Changing Expected delivery date and other annoying eBay problems

[mark88880]

I have let it go many times, particularly when I thought I was helping a small home business during lockdown. Lately, its appearing much more common, probably due to my increasing purchase of home office and hardware items and for those items, the rise of drop shipping, sellers clearly lying about item locations and Ebay's tolerance of it .

I frequently buy items disclosed as located in China and that's fine, since I can base my purchasing decision and price on real information.

In recent months, in relation to alleged local items, I've come to realise the extent of seller dishonesty about item locations and delivery delays, e.g. item disclosed as located in Sydney or Melbourne, doesn't arrive after 3 - 4 weeks, you enquire with seller, Ebay postpones estimated delivery date (presumably because of something the seller did) and you get an answer from the seller like:

Covid related delays. Please be patient.

or

Your item is in a sortation facility. Please be patient.

or

Please ask the Fastway (sic) to check it for you.

or (my favourite for an alleged local item)

The delivery of the order may get procrastinated due to the arrangement and process from the local authorities.

or (close second)

Inbound international deliveries in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia may be delayed due to a covid – 19 disruption at our Melbourne Gateway facility. Would you mind waiting for it?

You look at the tracking information and see an entry from about the date of your purchase like "Your shipping information has been submitted" or "your item is in a sortation facility" and nothing further for weeks. That item's on its way from China, right?

In the meantime, I've had Chinese items (Ebay and non Ebay) and US Amazon items arrive in 10 days and interstate Amazon items arrive next morning after an evening purchase. The delayed items are mostly things I could buy same day at Bunnings or Officeworks. I want to support small local business and it would be nice if Ebay fixed the problem, but otherwise, what do you think I'm going to do?

[mark88880]

Thanks. Polite and constructive.

[repentatleisure1952]

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@mark88880 wrote:

I have been trying what you suggest with good results. Specifically, if an item is described as "Location Sydney" and that isn't supported by the tracking information, I make a "return - item not as described" request, message the seller to expect negative feedback 

Thank you for coming back & posting that.... Many Sellers will appreciate  knowing that.

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[springyzone]

 described my purchases as "hardware" for shorthand, but it's mostly car and bike related, like after market parts, bearings, fasteners and specialty tools and Ebay is not the only option there. 

*Bought some used bike parts from an interstate wrecker through Ebay. The guy called me to discuss item condition/suitability and delivered within 2 days. Now my preferred seller for such things.

 .....message the seller to expect negative feedback and (if required soonish) purchased an alternate item other means. That seems to spook this kind of seller. In each case (about 1/month over the last 3 months), I've received a "refund/keep item" offer, coupled with a plea for positive feedback. No need to actually pursue it with Ebay. I usually leave negative feedback anyway, depending on the seller's honesty level, but it usually "disappears".

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For the types of items you are after, buying from an Australian seller definitely sounds like the best way to go, especially if you are after some of the tools reasonably soonish.

I think checking out the registration area of the seller is really important for those kinds of purchases Even though it seem to be a drag, it is just a couple of extra clicks and worth the bother.

It's good to know you've found some trusted sellers on ebay too. I've never bought tools but I know a while back I found a very helpful seller who sold ribbon and even if I could not find what I was after in ads on ebay, if I messaged her about colour and width I needed, she would usually have stock she could help me with and she would list it for me.

Ebay is actually a great place for finding what may be hard to find in stores.

Just a heads up though. I personally would be wary of messaging a seller and mentioning feedback at all. They may report it to ebay as feedback extortion. You could certainly say you were unhappy and explain why though. But if you mention that you will give neg feedback unless etc then an ebay rep may well remove that feedback for the seller.

So don't mention feedback in any exchange. But these days, ebay allows people to go into a lot more detail with feedback so you can give an honest appraisal after the transaction is completed.

[gazzaplus]

You can prove very easily who you can trust, just send a message about the product and look at the reply, if it's in chinglish you know it's not an Australian.

A recent reply I received to a simple question. How long will it take to deliver to Brisbane from Sydney?

Quote   "Thanks for interest on our products.
You could see more description details in the Ad.Please check our Ad in order to get exact information from it not miss every single details.
Should you have any queries, please feel free to contact us.
Yours faithfully,"  UnQuote.

One answer fits all questions when your chinese.

Definitely not an Australian.

[springyzone]

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@gazzaplus wrote:

You can prove very easily who you can trust, just send a message about the product and look at the reply, if it's in chinglish you know it's not an Australian.

A recent reply I received to a simple question. How long will it take to deliver to Brisbane from Sydney?

Quote   "Thanks for interest on our products.
You could see more description details in the Ad.Please check our Ad in order to get exact information from it not miss every single details.
Should you have any queries, please feel free to contact us.
Yours faithfully,"  UnQuote.

One answer fits all questions when your chinese.

Definitely not an Australian.

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You are right in that that is definitely not a helpful answer and has likely been sent by someone with no knowledge of English. If I asked a simple question and got that reply, I would not buy.

But I have bought from China in the past and had dealings with some different sellers there (on aliexpress, not ebay) and I found several of them had staff who answered in good English and were very helpful, so it does vary from seller to seller.

[papermoon.lady]

I think I have mentioned some useless replies I received before.

For example... I once asked a question about dimensions and I received a reply like "sorry about your problem, I will let my partner know, it has been an honour dealing with you, you have been a valuable customer". I didn't buy of course.

Another time I asked a DIFFERENT question to a DIFFERENT seller (well, a seller with a different ID at least) and I received the same reply I had received from the other seller! Of course I didn't buy from this seller either.

I agree with springy though that some sellers located in China speak good English, so it does vary from seller to seller. 

I would not buy from those who don't speak English because if there is a problem it would be difficult to communicate with them.

[*sons_and_daughters*]

I have bought a few things from a seller in Newcastle, who speaks Chinglish. Some messages can be hard to decipher. I know they are definitely in Newcastle because one time I was up there and I was able to pick up rather than post. 

Back in the day, when someone emigrated to Australia, it was a given that they spoke English at all times, even at home. Their kids rarely learnt their language. Didn't matter if they were Asian, Italian or Greek. These days, it's different. They are allowed to speak their own language at home and with friends. Their kids usually learn their language too. The results being, they retain most of their accent and their English skills aren't as good as what they may have been had they come here in the 50's and 60's. 

Getting a message in Chinglish doesn't necessarily mean the seller is overseas. Yes, often they are, but often they aren't too.

[ratman0100]

Why am I not allowed by the moderator to reply? Do I need to be in the cool group or what? Or are my replies to close to home. 

[domino-710]

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@ratman0100 wrote:

Why am I not allowed by the moderator to reply? Do I need to be in the cool group or what? Or are my replies to close to home. 

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You tell us - you just replied. LOL

[padi*0409]

@Dom.

ratman has an agenda against one of the members here, and has been posting numerous times about a single neg that member has on a rarely used selling account.

That might be the problem.