Seller said she uploaded a fake tracking number.

[huatao1975]

Hello, I have purchased last week a tablet from apparently a Chinese brand but the seller appears to be their only Australian eBay store.

Yesterday, seller said this item will take another week to get here, and she would upload a fake tracking number for the time being. I understand this is what usually happens when the actual stock is located in China and told her it's fine I can wait. I thought the tracking number would be one of those "holding" tracking numbers which will remain idle for a few weeks until it reaches here then they send it to the post office / courier.

Today I found the tracking number shows movement in the postal system. Obviously that's not my item.

Their feedback are all positive for this year, although often complained about slow postage.

I don't usually purchase items located overseas, this one is an exception. Is it their standard practice to upload fake tracking numbers or should I be concerned?

Thank you.

[sugar249]

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@brickworksmarket wrote:

 The seller looked legit and as you say everything leads back to a warehouse in Sydney. The fake tracking number must be to do with delays in getting stock to the warehouse at this time of year as it would be normal practice to extend handling time to allow for delays in shipping that occur regularly. Normally one or two late deliveries are fine but they may have had more than that which would lead to going over the allowed percentage. 

I do have to say I am glad  you showed patience and where confident everything except for the original tracking number looked legit. I am unsure why so many get carried away with their posts as things do go wrong time to time but not always. 

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So you think it is acceptable to post fake tracking numbers?

Dodgy business practice?

If they don't have stock, don't sell it.  simple really,  giving good sellers a bad name,  and leading the buyers on.

[brickworksmarket]

I would mark as posted but not use a fake tracking number as you can see what can happen if you do. 

Not sure how this gives good sellers a bad name. If your sales are down it may be due to other factors then how other sellers conduct their business. I know it does not effect mine and if you read negative feedback from sellers who sell the same product many say they will shop from another seller next time. 

[sugar249]

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@brickworksmarket wrote:

I would mark as posted but not use a fake tracking number as you can see what can happen if you do. 

Not sure how this gives good sellers a bad name. If your sales are down it may be due to other factors then how other sellers conduct their business. I know it does not effect mine and if you read negative feedback from sellers who sell the same product many say they will shop from another seller next time. 

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My sales are up and booming, so not sure why you think that?

You shouldnt have things listed if you don't have stock,  simple really.  thats why you get a defect for it,  and that is what the seller was trying to avoid in a dishonest manor.  Which your suggestion of marking it as posted when it wasnt is as well.

[brickworksmarket]

If your sales are booming why are you worried about other sellers practices giving you a bad name and how does it effect you if not in sales. 

Many sellers have multiple selling platforms and I would doubt they keep stock set aside just for one and replenish stock as they go. My guess in this case stock was on its way.

[chameleon54]

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@brickworksmarket wrote:

If your sales are booming why are you worried about other sellers practices giving you a bad name and how does it effect you if not in sales. 

Many sellers have multiple selling platforms and I would doubt they keep stock set aside just for one and replenish stock as they go. My guess in this case stock was on its way.

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While I agree with you that some posters here like to turn minor stuff into total meladramas ( seems to be some kind of ego trip to tell us how successful they are selling sooo many  cheap little $2.00 trinkets on ebay ) there is a genuine issue with dodgy sellers using dodgy practices on the site.

It feeds into peoples general perception of the site as a dodgy, cowboy frontier where you go to play Russian roulette with your money. Will you receive your item ? and if you do will it be the genuine brand name article you paid half normal price for or a cheap Chinese Knock off ?

It creates a marketplace where buyers expect very little and want to pay very little, resulting in low ball offers and little respect for ebay sellers when they might be more considerate to other more legitimate businesses.

Its not a problem if you are just selling lots of cheap tat, ( and earning $8.00 per hour because you end up spending all day frantically packing soooo many worthless trinkets ) but makes things more difficult for serious businesses selling quality products at more realistic prices.

[domino-710]

LOL :

This is some of the stuff the Chinese buy. The resistors in the packets at the bottom are around 70 years old and stored in an old barn for decades. . Around 800 sold to Chinese buyers already. 

This comes back as a cheap Chinese knockoff.

[chameleon54]

" This comes back as a cheap Chinese knockoff. "

Agreed. - I wouldnt have believed they where using this old stuff unless I had experienced them buying all of the stock. Its happened a number of times now on different vintage electrical components.

The only thing to say about the packets of old resistors is that they where very rare types so may not be readily available elsewhere.  Chinese buyers went nuts on them when first listed with the remaining stock obviously not suitable for them. 

The Chinese have also purchased bulk lots of other more mundane, easily obtained  items though, so its not just the rare stuff they are buying.

At the end of the day, I,m not the ebay police. Chinese buyers money is as good as anyone else and its not my job to tell them what they can and cant buy.

[twyngwyn]

....reminds me of the HARP thread....glad it all worked out 

[springyzone]

 The fake tracking number must be to do with delays in getting stock to the warehouse at this time of year as it would be normal practice to extend handling time to allow for delays in shipping that occur regularly. Normally one or two late deliveries are fine but they may have had more than that which would lead to going over the allowed percentage. 

I do have to say I am glad  you showed patience and where confident everything except for the original tracking number looked legit. 

It does look as if the fake tracking number was a ruse but I can't for the life of me understand how it would work if the seller struck a buyer who opened a claim once the estimated due date had passed. Surely if a buyer contacted ebay and said, "Hey, look, the seller has told me they sent a false tracking number & it hasn't even been delivered to my state, let alone my suburb, " etc, ebay would award the claim to the buyer and caution the seller?

As a buyer, I have never in my life been given a false tracking number on any buying site.

It would put the wind up me, it would make ebay seem a dodgier site than others, chameleon is right about that.

Sellers should have the stock before they sell, simple as that. If it isn't with them, if it is off in some Chinese warehouse & there are delays expected, then the seller should simply hold off on listing for a while or else extend the delivery date right out to give a wider margin of safety. 

I try to be a reasonable buyer, I think I am usually, but I would be really upset to be given a false tracking number, and worried.

[paper-jack]

There may be another explanation for the tracking number saga - perhaps lost in translation - seller may have meant that she  had put the wrong tracking number. I've seen some really strange translations into English, and funny ones.

eg a Finnish to English translation that decided to call a mixed breed dog a b=======d instead of a mongrel.