SCAM - Chinese sellers misrepresenting item location - Equick

[offroad7400]

So here is the latest 'SCAM' many Chinese sellers are now using in their listings to convince you to buy from them as their stock is supposedly located in Australia and you will get the goods quicker.

'AU STOCK' is big and bold in their listing heading.

In fact the item is in China and they use a re-fullfilment service called Equick.cn who consolidate many sellers parcels on a daily basis and ship them to Sydney. Equick then despatch them using Australia Post from their warehouse in Botany.

Around 4-5 days after you make your purchase you finally receive the tracking advice from Australia Post, which makes you think the items are in Australia, but in fact they have not even left China.  Around 10-14 days later you finally receive the goods.

This activity is clearly misleading and a breach of eBay's 'misrepresenting item location' rules and needs to be stopped.

[worldwidepetsuppliesptyltd]

I have repeatedly reported china sellers claiming they warehgouse product in Australia - Ebay has done nothing to stop it - Ebay needs to be held accountable if they dont stop this after it is reported. I asked one seller for a GST invoice - of course they couls not supply one as they were not Australian based - like they were claiming - and still no action from Ebay.

[davewil1964]

Not all Australian sellers have, or have to have, an ABN.

If you bought from me you wouldn't get a tax invoice.

Besides, if they are overseas, where they store their goods is irrelevant for Australian GST purposes. In that, they aren't a registered Australian business and different rules apply.

[the_hunter04]

Well i guess im gonna be waiting then

[Anonymous]

I have reported so many of these sellers to ebay and they do nothing!

I have been scammed again despite being very careful.

Once I get my refund I am quitting ebay and will use a selection of the other retailers ie. Amazon

[melbourneclearance]

It is actually very easy to spot these fake Aussie sellers.

1. The item is offered at an unbelievable price. Remember that Aus Post charges $7.90 for anything over 2cm thick, so no one can sell you a house with a Merc and comes with 2 kids for $1.25 Free Shipping.

2. The listing usually has a generic item location like Darwin, NT or Sydney, etc., not an actual suburb.

3. The seller has a huge amount of feedbacks. Very small amount of Aus sellers can get over 30k feedbacks.

4. Click on the seller's handle and you will see their actual location: China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, etc.

5. Their feedback rating is usually in the 98% and under range

[davewil1964]

If you get a refund, then you haven't been scammed. You have only lost time, not money.

[steves_0]

I bought a few things from Chinese via ebay. Mostly small stuff like travel plug adapter, magic egg timer, etc but also merell hiking shoes. The shoes arrived pretty fast and well packaged - the other stuff didn't seem to take too long. I found them in my mailbox and works fine.

If it's a time emergency and you get jitters from not getting it the next day, Just don't buy from them. geez - persoanlly I'm actually grateful as I like the reliability and savings so far, that you don't get from domestic sellers.

[*tippy*toes*]

Steve, I too buy stuff from China and have always been happy with what I've bought and it's always arrived in a timely matter, and been as described. However the topic is about Chinese sellers misrepresenting their location. Like saying they are in Sydney when in actual fact they aren't.

[steves_0]

I know, I was just replying to ajarnjenny in agreement wih her opinion.

On ebay, there's a get it fast and free and expected delivery date. They're generally from aussie sellers. From the chinese ones, the products are cheaper but they don't advertise rapid shipping. So you can choose to compromise on delivery period or max your savings.

I have no problems waiting for bit longer, but I'm very much 100% aware they're not domestic sellers lol. But it's cool cos they've been around for a while and are rather consistent in their deliveries and response time. I used to buy a sh*t load of key items from them back when I was a poor student, so my perspective of them is rather fond.

[imastawka]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

Steve, I too buy stuff from China and have always been happy with what I've bought and it's always arrived in a timely matter, and been as described. However the topic is about Chinese sellers misrepresenting their location. Like saying they are in Sydney when in actual fact they aren't.

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I bought recently from a Chinese seller - item location - Shenzhen, China.   I settled in

for a long wait.

It arrived within 7 days with an Auspost label, signature required, and a Botany Bay sender's address.

That's a misrepresentation that I can live with.