International Sellers

[goodiesinaus]

What is with all the international sellers posing as Australian locals? I purposely set out to buy from Australia to support Australian sellers and after buying, I find out they are international sellers that take ages to post from their apparent local location. Clearly the item is being shipped internationally and the money is going overseas. How do we filter out international sellers? It it so bad lately that after years of only being with eBay, I made an Amazon account and bought my first item. This has to stop or I'll be ditching eBay altogether. 

Is anyone else having this issue?

[twyngwyn]

If you want to continue on eBay, just put Pick-Up and your postcode in the title

[goodiesinaus]

Nah, if I do that, I'll use MP as it has no fees. I sell there mostly because selling is so slow here.

[springyzone]

You are right in that seller location isn't in the ads, only item location.

That has led to a lot of confusion for some buyers.

These days I always do the extra click on the seller name to find location. 

If in China, I usually forget it.

It never used to be a thing in the early days as most people were mum & dad local type sellers but ebay has changed.

MP is good for some things, not others. It isn't the place to buy soome items, they just won't be there.

[the-other-burt65]

Hi there goodiesinaus

Everybody else are having the same issue, and there is no solution...

But here is the thing...

Australia doesn't have much manufacturing at all, and the little ones left are not affordable to the majority of Australian. So you, like the majority of us, want to buy cheap (that's why we are using Ebay)...

Nearly 99% of products today do come from China, so even when you do find an Australian seller, your bulk of money still goes to China... But here is the positive in all this... China now own Toll, and that to us, it means that it takes the same 5-7 days to deliver to most capital cities in Australia, that it does take to a local delivery. Most of the time local delivery do and can take actually longer!

So looking at this issue from this prospective, it doesn't look so bad after all... Items are still cheap and delivery are still cheap. I'm guessing that's why Ebay has no reason to do much about this...

If we had a serious manufacturing industry in Australia, it would be different, but currently we don't!

We just have Australian retailers selling Chinese goods at ridiculous prices. That's why Ebay is doing so well... They are eliminating the middle man from the equation...

Now, don't get me started on self checkout popping out everywhere... That's a real problem!!!

[sugar249]

Toll Holdings Pty Limited (also referred to as Toll Group) is an Australian registered company, 100% owned by Japan Post Co., Ltd, which is 100% owned by Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

[springyzone]

I agree with you in that I think it is a terrible shame there is not more manufacturing in Australia. Even the canned fruit industry we used to have  seems to be struggling.

My worry though is that if we buy on ebay, direct from China, some of those things really don't pass through customs or get tested to Australian standards, the way normal imports might.

So I guess it depends on what you are buying. If it is something like card stock or ribbon or maybe a teapot, probably no harm done. But anything electrical, I would not risk it.

Then there is the issue of the actual buying process. If you buy from a seller who is located in Australia, at least some of the profit from the sale is of benefit to someone here. I really would prefer that than supporting someone overseas.

Plus, if the sale turns out to have problems-maybe something is wrong with the product etc, then it is much easier on initiate a return and refund with an Australian purchase.

Re self checkouts, I am guessing they are here to stay, but where it really annoys me is in fast food places. A while back, I ordered a meal on my computer as my phone was glitchy. Into the local KFC I go and not a soul was behind the counter. Eventually someone wandered by and was startled to see me. Apparently everyone orders online or on the screens instore. No more wandering up to the counter for service.

[the-other-burt65]

Australia doesn't have much manufacturing at all, and the little ones left are not affordable to the majority of Australian. Nearly 99% of products today do come from China, so even when you do find an Australian seller, your bulk of money still goes to China... But here is the positive in all this... JAPAN now own Toll, and that to us, it means that it takes the same 5-7 days to deliver to most capital cities in Australia, that it does take to a local delivery. Most of the time local delivery do and can take actually longer!

Let's see if that does change anything in the contest... Hmmm.... Nope!

As usual, miss the post by a mile...

[the-other-burt65]

What you are saying is true, but unless Australian start to stick together as a country and open new factories to produce something, instead of continually selling the little one we got left to overseas investors. Giving away mining royalty to overseas investor is also not helping a single bit.

The future is grim!

A complete lack of production in Australia and an unbelievable level of greed are the result of where we are now...

China, on the other hand, has a massive level of production (that it is getting better and better by the minute) and competitive prices... That's why they are doing so well and why Ebay and other like Amazon do sell so much..

Just because an Australian is selling Chinese goods in Australia, it doesn't change the end result. That is not how a successful economy is built or works...

I'll let you do the maths...

[sugar249]

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@the-other-burt65 wrote:

Australia doesn't have much manufacturing at all, and the little ones left are not affordable to the majority of Australian. Nearly 99% of products today do come from China, so even when you do find an Australian seller, your bulk of money still goes to China... But here is the positive in all this... JAPAN now own Toll, and that to us, it means that it takes the same 5-7 days to deliver to most capital cities in Australia, that it does take to a local delivery. Most of the time local delivery do and can take actually longer!

Let's see if that does change anything in the contest... Hmmm.... Nope!

As usual, miss the post by a mile...

---

Not sure what I missed your original post said china own Toll,  just pointing out a minor problem,  maybe go back and have a look.

But having said that china post still offer almost zero postage charges, so why would they use Toll.

[the-other-burt65]

You missed the point that even if they are sending from China, the delivery time is virtually the same as if they were sent from Australia...

China prices are normally inflated to cover some of the postage costs and yes, they can use Toll as well to get items here in a day... What? You don't think China and Japan have commercial delivery deals going on?

But you are here just to argue, not to learn, so I don't really see the point of this...