eBay mystery

[John Wakefield]

I ordered a new ignition coil for a chainsaw on eBay on 25th Jan. Item has apparently been dispatched with a Yodel tracking number. Estimated delivery date given as Thursday 2nd Feb. According to the eBay site the seller is in Yelverton, Devon so 9 days to get to Cambridge seems a bit excessive, particularly as Yodel normally deliver with 2 days. So I thought I would ring the supplier, found a phone number for the name & address given on the eBay site from BT online directory. The guy who answered had the surname of eBay seller but told me he was NOT the seller, in fact he was really p***d off with the numerous returned items that were coming through his letter box, he had reported it to eBay but they had taken no action. Surprisingly the seller has a 99% positive feedback rate with very few negatives. So whats going on? Looks like seller is outside UK (China!) which would explain the long delivery time, and slow movement through the Yodel system. Hopefully the item will arrive and be OK, and of course if not I can claim money (less that a tenner) back from eBay should it not turn up.

[Stockcar]

seems that Ebay is more and more the 'dodgy' local market in various ways and they seem to thrive on the fact that Trading Standards rules / regs do not apply

progress apparently..........

[John Wakefield]

seems that Ebay is more and more the 'dodgy' local market in various ways and they seem to thrive on the fact that Trading Standards rules / regs do not apply

progress apparently..........

Yep all a bit odd particularly as in this case its an 'eBay Shop' selling a whole range of goods https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/wryan994?...75.m3561.l2563 why would someone like that clone a private address in Yelverton as its Business address. Business seller information

Ryan West
Oldway
Kirkella Road
Yelverton
Devon
PL20 6BB
United Kingdom

[John Wakefield]

Good news, received the ignition coil today fitted it and it works OK, the senders address is Unit 5 Trident Way International Trading Estate, Southall UB2 5LF the company at this address is Express Worldwide Logistics Ltd

[Stockcar]

so nowhere near Devon then???

[John Wakefield]

so nowhere near Devon then???

No the name and address of the man in Devon had been cloned, he has no connection with the eBay seller. I have passed details onto him to follow up with Express World Wide. & possibly the fraud squad. EWW are a forwarding company for goods made in China, (the goods came from China obviously). In my case the goods came and were ok but apparently others have not been so lucky Mr West in Devon has had loads of faulty products returned to his address. So there are probably a lot of dissatisfied customers out their waiting for replacement goods that aren't going to arrive.

[John Wakefield]

Its amazing how they can supply an ignition coil for ?9.59 including shipping half way round the world and then delivered by a courier (Yodel). A standard external HT coil from VS is ?17.50 plus postage and VAT. The one I bought for the chainsaw has additional electronic parts built in. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234782223142

[KevinLS]

John, I'm afraid to say that you are touchingly naive if you think the fraud squad are likely to get involved.

[John Wakefield]

John, I'm afraid to say that you are touchingly naive if you think the fraud squad are likely to get involved.

Your probably right,even the police dont get involved in these sort of things these days. Bit frightening that some guy in China can clone someones name and address to pose as a UK seller and get away with it.

[John Pattinson]

I got conned when I bought a set of transfers for a Bantam online (not ebay) and they never arrived. They never answered any emails and a registered letter sent to their head office in London. I contacted Citizens Advice Bureau with all the info and they referred me to Trading Standards and guess what they referred me back to Citizens Advice Bureau. I gave up at this point!