on hold again for another 3 days and give the seller time, instead of taking an action and force the seller to either send me the return shipping cost or sort out a return label.

Then after the seller finally sent me the money, the parcel took too long in Chinees customs, and when was received finally, I asked eBay to refund me or ask the seller to refund me, they said they will have to pass the case to a secondary team for high value items, which will take 2-3 days, but even after 3 days, I had to contact them again, they asked me to provide a copy of the return receipt, which I did, then again they said no no, we will need a proof of delivery instead of a receipt, I told them it's an express post, it requires a signature on delivery by default, they said that they will pass the case to the secondary team AGAIN for the second time as it's a high value item.

I was tight on time because I used AfterPay, and AfterPay put the next payment on hold, but told me that if the refund won't be processed before the 3rd payment, I will need to pay 2 payments together.

My whole frustration was that I will still need to pay 3 installments for an item that I have returned, as well as I paid for another Xiaomi phone from a local merchant (different model that has eSIM).

That was almost a total of $2300