I'm hoping to get a few products from China by means of eBay and I'm wondering if there are some things I should look out for so I'm hoping to get some advice from anyone here who has had some experience buying from them. Most of the sellers I'm checking out have so many reviews so even though they are not at 100% reputation I'm inclined to trust them, but I thought I'd ask here first just to be extra safe before I make my purchase.
When you talk about buying Chinese products, you need to be prepared for the risks - especially if you can't personally check the product for possible defects. You can only trust the supplier and hope against hope your order won't disappoint you. Perhaps you can research prior to ordering. Exhaust all options. If there's a way for you to get the product at exactly the same price without having to go through Chinese suppliers, then exhaust this option.
Sometimes the workmanship is shoddy, but sometimes it's decent. Some don't ship well and my item got a bit crushed in transit. It was made of plastic, but it arrived deformed, to the point that the battery cover won't fit anymore. Just don't expect much from Chinese sellers. If you're buying an expensive item then it can be risky.
Well, you never said what you're buying, so there's not much that can be said. If you're asking literally only about the sellers, then no, I see no reason why they should not be trustworthy. I ordered a couple of CDs from Hong Kong, and they all arrived just fine, very early, neatly packaged and placed in a foil cover as to avoid any clam shell damage.
In my experience it all depends on the product. I have ordered things from China in the past and didn't have any problems. Although, I would be careful and research the product you are interested in carefully before ordering it. I have heard of people having severe reactions to clothing and shoes, because formaldehyde was used in the process of making the items. And not to mention the toxicity of certain toys and other products for children.
I occasionally buy from sellers in China, and have only had a couple of issues. There's one seller I've bought from a few times, without incident. The items took a while to arrive, which I had anticipated, so that wasn't an issue. But, about 2 months ago, I ordered several items from that same seller, and only received one. I waited about another month, but it still didn't arrive, so I messaged the seller, and didn't receive a reply. I opened a case with eBay, and they basically told me to wait and see if the seller responded, and to get back to them by a certain date if they didn't reply. Well, the seller never did reply, so the other day, I escalated the claim, and eBay refunded my money. Once that happened, I got a message from the seller, stating that they had decided to refund me 1/2 of my money (which I haven't received), and that their shop would be back up soon, whatever that meant. This seller had decent feedback, and I had purchased from them in the past, so there really wasn't a way to anticipate the issue, but eBay did eventually stand behind me, and refunded my money. My point is, if you have an issue, you can go to eBay with it, and if you're in the right, and can show it (in this case, the shipment tracking number was bogus, according to eBay), eBay will refund your money.
I've ordered art markers from a Chinese eBay seller and they arrived two months later in a wet, torn envelope. You might pay less to a Chinese seller but you risk getting a damaged package where half of the product falls out during shipping. I don't think it's worth it.
There is a risk when purchasing from anyone on Ebay, I think I would order a small amount of product to get a feel for how the seller operates before I put a large order out there. All though you got a refund of your money it was still tied up for some time which kept you from making more money which was not your goal.
I think I suffer from an extreme case of the "once bitten, twice shy" syndrome. I have been scammed very badly by a Chinese seller in the past. I ordered clothes that looked gorgeous on the site but arrived looking beyond shoddy. Subpar doesn't even cover it. I tried to raise it with them, but in the end had to give up as their customer service left a lot to be desired. I have since resorted to never buy from there again, unless a friend highly recommended one to me. Extreme I know, but I have since heard too many other horror stories involving sellers from that neck of the woods. I hope you find what you're looking for.
You really need to do your research before buying fro Chinese sellers. I would suggest checking their reviews first. If they are bad, then for sure do not buy from them. Reviews can be fabricated though, so you need to really examine the item to assure that it is legit and not a reproduction.
Unfortunately, the reviews don't mean a lot because some Chinese eBay sellers will sell a ton of small items for 1 penny each to rack up a bunch of good feedback. Then once they've raised their feedback score they start listing expensive items that are cheap rip offs, but then eBay doesn't believe the people who complain about the item because the seller has like 10,000 positive feedbacks from selling a bunch of penny items, like nail art decals.
The two drawbacks about purchasing from a Chinese seller if you are overseas are that; 1) you may have to wait a much longer period for your delivery if you are going to purchase from that seller and 2) you may have to pay much more in total for shipping fees and taxes for importing the item into your homeland. Personally, I would buy from China- if I see my way, because I know that I will be backed by "Ebay Money Back Guarantee".
That's exactly what I said. "Reviews can be fabricated". In general, it is worth it to look at reviews first because it is easy to tell the difference between someone with legit reviews and someone with fabricated reviews. If the reviews all say the same thing or you notice a common spelling or grammar mistake in teh reviews, chances are they are fake reviews.
