Are Those eBay Sellers Really Based in the US?

by: etectra

"The money I lost".

How exactly would you loose money?

File a chargeback with your credit card company, bank or payment processor, which override anything eBay decides.

Whenever you buy something off eBay you should use a browser to save a full page PNG image of the listing. PDF often break the the listing up into pages, but you want to preserve it as one image. Download each image at maximum size. Save these into a folder that includes the date in its name. This may require a browser extension.

If the listing shows they are located in the USA, but after you initiate a return they want to return the item to China, that is switch and bait fraud because of course you are not going to pay for returning it to China.

Attorney General of your state and where seller is claimed to operate their business, USPS Postal Inspectors.

by: Andy

''If the listing shows they are located in the USA, but after you initiate a return they want to return the item to China, that is switch and bait fraud because of course you are not going to pay for returning it to China.''

Bait and Switch is an unrelated scheme that involves listing one thing for sale and then either shipping something different or, in the case of bricks-and-mortar stores where the term originated decades ago, claiming that the advertised item was not available and trying to upsell the customer to a more expensive version instead.

In this situation here with a Not As Described return request, the customer would not be obligated to pay shipping back to China for a domestic purchase. The seller would need to provide a return label or a full refund without return. There have been numerous reports in the eBay Community groups of people in the U.S. receiving Return packages from U.S. buyers of Chinese products, where the Return label from a Chinese seller was addressed to some random person in the U.S. who had no involvement in the original sale. This was done to keep the Chinese seller in eBay's good graces by providing a return and refund process, while simultaneously saving money by not paying for an international return of something they don't want back anyway.

While the Chinese sellers could simply refund without any return at all, they could lose more in future that way if word spreads that they refund without requiring a return first (regardless of where the return actually goes).

by: Nonesuch

I suspect there is not much to be done in until such time as Congress passes legislation that overturns the high legal bar (the "specific knowledge" defense) which shields platforms like eBay responsibility to take action against seller fraud on their sites.  EBay and others continue to lobby very strongly against such legislation, would would help buyers and legitimate US sellers alike.  

by: Snapped

eBay profits from fraudulent and even ‘innocently’ defective transactions.  It is not likely they will ever pay more than a strategically timed lip service to this issue.  It’s not something new either.  

Sellers must be prepared to pursue and prosecute fraud for their own benefit. Of course, that involves time and cost, and fraudsters know that.  There is already a bit of law and tools one can use to file reports and even prosecute via suit and criminal complaint, but it’s really not geared to the individual fraud level unless you want to pay for that.  

Not likely that ‘Congress’ will be engaged in anything preventative either.  They have abdicated their responsibilities for that (and a few other significant things) for the foreseeable future, until the People wake up and start taking back control of their own government.  They are hoping you just stay asleep.

Speaking of Congress, scammers also know that ROI is rarely achieved - except in cases where there may be a measure of ‘community knowledge’ that malfeasance isn’t so easy at your ‘bay’, therefore significantly reducing it.  eBay knows it too.  

So why haven’t they acted more strenuously over the last 30 years?  More profitable for them not to.  And nobody’s going to compel it for now.  

Sorry.  You’re on your own.

by: NYSteve

i doubt congress would go near anything like this, and thats not considering all the stuff way more important that they dont even touch.

most Chinese sellers use a forwarder/distributor in the USA, that handles USA shipments and returns. does that qualify as being 'seller in the USA', hope no, probably yes.  (i.e. numerous Chinese merchants use the same distributor in the USA, much the same as FBA works)

however, the processing fee they pay on returns (just to this distribution point) and the postage back to the distribution point causes many of those sellers to bargain with the buyer, so as not to actually return the item. worst case for them (and often the case), is they issue a refund without their costly return. (it doesnt have to return to China for it to be a bad return for them)

SO, dont lose heart, no one is invinceable, and if they are, it wont last....

by: EBAY-SELLER

Ebay is destroying my small business that has taken me 16+ years to build,
thru numerous technical glitches that may be intentional as a response to my numerous
BBB complaints about problems with my account. I cannot now "Send Offers" to my best buyers,
as the ebay "SEND OFFER" button is disabled and removed, or the other workaround button that I can
go to says the items are ineligible to receive offers, even though the items are being watched or in someone's cart.
This is causing me 10s of 1000s of dollars in financial loses.
I have a lot of inventory bought specifically to sell on Ebay, as the platform is ubiquitous,
and controls a large portion of the market for selling used items.
I believe my accounts are purposefully being tampered with.

*I have randomly been stopped from emailing ebay's 

customerhelp@ebay.com email address.

*I have been blocked randomly from being able to receive phone calls by ebay.



*I have had listings in my scheduled listings area spontaneously been listed in mass without my authorization, before 
they were scheduled to be listed.

*I have had scheduled payments blocked randomly until regular customers receive the items.

No amount of complaints to Ebay for 5 months since December 2025 have resulted in a permanent repair of the problems.
The more I complain, the more other mysterious glitches like the above named items happen.

The techo-harassment of me a seller that puts money into Ebay's coffers is unacceptable. The platform does not have to 
buy items to sell, then store and care for them, then buy cameras to photograph them, then upload them to a computer that
I must buy, then edit the pictures and add listing descriptions, then buy packaging materials and then ship them FOR EVERY ITEM.
Ebay sits back and collect money while 99% of the work is it's sellers.