Just bought a new laptop battery. Seller has picture of Australia on listing, with listing stating 'item shipped from warehouse in Dandenong, Victoria'.
I just looked at tracking details and it comes up as 'AusPost confirmed' with the carrier as Cucang Postage (in Malaysia).
Seems like this happens all the time on Ebay and they don't do anything about it and it's pretty sneaky/shitty IMO.
Does Ebay have any policy on this or it's just an accepted practice?
Yup, I do that to check too. It's unfortunately not perfect though - drop-shippers would be located here, but still ship from overseas….
At least I know if they're based here, they tend to be better with returns/etc.
It's pretty common used to piss me off as well, however, these day's it's almost a good thing as you don't pay the 10% GST on the import.
Of course if you were paying Australian pricing anyway, and/or it took ages to arrive, definitely worth getting shitty!
must have been a while since you ordered something off ebay, as they now charge and collect the GST for the Australian Government, started last year.
remember when it first came in, thanks to heavy lobbying by Gerry Harvey, from Harvey Norman, that Amazon said it would not collect the GST for the AUS govt but then had to flip it and comply else miss out on the sales?
I think scubacoles meant that if on eBay it says it's shipped from within Australia, they don't add the extra GST.
well yes, in that case, the GST would most likely be included in the price and not shown separately.
Been going on for ages. I just dispute the transaction after 1 week and a bit, I get refunded, leave negative feedback then the item arrives generally another week later.
Doesn't really justify stealing though.
How's it stealing? If seller wants it back they can pay for return post. They lied in the first place - it's on them to fix the problem.
S T R E T C H
That's why you always click on their profile before ordering. It'll normally say where they're actually located.
Been happening for ever. Ebay won't upset their big sellers so do nothing about it.
I recently left negative feedback for a seller for this reason.
I also add "Drop shipper, item not Australian stock" as my comments.
with listing stating 'item shipped from warehouse in Dandenong, Victoria'.
That would be Australia Posts mail centre
They didn't say it was their warehouse in Dandenong.
I have found recently a few sellers based overseas, but say shipping from Australia with an ETA of a few days. When questioned they admitted they were overseas but said they "keep stock in an AU warehouse". Sure enough I have got the items in a few days, Best thing is to ask
Yeah this is what I dont get, I've bought from sellers in 'Dandenong' China but the thing I bought actually arrived in one week so it cant have come from China unless it was express posted. So idc unless it takes a long time to arrive
It was a while ago but a product I purchase was supposed to be shipped from within Australia but turns out it was from somewhere outside. It was taking really long time to arrive, so I opened a dispute case with PayPal and eventually got a refund because the seller didn’t disclose the correct location of the item.
I don't thin Australian sellers will put flag in their listings, only those who are shipping from overseas will most likely use flag in images.
yep what i do is i get the item, raise a dispute with them saying they lied about the location, and get a full refund.
Does it really matter where it is shipped from?
If you accept the product and accept the estimated delivery timeframe, who cares where it comes from.
It is eBay market after all. If you wanted a local stock item then that’s what the local shops are for. Eg JBhifi, Myer etc.
well, 90% + of goods bought on ebay are not made in Australia anyway, so it does not matter if they have a picture of AUS or the flag on there.
They are simply saying that they ship to Australia. and yes, some suppliers do have warehouse here where they keep some stock.
I usually try and buy from those with fast shipping or delivery date within 2-3 days, as no way it's going to get here that quick if it's coming from a warehouse in China.
I have never received anything within 2 or 3 days even if from a supplier in the same city and the item is only found in Australia.
I chose a Australian based supplier
They always tell you the approximate day of receipt and if acceptable to me and it comes on time, I do not complain.
As a disabled person I buy a lot from ebay for maybe 20 years.
The only times I have been cheated have been by two "native" Australian suppliers.Their trick is to pretend to attend to my complaints and drag on beyond paypal times.
Only buy from those listings with a picture of an Australia Post logo …
That's not going to do you much good as they could be using Auspost China ;) Seller Profile will always tell you what country the account is from.
That doesn't work most of the time.
Best method: go to the feedback and look for people complaining about long shipping times - most of the time it indicates a dropshipper.
What does it matter?
As long as you get it delivered within a few days as specified.
OMG! the little things people complain about.
Because it's deceptive.
It's not within a few days, often it's 2 weeks because they are waiting for the drop. And they are deceptive about the shipping times - they underestimate them. It pushes legitimate local sellers that gave stock on hand out of the market. It's ruining ebay.
So people condone lying then??? Just because it arrives a few days late even if from overseas?
I wouldn't mind as much IF I hadn't have paid more for the item for a quick delivery (under 1 week ETA), as it was misrepresented as being shipped from Australia, only for the item to arrive 3 or more weeks after I'd paid for it and it was obviously posted from outside Australia.
I might as well have purchased the cheaper version originally.
REPORT THEM TO THE EBAY POLICE
I honestly don't care where the item comes from as long as it comes within the estimated delivery time. If it comes so much as a day after the estimate given, I reject the shipment ( e.g. refuse delivery) and dispute the transaction, pure and simple.
If you can ship the item to me from Cuba faster than from Melbourne, so be it, I don't care. What I won't accept is the 'our local warehouse is out of stock' bait and switch. Any communication to that effect is met with a 'please ship within the delivery estimate given using any means necessary or I will reject the shipment and have it sent back'. Particularly when they don't check with me first.
It's common practice. Just leave negative or neutral feedback, stating that they lied about the location it was sent from.
Pro tip: If you click on the seller information, you can see where they're actually located. If based overseas, it's almost certainly going to be sent from there.