Low price high postage stuff from Hong Kong

Bargainbabe_2

Low bid price/ High Postage = Fee avoidance. They're all at it! It never costs what they state to ship items here. Its just so they don't have to pay the fees. Can't see how eBay can be happy with this.

eBay item 5760407957 (Ends 14-Mar-05 15:49:00 GMT) - Brand New MP3 512MB player USB Drive DVR WMA (B01-512A)

Couple of things about this auction which is weird.

Item location Ship from China United Kingdom. So what the hell does this have to do with the UK when the seller is also registered in China.

Post to: Worldwide. Ahh, but if you read further on it states:Ship worldwide except the following regions: APO/FPO, China (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!), Hong Kong, Indonesia, Belgium & Canada (due to the strictly customs policy),Ukraine, Russia, East Europe, Africa & some countries (Please check beforehand).

Postage cost is £9.99 + £4.00 required insurance. Wow. Mind you, thats nothing compared to what some Far East sellers charge.

Also, as someone up there as pointed out. If item is DOA you have to pay for return postage back to China AND return post to the UK! (How expensive would that be!)

gromituk

True - postage both ways! At a large profit to them each time.

They all put "ship to the UK"-type things - I guess it looks good to the gullible.

I don't know why Belgium - an EU country - is singled out for customs problems. Are they less likely to believe items that are marked "gift" or something?

Hintza

I think this is smart thinking you buy the item hopefully for less than £18 thereby avoiding VAT and clearance charges. Makes it cheaper for you the buyer.

As far as fee avoidance why does everyone get worked up here. This is "moneysavingexpert.com" after all. Are we not all allowed to save a little here and there at the expense of the big corporation. When buying look at the all in price.

I have sold £1700 worth on EBay last month and EBay/Paypal fees are 22% or £375. Please give me a break!!!!!

Bargainbabe_2

Hintza wrote:

As far as fee avoidance why does everyone get worked up here. This is "moneysavingexpert.com" after all. Are we not all allowed to save a little here and there at the expense of the big corporation. When buying look at the all in price.

Who's getting worked up? Fee avoidance might technically be "money saving" but its also against eBay rules. I was just merely stating that fact. I wouldn't personally do it. Reason? There's always some sad case on eBay who take great joy in reporting anything and everything...especially your (not all of course) competitors.

Hintza

Aye...but EBay are like and old toothless circus lion.....lots of noise and not much action!!

VeryTrying_2

The shipping from Hong Kong doesn't seem too bad in comparison with this one from Shanghai .....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=37931&item=7307941148&rd=1

drstonk

Well you can complain directly to Ebay and get a personal reply
the use of Ebay as a commercial shopfront is spoiling it for me, having to wade through piles of nonsense to get to what you want is getting depressing

Hintza

I think its going to become more and more a commercial shopfront and in most instances I don't think thats a bad thing. If I can buy from a commercial enterprise 25%-30% cheaper than in the shops I'm happy.

But

I do know what you mean. It might be an idea to have a filter to to screen out the commercial style stuff. Similar to "new" only on the left of the page. Would think something like that would keep us all happy??

drstonk

I agree that a button to switch off the "commercial" stuff is a good idea, my real problem is not commercial stuff per se but the fact that turbolisted items can take up 10 to 15 pages quite quickly and make searching a nightmare