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More eBay fraud
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Halcyon:
There seems to be two issues here. The first is that the seller seems to be lying about the origin of the product, probably to get around buyers who filter out results from China, or to make their product appear more reputable and of higher quality. It's fairly common practice, but it's against ebay's policy.

With respect to shipping, always take ETAs with a grain of salt, especially during holiday periods. I consider a "reasonable" shipping time to be at least double what they claim. If it's being shipped by sea, expect to wait months. At the end of the day, aside from the method of shipping and class of service, the seller has no control over delays once the product leaves their hands. It would be unreasonable to expect compensation if the delay was due to the carrier. Very few shipping services come with a guarantee of delivery within a certain time frame (and you almost always pay a premium for it). If it's delayed, you can potentially make a claim against the carrier for a refund to the cost of shipping only.
MikeK:

--- Quote from: Halcyon on December 13, 2022, 11:28:42 pm ---It would be unreasonable to expect compensation if the delay was due to the carrier.
--- End quote ---

If the item I'm talking about was actually in stock at the location in the eBay listing then the carrier would be USPS, and it would already be here.  And I'm not interested in hearing about people who have had things lost by USPS.  The tracking info shows that USPS is STILL waiting for the item...i.e. it's still on the boat from China.
jpanhalt:
eBay policy (https://export.ebay.com/en/customer-service/transactions/order-cancellation-policy/ ):

--- Quote ---A seller won't be able to cancel an order if:
The buyer has reported that the item hasn't arrived
The buyer has opened a return request

--- End quote ---

If the item is marked as "shipped," which I presume is the case, and has not been received within the published window, then open a return request and get it from another vendor.  NB: Once a seller marks an item as shipped, you cannot cancel the order per se.
SmallCog:
I've seen a similar thing here in Australia.

Generally, the way it works is that the item will have a generic location (eg Sydney) and very quickly after I place the order I'll get an Australia Post tracking number and a notification from Australia Post to say the shipment has been created (or whatever the exact wording Australia Post use is)

Then about 2 weeks later I'll get my item, with the tracking only showing the item moving for the last few days of the 2 weeks.

I believe what's happening is that the seller is generating a shipment immediatly via Australia Posts online services to give the illusion that the goods are local and shift blame for the wait onto Australia Post. What's actually happening is that my order is coming over from China consolidated in a box with a stack of other orders via some reasonably fast (and split across lots of items) economical shipping method. When that order arrives they whack the label they generated a week or so ago onto my envelope and it arrives a few days later.

These items tend to arrive far quicker than an item bought direct from China, but there's always a big delay between getting the tracking number and the item starting to move through the postage network. They also arrive in the ubiquitous thin grey plastic bag that shipments direct from China arrive in.

I can usually spot these listings by having a slightly longer estimated shipping time.

I wish eBay had a sort option that included delivery times
Bicurico:
This happens in EU as well and there is a reason for it to exist:

If I buy such an item, it will be despatched to my address from a EU address and effectively I don't pay any customs fees.

The fraud is not to the end user but to the EU: the whole container enters the EU in some corrupt harbour and passes customs without any tax. Then all items are shipped within the EU to the final customer.

The alternative, for me, would be to purchase directly from China, have the item arrive in Portuguese customs, where it sits for up to three months, only to produce a handling and customs fee, which may be more expensive than the item itself.

This also explains why Chinese are investing in shares of EU harbours like the recent purchase of a German harbour.
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