Thinking of buying from China?...long post!

pilch

Just thought I would post this as a bit of reference for those of you wondering about buying from China. My particular experience was a carbon frameset so here's a heads up for you.

I must add although my experience was bad there are PLENTY of people who have had positive experiences, one of my best mates for instance - he was the reason I decided to buy from this seller in the first place, he bought 2 frames from the same seller and has been over the moon with them.

However, this is an illustration of how it can all go wrong...

I ordered a carbon bike frame and accessories off ebay from a seller in china. I did not 'win' an auction as such, I asked for the same product in a different size (which currently wasn't in an auction).

They gave me a price and sent me a paypal invoice which I paid directly. Some time later the frame arrived, on close inspection I noticed that there appeared to be a small crack at the rear of the frame just above the dropout.

As this is a 'high stress' area I was concerned that it may fail when under load, so I contacted the seller to inform them of this, they asked for pictures which I provided (by email).

On receiving the pictures they insisted I sent the frame back and that they would pay the carriage, I said fine, but in that case I did not want the same (damaged) item back, I wanted a refund or new frame and they were agreeable to this.

So I investigated the cheapest way to send the package back (so as not to incur unnecessary costs for them), carefully packed all the items so they would not be damaged and sent it back.

They asked me for proof of the carriage invoice which I forwarded by email, they confirmed receipt and said they would pay the carriage charge asap - they didn't.

I checked the tracking info and when the frame arrived back to them I asked for confirmation that they had received and they confirmed. They told me that they were sending the frame back to the factory to be tested.

I sent several messages over the next few days enquiring where my refund was, they eventually replied that the damage was not structural therefore they would refund the purchase price but not the carriage as promised on several occasions.

After I sent a further message chasing my refund they asked for my paypal info and that they would refund me “ASAP” this was obviously another delaying tactic, but I sent it to them anyway.

Finally a week after receiving the frame & accessories, after unpacking everything and testing the frame they tried to say that I had not sent all of the items back!

So I am currently seeking a refund from Paypal, who have been brilliant quite frankly, despite being over their 45 day cut off, (hmmm, explains why the seller was dragging their feet) they have opened a case and fingers crossed, it looks like i'll get my money back...

Does that cheap carbon frame still look like a bargain?

101_North

The fact that this seller was based in China is irrelevant! The potential for an ebay sale to go wrong exists regardless of the sellers location!

Bit crap for you on this occassion and I hope you find a solution but.... I had a shocking experience with a UK seller a while back but wouldn't think of recommending folks avoid buying from the UK!

pilch

101_North wrote:

The fact that this seller was based in China is irrelevant!

Err... not really, did you actually read my post, I said nothing about NOT buying from China, in fact I pointed out that plenty of people had bought without problems. I merely pointed out the issues I had when the sale went wrong, issues that don't happen buying from the UK/europe - the difficulties with distance and time involved and the added cost of sending the item back (which was a tad under £100).

This was posted FYI from my experience, you need to draw your own conclusions and decide whether the cheaper prices are worth the risk.

101_North

pilch wrote:

101_North wrote:

The fact that this seller was based in China is irrelevant!

Err... not really, did you actually read my post, I said nothing about NOT buying from China, in fact I pointed out that plenty of people had bought without problems. I merely pointed out the issues I had when the sale went wrong, issues that don't happen buying from the UK/europe - the difficulties with distance and time involved and the added cost of sending the item back (which was a tad under £100).

This was posted FYI from my experience, you need to draw your own conclusions and decide whether the cheaper prices are worth the risk.

OK..you're focusing on the cost of the return and the time taken - obviously China is a factor in that. My focus was on the terrible service - something which is a risk with any eBay transaction!

I hope you get it sorted.

VWsurfbum

On the other side of the coin, I have ordered and recieved (very quickly) a frame and free headset and all went swimmingly. But i went direct to the manufacturer and not through ebay and i did pay by paypal just incase.
Pilch, i didnt realise this happened, can you post the pictures?

bennett_346

101_North wrote:

pilch wrote:

101_North wrote:

The fact that this seller was based in China is irrelevant!

Err... not really, did you actually read my post, I said nothing about NOT buying from China, in fact I pointed out that plenty of people had bought without problems. I merely pointed out the issues I had when the sale went wrong, issues that don't happen buying from the UK/europe - the difficulties with distance and time involved and the added cost of sending the item back (which was a tad under £100).

This was posted FYI from my experience, you need to draw your own conclusions and decide whether the cheaper prices are worth the risk.

