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.

[the_hunter04]

I got a full refund on my supposed multi monitor mount I was ment to get. They just caved

[blueysfoods]

I am an Australian seller of products I import from China and the US and this whole "item location" drama needs urgent action not just from eBay but also government intervention. I am fully aware of the import and distribution practises of Chinese sellers in that the item is located in Sydney for example and in many cases this is true but the actual seller is located in China. Therefore, the seller avoids GST on the sales, cannot issue a Tax Invoice and if the item is faulty etc then it must be returned to China. Coupled with this in my case, is copying of my eBay wording as the majority of these sellers are trading companies that honestly have no idea of the product they are selling and then you get the price undercut making it impossible to compete. This situation is not unique to Australia and happens in many other countries as well.

I have taken this up with my local Federal member as not only is there a case of GST avoidance, but also clearly import undervaluing of the items both for sea and air shipments. I am pushing the local Ferderal member to have eBay to actually state that the seller is not based in Australia and that the buyer may not be covered by Australian Consumer Law. In addition, how can the Government ensure that the sale attracts GST. Maybe this can be done via an impost of 10% imposed by eBay on the sale if the seller is based overseas but the item is shown as being in Australia. The July 1 GST on imports will not cover the situation where the item is already in Australia. eBay is conducting business in Australia and therefore would be bound by similar rules to other Australian businesses in terms of complying with Australian Tax Law etc. 

It is Australian businesses and also the Australian tax payer that are the victims of this situation. 

[the_hunter04]

Item location MUST be addressed by ebay, as its causing a huge amounts of headaches!

Look anyone of these chinese sellers and you will see on their feedback its usally always negitive because its either dodgy or never shown

[*tippy*toes*]

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@the_hunter04wrote:
Item location MUST be addressed by ebay, as its causing a huge amounts of headaches!

Look anyone of these chinese sellers and you will see on their feedback its usally always negitive because its either dodgy or never shown

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Not all Chinese are dodgy. I buy from a few Chinese sellers, whose feedback range from teal shooting star (25,000-49,000 feedback) to red shooting star (100,000 to 499,999 feedback). They all have 100% feedback. One got a red dot one time. Another got a grey dot. Apart from that they have maintained a clean record. Very few high volume sellers can boast that. When you look at their feedback, their feedback revision total is 0.

While I do acknowlege there are some complete scammers in Asian countries, they aren't all like that. There are plenty of decent ones there too, who don't say they are somewhere else in the world. They just want to earn a living to support their family.

All that said, there should be some way to stop the misrepresenting of location.

[springyzone]

Pretty much echo what tippy has said.

I have made several purchases from Chinese sellers with never a problem, in fact very happy with most of the items.

But I have to admit, those sellers were openly Chinese sellers located in China, sending from China so i knew the score before I bought and was prepared for the wait.

The ones that really grate are those that say they are in Australia but you can see by the delivery dates that something funny is going on. I know we've been down this discussion path before, but a normal product supposedly based in Australia that is estimated to be taking 6 weeks to reach someone in the same state sticks out like a sore thumb.I wouldn't say this practice is limited to Chinese sellers either.

If an item is to be listed as located in Australia then it should have to have an Australian guarantee and an Australian return address.

[trishm1964]

I've noticed that when they advertise as AU Seller and it says the item location is Sydney, I just check the feedback page. On every one I've checked so far there the seller location is listed as China. I've no problem ordering goods from China, when they're being honest about it, but don't order anything from the ones who are listed as AU Stock.

[c_mount]

In fact ebay are encouraging it. New world order my friends.

[c_mount]

Great! It's good to bring back up subjects that matter. Too many whinge about old threads...so what!

[davewil1964]

@c_Mount - I await the day you answer an OP (even an old one). Barring that something relevant wouldn't hurt.

[anwalk9]

I agree that this is a huge problem as it is deceptive.

Buyers should know up front where the item is coming from as it may take longer to reach them or they may wish to purchase from Australian sellers to help the Australian economy.

Likewise,Australian sellers usually can not compete with their low prices and often end up getting "forced" off EBay as they simply can't make a living.

There is little point reporting them to EBay company as EBay really doesn't care as they want their business.

It would provide more results by complaining to your local member of parliament or perhaps a media avenue such as A Current Affair or The Checkout.