eBay gets tough on foreign sellers lying about the location of their items
Recent reports via TameBay about eBay introducing measures in UK to stop Chinese sellers lying about their item location have been met with applause from UK sellers, although for some this is long overdue.
The notice appearing on eBay's Chinese marketplace is pretty explicit and warns that listings will be removed and restrictions imposed on sellers who do not accurately display the actual item location.
eBay Australia & New Zealand has confirmed to PeSA Australia today that similar mandates have been put in place to protect Australian buyers and sellers too.
For foreign registered sellers genuinely dispatching eBay orders from locations inside Australia, eBay now requires:
- A maximum of 2 business days handling time
- A maximum delivery time of 4 business days to metropolitan areas
- A maximum delivery time of 6 business days to regional areas
Australian eBay sellers have long been complaining about the illegal practice of item location misrepresentation by foreign sellers, especially in China and Hong Kong. Since new GST laws were introduced by the Australian Federal Government in July 2018, all marketplaces offering goods to Australian consumers are required to add and collect 10% GST on all purchases by Australian consumers, and remit this to the Australian Taxation Office.
eBay's new mandate effectively bans the use of all shipping services from outside Australia by foreign sellers claiming an item location within Australia:
After already detecting and penalising hundreds of foreign sellers for item locatoin misrepresentation and tax evasion, eBay's new mandate is a further measure intended to stamp out misleading practices by offshore sellers claiming their products are located in Australia when they are not.
Australian Sellers are encouraged to report instances of item location misrepresentation directly to eBay, the Australian Taxation Office or via the PeSA Australia Item Location Misrepresentation reporting tool here.
This is a positive move from eBay to support around 40,000 Australian sellers so they can compete better. It's one of several steps eBay has taken and will continue to take to stop item location abuse.