OK..you're focusing on the cost of the return and the time taken - obviously China is a factor in that. My focus was on the terrible service - something which is a risk with any eBay transaction!

He isn't disputing this, so your post is just plain irrelevant and pointless.

chez_m356

bennett_346 wrote:

101_North wrote:

pilch wrote:

101_North wrote:

The fact that this seller was based in China is irrelevant!

Err... not really, did you actually read my post, I said nothing about NOT buying from China, in fact I pointed out that plenty of people had bought without problems. I merely pointed out the issues I had when the sale went wrong, issues that don't happen buying from the UK/europe - the difficulties with distance and time involved and the added cost of sending the item back (which was a tad under £100).

This was posted FYI from my experience, you need to draw your own conclusions and decide whether the cheaper prices are worth the risk.

OK..you're focusing on the cost of the return and the time taken - obviously China is a factor in that. My focus was on the terrible service - something which is a risk with any eBay transaction!

He isn't disputing this, so your post is just plain irrelevant and pointless.

a bit like yours then , it is bad luck, but it could have happened in the UK and europe too, unless its free to post things now

101_North

bennett_346 wrote:

He isn't disputing this, so your post is just plain irrelevant and pointless.

Glad you popped along to add value

pilch

chez_m356 wrote:

it is bad luck, but it could have happened in the UK and europe too, unless its free to post things now

Yes, but I don't think it would cost £100 to send back in the UK or Europe even...

Perhaps I didn't explain as well as I could... I agree, bad service & problems with sellers can happen anywhere, however if you are put in the position where you need to go through the Paypal resolution centre as I was, there is a time limit of 45 days from the purchase date.

So bearing in mind the item you buy from China can get stuck in customs and take weeks to arrive (as mine did) then you factor in the time going backwards & forwards in discussions because it's not as expected, then send the item back to the vendor, who then drags their heels responding (call me cynical but it looked to me like they were stretching it out to go past the 45 day limit)... you soon find your 45 days are up and you cant claim anything... I was lucky and Paypal agreed to run with it, but I think the shipping charge has gone down the drain.

Not the end of the world, but I doubt I will be buying anything substantial from the far east anytime soon...

bennett_346

101_North wrote:

bennett_346 wrote:

He isn't disputing this, so your post is just plain irrelevant and pointless.

Glad you popped along to add value

tis what am here for

njee20

Yes, but I don't think it would cost £100 to send back in the UK or Europe even...

Yes it would, and take a similar length of time.

pilch

njee20 wrote:

Yes, but I don't think it would cost £100 to send back in the UK or Europe even...

Yes it would, and take a similar length of time.

I'm sure you have checked that out - right?

From my experience (I buy stuff for our clients from the EU and ship back out to the EU now and again) you are wrong on both counts, I can get the same frame shipped anywhere in the uk next day for under a tenner, and using the same shippers I used to send the frame back to china http://www.transglobal.org.uk, sending it say to germany for instance on a 2 day service costs £20 and there is no customs/import/export BS to go through to delay anything!

cooldad

So in theory when something goes wrong:

Buy from LBS - minimal hassle.
Mail order UK - bit of hassle
Mail order EU - more hassle
Mail order China - even more hassle.

I am now educated.

chez_m356

pilch wrote:

njee20 wrote:

Yes, but I don't think it would cost £100 to send back in the UK or Europe even...

Yes it would, and take a similar length of time.

I'm sure you have checked that out - right?

From my experience (I buy stuff for our clients from the EU and ship back out to the EU now and again) you are wrong on both counts, I can get the same frame shipped anywhere in the uk next day for under a tenner, and using the same shippers I used to send the frame back to china http://www.transglobal.org.uk, sending it say to germany for instance on a 2 day service costs £20 and there is no customs/import/export BS to go through to delay anything!

good comparison £20 to germany and china's about 5 times the distance, so what did you expect.? and i'm sure they will be plenty of companies in europe that if you had a problem with, all of a sudden the language barrier would raise its head and cause delays

pilch

did you read it?? that was my point :roll:

The Rookie

cooldad wrote:

So in theory when something goes wrong:

Buy from LBS - minimal hassle.
Mail order UK - bit of hassle
Mail order EU - more hassle
Mail order China - even more hassle.

I am now educated.

Just to complete the picture

Buy from LBS - minimal hassle - dearest
Mail order UK - bit of hassle - bit cheaper
Mail order EU - more hassle - even cheaper
Mail order China - even more hassle - cheapest

So level of hassle and value are inversely proportional, now who would have thought that, after all if the cheapest option was the least hassle all other sources would get closed down!

Simon