To be fed up of ordering stuff that turns out to be sent from China

[MrsCipo]

I have noticed in the last few months that a huge majority of things that I order on eBay are being dispatched from China. Even when I select 'Item location: UK only' - sellers are obviously saying they are in the UK when they are not. It seems incredibly inefficient and wasteful for individual items to be flown halfway across the world in small quantities so I want to avoid this, but it seems to be getting harder. It's not just eBay - I have ordered stuff from other UK websites, with UK addresses, only for it to turn up 2 weeks later having come from China.

But then, if it is all being produced in China in the first place, it has got to be flown over sooner or later - then trucked to a warehouse then to a shop then dispatched from there. So does it really matter? Is it really less efficient to buy direct from China? I can't decide if it actually matters.

AIBU to not want to buy items direct from China?

Ebay make too much money from these listings to be interested in taking them from a relatively low number of disputes.

Please go to your local high street and support local businesses

I do for stuff they have and I need, like my local grocer and butcher. But for more specialist stuff like craft supplies - there aren't any local businesses for that. I personally know the owners of both major UK suppliers for my kind of stuff, both independent businesses, they're just not 'local'. I'm not sure that the issue is as black and white as 'buy local' these days. High streets are often populated solely by national chains, charity shops and eateries - so what difference does it make?

And yes, the China issue is a total pain in the fanny.

Ebay doesn’t give a flying monkey where do you buy from. Their policy was to drive out private sellers and they succeeded.
A while ago I try to start the thread in Chat about why items ordered from seller based in UK had Chinese name and address despite British name. Thread never saw the daylight as it deemed to break MN talk rules

Been having this for several years including before the referendum, but feels worse since (probably just me). I'm a mainly Amazon user. If you click on the company name it comes up with the address. That's how I've learnt to check, just to make sure.

It aggravates me that I am always struggling to source things which don't come from China. Because I often buy clothing online and their sizes are extremely awkward and I'm huge, stuff never fits.

I have always looked for an item location on eBay that isn’t “London, England” or “Manchester, England”. After I find a location that sounds real, I check seller’s registered business address and if they match, I order. So far it has worked.
It’s a pain in the arse though. I just want to order the item without going through hundreds of listings.

I've complained to Amazon so many times that they don't have a UK only filter. You have to click through to the seller details every time!
It's a pain in the bum.

Ugh this happened to me recently on Amazon. The postage times stated just a few days so I went for it, turned out it was more like 2 months from China. I was irritated! There should be a filter.

All this online shopping makes me sad. Please go to your local high street and support local businesses

The reason I shop online - and have done for 20 plus years - is I got fed up of going into shops who sold what they wanted and not what I wanted.

Hmmm, I was hoping to be told IABU as it would make shopping much easier to not care about this!

I know shopping local is best but I did think ebay was a reasonably good way of supporting small businesses as there are (were) a lot of independent sellers (obviously with a cut going to a massive Corp). And it's so much easier when you're looking for a specific thing to find out as you think about it and have it delivered direct to you. I think a lot of websites that started out as a good or useful idea have turned into something quite different as they've become massive

I had this!!! Ordered from a uk website. Postage was £10! But desperately needed the item. Then got an email saying 2-3 weeks and thought wtf. Anyway they didn't even send my item but something else (think like a pair of pants!) now trying to get a refund (£50!) and they keep saying they sent correct item and it won't let me email a picture to prove it!

If you're going to use Amazon, you really do have to be a Prime member in order to benefit from the service.
Ebay, click auction only AND used items. I really only buy used items on Ebay. View it as a second-hand store and buy your new items elsewhere if you want to avoid the hassle of inadvertently ordering something from China.

@Engard Even with a filter on Ebay, sellers disguise themself as UK sellers.
Amazon Sarl EU is very efficient too.
One seller advised me to be patient until he received the stock. I expected them to have the stock considering their selling it.
Still not here.

Totally agree, it's so annoying. I am particularly concerned about quality/safety of items and difficulty with returns, as PPs have said. I ordered an item costing nearly £200 for DH's birthday last year, and paid more for it because it was supposedly a UK seller. When it arrived, it had come from Hungary! Not China, but still would have really stressed me out if I'd needed to return it for any reason. I did complain to the seller and to Ebay, but nothing seemed to come of it

All this online shopping makes me sad. Please go to your local high street and support local businesses
Yeah okay I will do, when car parking is available and not extortionate and the shops actually sell what I need rather than overpriced nick nacks.

I try to find things with "Fast & Free" highlighted, and they tend to be uk based and come in a day or two.

And there isn’t certain high street stores local. Not everyone lives and works in a minor city.

I rarely buy from Amazon now. It's getting really hard to work out the genuine items from the China fakes and it's a waste of time.

I stopped ordering "cute" crap from Facebook for that reason.

All this online shopping makes me sad. Please go to your local high street and support local businesses
High street hardly sells any alternative style fashion or accessories, maybe in charity shops sometimes.

I agree, nothing that’s I’ve ordered (accidentally) from China on Amazon has ever actually turned up. Usually they do offer a refund but I’m waiting on some metal straws (that I don’t actually want now I know they’re coming direct from China as I don’t trust the safety regulations and obviously they’ll be going in our mouths) and the seller is just ignoring me. It’s really hard to find a customer service link on Amazon too. It’s only £2 something but it’s the principle, they could be taking the money of loads of people and never actually delivering, which will all add up to a nice profit!

My local high street consists of estate agents, charity shops, and shops only selling premium/luxury items. I generally find businesses in the UK servicing the every day market have vanished, entrepreneurs are only interested in exceptionally high margin luxury products and services. Our local butcher is an example, his meat etc is more than double the price of sainsburys. And before you argue he needs to charge that to make a living, he doesn't just make a living, he is making a killing, lives in a huge house & drives a very fancy car.

My local high street consists of estate agents, charity shops, and shops only selling premium/luxury items.

This. Just replace "luxury" with Shoe Zone and Peacocks.

I had this recently with a bag from eBay (and yes I did look at the high street shops first, but they all had the same colour bags). Very annoying.

I had this with some stocking fillers. It was too late to order from China so I paid more for items with U.K. STOCK in the title and a U.K. address. They didn't come in time and turned out to be from China so I started a return under 'not as described'. Seller offered discount and bombarded me with messages but I held firm. In the end they had to agree the return but neglected to send me a return label. After the required amount of days EBay refunded me anyway and I got to keep the items(all too late and hence useless). 4 different transactions. All the same issue.
If everyone refused to accept them as not as described then the false listings wouldn't happen. So frustrating!

I find Amazon a bit prices, though not nearly as expensive as Ebay for postage.
I often see a nice top on ebay for £10 with postage £12.
There's not much on the Irish Ebay at all.
I generally buy most stuff from store but using their online service. Most store branches have an online department. New look, RI,Boots, Tesco.
The company business still makes money.