Drop Shippers still on Ebay..?

[So Cal Joe]

I’ve been purchasing some new commodity items (bicycle accessories) lately and have been greatly disappointed with my experience buying on Ebay.

First off, let me say I recently scored some great deals on used bicycles using the Offer-Up App. First I tried Craigslist and found it was full of bicycle flippers. Flippers are buying bikes of value and selling them for top dollar. Some of them have over 100 used bikes for sale at any one time.

I won’t get into too many details here, but in my area Offer-Up is a great place to buy a used bike.

Anyways, regarding Ebay. I don’t need to get the lowest price, but I want to get a good price and hopefully receive the item within a week. I immediately limit my search to US only and then strongly consider sellers close to my location.

After the purchase, a shipping notification is sent and then nothing. There is a tracking number, but the item doesn’t show up on the USPS tracking site. Sometimes, the sellers respond to messages and sometimes they don’t. Any response I get is a canned message which doesn’t always answer my question.

The seller is located in my state, but the item takes forever to get here. The Ebay ID is generally from China etc. The listings clearly state that they ship quickly and are located in the United States.

Feedback for these sellers is generally 95% to 98%. There are lots of comments regarding slow shipping and poor communications. Many of these sellers have multiple Ebay ID’s.

I wish there was a way to search for items with sellers who have 99% or better feedback. It would be nice, if I could filter out these sellers.

In the end, I’m strongly considering buying on Amazon.

Is any one else having this type of experience?

I really want Ebay to succeed and support them, but It’s not worth my time to deal with these sellers.

Thanks and Happy 4th of July to all of you.

JOE

• This topic was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by So Cal Joe.

[Inglewood]

If I am in a gambling mood, I buy off these sketchy sellers. 50% of the time nothing shows up, and if it does, it is of poor quality, counterfeit, or the wrong item.

They are a pain to get your money back from as well.

I’m in Canada, and they also pretend to be in Canada – they give you lots of excuses when you try and get tracking information, and get there story confused (for example, they always say something like they ship by USPS – which doesn’t operate in Canada; or they claim to have contacted your local post office and they are delivering it shortly). The tracking number never works also. They always give very long shipping times.

I usually know what I’m getting into – sometimes you get a good item or component very cheap from these guys – but I wonder how many first time buyers try and get something and it never arrives and never buy from eBay again.

Some of them are very sophisticated and fool even myself when I buy items. The listings look legit from a local seller, no grammatical/spelling errors, etc.

I always leave negative feedback – and encourage others to do the same when they buy from these people. eBay should really police these sellers better. I’ve seen some of these sellers get a lot of negatives, then pop up with a different user name, same photos, and lots of fake positive reviews that they must generate in feedback farms.

In the end, if it is too good to be true, it probably is. eBay and PayPal will have your back, but you may end up with junk or nothing at all and have your money tied up for a few months.

[So Cal Joe]

I totally agree on gambling for a very cheap item. There’s always a risk.

It’s just so disappointing when a best match is a sponsored item, from a large seller with 97% feedback who manipulates item location.

My most recent item was purchased on 6/29 with a tracking number entered 07/01 and so far no tracking updates.

Ebay is performing a disservice to the platform, by chasing these short term profits in exchange for consumer confidence.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by So Cal Joe.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by So Cal Joe.

[Jay]

Yeah, always negative feedback if the seller doesnt deliver expectations. Thats how these sellers get kicked off eBay.

What was the handling and shipping time for the item? Was it way off?

If so, eBay should ding them for not delivering the item on time. But many of those Chinese sellers have 3o day handling time to cover them.

[So Cal Joe]

The shipping delivery date was out there. It may have been July 8. however with standard shipping, many times there are big windows for the estimated time.. 2 to 6 business days etc.

They state in the listing, that they ship the next day. Technically, I suppose that I cannot make a formal complaint for late shipping, if it arrives before July 8. They did produce a tracking number on the next business day.

It takes a lot for me to give a negative feedback. If it arrives late, I think the worst I’ll give is a neutral. Regardless of the feedback I give, it will just make me hesitant to buy these types of items on Ebay in the future.

Thanks for the input.

[Jay]

Well, that’s key. If the item arrives when they said it would, then they did it correctly. If you want parts quicker, you need to choose shippers who set that expectation.

We sometimes by from those Chinese sellers even though the shipping time is three weeks. Sometimes the price is too good. We bought these AC wall controllers for $15 each. They usually run over $100. We’ll wait for that.

[So Cal Joe]

I agree, but these items are located in the USA. I only search for items in the USA, close to my location. The seller ID is often from China.

I could get a lot of the items for 1/2 price if I was willing to buy overseas and wait.

This may be one of those situations where technically, they are right, but I choose to shop elsewhere just the same.

Thanks again.. Happy 4th..

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by So Cal Joe.

[Jay]

Very true. I see a lot of Chinese sellers with US addresses in CA. Ultimately its not about where they’re located, but their stated shipping time. You’d think that a seller in your state would ship quick, but there’s no rule for it.

[So Cal Joe]

Yes, I agree. In the listing, they use language such as “quick shipping” and “next day shipping”. The reality is that they are only obligated to get the item to me by the stated delivery date.

When dealing with these sellers, I’ll need to be more realistic with my expectations. Unfortunately, there is no way to filter them out of the search, or to even filter out sellers with less than a 99% feedback rating.

Thanks

[Author]

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