These are everywhere and getting worse. The seller pretends to be in Australia, so that even filtering your search for "Australia only" includes them. Here are some observations on how to spot them. eBay should be doing the same and closing every single account.
1. They are normally "in-yer-face" about being Australian (not always, but commonly). There are Aussie flags and/or Aussie maps in the product pictures that appear in your search. Their name often ends in "_au", as in "ChineseScammer_au".
2. If you search for the same seller name (go to advanced search and select "search by seller", you will often find that the same seller is pulling the same trick in other locations. So, if you suspect that "ChineseScammer_au" is faking their location to be in Australia, try searching for "ChineseScammer_us" and "ChineseScammer_eu" to see if they have global aspirations (the short answer is, yes... yes, they do).
3. The location is often vague, as: "Located: NSW, Australia"
4. When you push them for an actual address, they come up with a real doozy... often involving huge mail centres like Chullora or Botany. A common one looks like this:
"Union Lucky Returns, P O Box 6008 #XXXXXX, CHULLORA New South Wales 1405 AU"
This is used to fake mail locations such that multiple businesses can have an Australian postal address (although if that address doesn't scream "scammer" then you need to read it again).
5. Contact may be revealing. They message in northern-hemisphere-friendly times. Yes, I am not only suggesting that the *item* is not in Australia, but the actual seller is not in Australia either. The replies seem to be partially auto-generated, often starting with "Dear friend".
6. The tracking number won't work with Australia Post. It just won't. Because the Australian item is in China. Try China Post. I guarantee you the tracking number works! And note how the China Post tracking will also be scam-friendly in that it will refer to "Picked up at AU Warehouse" etc. and the origin will be listed as "Australia", with the ever-present Australian flag.
7. When the item arrives (which can sometimes be quite quick, but China Post tracking states it can vary from 7 to 60 days), the packaging is completely non-descript. There is nothing to indicate that it was sent from an Australian facility (because it wasn't). There will be small clues that it was sent from China, but they will not be obvious, just another scam-friendly feature I guess.
8. The seller will absolutely NOT budge. Not a millimetre. They will state that they are in Australia no matter what evidence you throw at them. Even if the item was an $8 thing, they will fight to the end. When things get tough (like you contact eBay), then the "Dear friend" messages start arriving in earnest, attempting to wear you down to the point where you will accept some partial payment that you really don't want to accept but this starts to feel like it will take up the rest of your life so you surrender to it.
PLEASE report all to eBay. If you paid by PayPal, open a dispute. The seller will deny everything. Persist. If your item cost a couple of dollars, do it anyway. PayPal communicate to eBay, so also suggest that the account be closed, and if you found any others where it is clear that the same seller is operating with different IDs (e.g., swapping out "_au" for "_us", searching for the same item description and finding suspiciously identical adverts), let PayPal/eBay know about that as well.
These people have overrun eBay. As a buyer you are being misled. As an honest seller you are having customers funneled away from you. And, quite simply, it is also a breach of eBay policy.
Everything you can do to close them is a Good Thing (TM)!!!
