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.

[aussie530]

I have been caught twice in the last few weeks buying goods advertised as in Australia, but in fact I believe they come from China as take weeks to arrive.  When they do arrive, they are a Chinese name, trading as UBI LOGISTICS PTY LTD, Botany NSW.  It appears they have multiple seller names, hence how I got caught a second time.  I make it a point to ONLY buy Australian, and I believe it is fraudulent for them to advertise they are in Australia when clearly they are not.  It has just about put me off buying on Ebay as these Chinese faux Australian companies seem to be taking over Ebay.  Beware folks.

[lyndal1838]

UBI Logistics Pty Ltd in Botany is a shipping and logistics business.  There are 18 branches throughout China and Hong Kong where Chinese sellers can lodge their items.  The items are delivered in bulk to Botany and despatched from there to Australian addresses.

They do not sell on ebay but may deliver the items from 100 or more ebay sellers.  It does not mean the ebay IDs are all the same person....they just use the same shipping company.

[ctradeaustralia]

Not to mention they also put the Australian Flag on there listing Pictures, then customers find out there item location is actually in China.

Good luck if there is a problem with the item.

We need a Selling Platform For genuine Australian sellers only.

[destiny-is-all]

Now that there is a Tax law for GST 10% on low import goods - you would think this is the time ebay should pay attention to reports for "item location misrepresentation" . offroad7400 said a great summary of whats happening. Here's my summary -

There are literally millions of ads on ebay now from Chinese sellers (registered in china/HK/Malyasia) with ads stating Located in Australia, located in darwin/chullora, the items are sent into Australia using freight forward companies eg startrack which is aust post items going into chullora sorting facility & logistics companies, they get labels with postage paid and the whole parcel looks like it came from within australia usually 2 weeks, you sometimes get tracking showing last 2 stops closer to your house.

But now all items under $1000 imported into the country ebay should be collecting 10% gst. I think ebay should of done a similar to Amazon tactic and just blocked all chinese reg with located in Aust accounts, like guilty until proven innocent, we all know years of having a ebay rule for item location, none of the reports change anything.

eBay with their own email system should be asking all these sellers -

Do They either import & say where item comes from & ads get changed or

IF they have a warehouse their user info should be sent into ATO like the aussie (over 12k sales) info gets sent in.

Cause now its Tax Fraud - big hiccup - ebay isnt acting on it , its past July 1 - and will Australia Post change its labells they use to show where item originated from - they're just a bigger problem in this.

[coins_n_notes_n_gems_2021]

Thank you for that. I was wondering about that. I have been sent items from those sellers. I get a Aust Post tracking number, the item takes 10-14 days from Sydney to Adelaide.. I could walk the distance in that time...
Once again thank you.

[holbuti0408]

Yup,

I have purchased Aus/stock and when I enquired was told delivery delay due to Auspost issues.So I put tracking number in Auspost tracking just says sent but put the same number in Australian UBI tracking(as shown on purchase page) and it says in China handling facility.Look at the company page details if it says China based it's likely comming from China.I don't mind really but it is generally a bit cheaper to by from a Genuine China dealer and quicker as it is not repackaged in Syndney or wherever.

[countessalmirena]

When a seller misrepresents item location, that seller is already prima facie established to be a liar.

About what else may the seller be lying?

I do not trust sellers who start out with a lie. I won't purchase from them, don't have any confidence that the items meet Australian standards, and am certain that the items won't have any warranty. I also know that they will lie about the specifications of items.

Let me give an example that horrified a particular Australian company...

Spoiler

... who were told by the Chinese manufacturer making biodegradable toothbrushes for them that the bristles were made from nylon 4/polybutyrolactam (which is biodegradable under certain conditions). A laboratory test confirmed that the bristles were not made from nylon 4, but from nylon 6. The bristles are not biodegradable or compostable. The Chinese manufacturer lied without a qualm - because frankly, nylon 4 is not a viable option for toothbrush bristles or hairbrush bristles. The company then explored the option of bamboo bristle toothbrushes, received some samples from the manufacturer, and - yes, laboratory tests confirmed that they were nylon, not bamboo. (Not surprising, because the chemical structure of bamboo does not seem to me to offer a viable bristle quality; it would have to be strengthened with nylon at this point.)

The "bamboo bristle" toothbrushes were also manufactured in China under contract.

 In Chinese business culture, it is acceptable practice to misrepresent by virtue of contextual clues being missed. It is also acceptable to try to substitute lower quality even if there's a contract in place stipulating a particular quality; it is up to the purchaser/other party to the contract to keep a very close eye on quality control, because the Chinese manufacturer will cut corners and use replacements unless stringently held to the terms. A Chinese business will, in other words, "tell you what you want to hear", and it is deemed to be your loss of face, not theirs, because you were being told something that could be tested or which you should have known was not true. Westerners who buy the "too good to be true" items merely confirm their perceived position, while the Chinese businessman confirms his high face.

[auctionprince]

The worst part is they send me items with wrong plugs, no adapters or not even the item I ordered.

I have had them disputed but then eBay has the nerve to send me an email telling me I have to many disputes and to watch myself or I could be suspended.

They sell a cheap item and always offer a 50% refund on a dodgy order because they are still profiting. I wonder how many people just accept the item because it was cheap and they had low expectations.

I checked some of these sellers and they had a spate of feedback with the same issue yet eBay emails me??

[padi*0409]

---

@auctionprince wrote:

The worst part is they send me items with wrong plugs, no adapters or not even the item I ordered.

---

If you're buying electrical goods from China then almost invariably they will not be compliant with Australian electrical rules, and will likely be hazardous to use. Don't buy cheap electrical imports unless you are prepared to watch your computer fry or your house burn down etc.

As to having too many disputes, perhaps you should not be buying on-line, unless you are going to be a lot more selective on what you buy, and who you buy from.

In almost 10 years on eBay and well over 4,000 purchases I've only had a handful of disputes with sellers, you seem to be running at about 10% of your transactions judging by your feedback left for others.

[auctionprince]

Sure i could be more selective, some items are not worth sourcing from local sellers due to the price difference for the item. I never buy anything major from eBay unless i know its from AU or UK. What's the point of eBay if i cant find a bargain, some do not even tell you its from China they tell you its from Sydney - i still fail to see how this is my fault because they have terrible sellers from overseas or not vetted sellers correctly. Why email me at all if they looked into it they would find I am not the only person with the issue. I have been using eBay for nearly 16 years and never had a dispute till the last 12 months (yes this account is newer as i did not buy online to support local retailers from 2011 onwards and my account went missing during a 4 year break from eBay). Looking at your feedback you buy the nicer things at a premium, sorry mate i can't afford the luxuries. What i do expect however is to get what i paid for if it is so advertised.