Ebay and backdoor international buyers

[Tanooki]

Did something change this year or is it just my luck?

It seems for months now I have ended up with maybe one every month on average I'm finding someone from outside the country using a sketchy domestic shipper to get something sent outside the country when I specifically block GSP *and* all non-US based bidders. I'm finding it's usually also places that have historically been a little less reputable as far as people who pull crap to get it free or for less (oh it went missing, oh it broke/not as arrived) from their location.

I just got one that ended shortly after going live tonight again tonight. I see this:
vdapump628 (Feedback Score Of 3975)
翁文杰

When I click it the address goes to a California based suite address which seems to have multiple so called businesses using the location/at that address. See for yourself: 2646 River Ave Ste C Rosemead, CA 91770 and the users name is in Chinese and appended with no space after the lastname is just 4 random uppercase letters. Before the Chinese I've had South America, and other areas too and not the usual ones you'd figure were more kosher like Canada, western europe and the UK, etc. The only one I figured was cool so far was just last week, a guy out of Japan, and the shipping company on that one I recall used offices out of BOOK OFF of all things in San Diego (as one location.)


Is there any way to block this crap at all? I know the ebay script lets you write up your own terms within the auction body, but as far as I can recall they're stupidly non-enforced as ebay can override that. I'd rather not be in a position of sending to a shady potential middle man who could jack up a package, push it forward, and I get held liable for whatever goes wrong. I suppose I could just refund and cancel a paid bidder or a bid, but I think that would get me in trouble with ebay wouldn't it?

[dsheinem]

[ElkinFencer10]

You're aware that the west coast has a large Asian-American and Asian immigrant population, right? Do you have any legitimate reason to believe it's not just a person of Asian descent who lives in California?

[isiolia]

Wouldn't it be better to just specify that you're only responsible for the package until it hits that address, and leave it at that? That's what eBay's Global Shipping Program essentially does as well.

I can see there being a potential problem with people claiming the item itself isn't what they paid for, given the additional hassle of returning it. However, you are supposed to have seller protections as well in that case.

I think most of us who have, at some point, had APO/FPO addresses can at least sympathize with people trying to get things shipped that way.

[benderx]

I noticed when I sold a ps2 console only it didn't go to a buyer, instead it went straight towards a business facility. It could have been bought by GameStop or some business repair store.

China eBay sellers sometimes lie about there shipping location, making up a fake US location.

[samsonlonghair]

C'mon guys, cut Tanooki some slack. He's not being a racist. I googled the address. One of the very first results says, "Yuan Tong International Logistics Inc. Categorized under Freight Forwarding". Which makes it clear that they are a middleman business that ships stuff internationally.

Get off the man's back. His concerns are entirely justified. I don't sell stuff to international buyers either. Does that make me a racist?

[ElkinFencer10]

I wasn't saying he was being racist (I know you weren't directing that solely at me). I knew only what his post told us and was simply pointing out that it didn't concretely point to an international customer. Since your search showed that it is definitively a fowarding service, then that's another issue entirely. Sorry if I seemed bitchy, Tanooki; that wasn't what I was intending to convey.

[Fragems]

As far as eBay is concerned you are only responsible for the package up to the address that you are provided. If they were to follow their own policies the buyer is breaking the rules so they are not protected by the money back guaranteed. Being as stupid as eBay is though you could still end up with a scenario where they would have to ship the item to the third party shipper then you would have to handle return shipping from there . Just pointing the out fact they are using a third party shipper should protect you from any returns though as long as you don't end up with a complete idiot when contacting customer support.


eBay's Money Back Guarantee Guide





Honestly I wouldn't worry about it and I'd ship the item out. There are just as many scummy scammers in the U.S. as there are in the rest of the world no point in trying to block a specific region if they want to handle shipping themselves. Plus they are clearly breaching eBay policies so you are in effect more protected then you would be selling to someone in the states .

[Tanooki]

Wow the racist ani-gif and bringing up the obvious population of the west coast where I'm from -- did not see that happening.

Ok look this has nothing to do with racist west coast fears, it's the east coast too.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/aeropost-miami

That address, I shipped to it last month on a package I sold of a G1 Transformer. It had those 4 bold letters at the end of the name line of the address. Scroll down to check the 1 star reviews to see what the deal is. Aeropost isn't the only entity using that address with complaints behind it either. I went and searched others I had for the west coast addresses, same comments. I did a generalized search in google/ebay about these 'brokers' and it's bitching and more bitching with mixed bag comments of losing money and/or losing their item.

I'm sure some of these are legit, but some are also fronts to pull crap. I'd if possible love to just block anyone using these brokers, but I doubt I can, so I was curious if anyone else hit this issue.

[Fragems]

As stated above they are voiding their protection by using a third party shipper. So you are completely protected in the event of a return all you have to do is point that info out to eBay. They cannot force you to accept a return from another address let alone another country then where you originally sent the package.