Today I’m going to share some of my recent eBay experiences. Specifically, I’m talking about buying from eBay sellers located in China. The title pretty much says it all. But if you’re curious and want to learn more details, read on.

I usually buy from respectable online TF retailers that specialize in Transformers and it’s third party variants. Most of them are based in the United States. Some based in Japan. If you’re reading this post, you know who they are and I don’t need to list them. Every once in a while, I find out about a good figure after it’s been all sold out at my usual online retailers. It is times like these that I turn to eBay.

I’ve been an eBay user since the late 90s. Sure, I recall several times when I had an issue buying. One time I didn’t receive a $10 video game that I won (FYI… this seller had excellent communication, and he swears he sent it… it was only $10 so I chalked it up to bad luck). And there was another time where the seller possibly shipped it to the wrong address (which I got a full refund from eBay). But out of the hundreds of times I bought items on eBay, those were the only 2 complications. Neither of them felt like scams, and more like honest mistakes. My hundreds of transactions include both US and international, including China. No issues whatsoever, other than the 2 I just listed. I have come to trust eBay as a reliable source. That is, until recently.

In Oct of 2016, I decided to get a knock off MP Starscream, I think from KBB. I heard that the official MP-11 Starscream is extremely poor in terms of build quality, and that a KBB knock off might actually be better. I found a eBay seller from China selling this buy-it-now for about $58. The seller has perfect 100% positive ratings, with about 200+ ratings. So I buy it. In a few days I received a tracking number. When I try to track it, the site says “waiting for the item to reach our warehouse”, or something to that effect. The site will state too that it’s a valid tracking number. About a month goes by, and the tracking is stuck in that state. Contacts with the seller went ignored. That’s when I contact eBay. And looking at the seller ratings at a month later, it is now filled with negatives for the month before. This seller is now banned from eBay. I got a full refund.

I figured that was just bad luck, so around Feb this year I tried again. This time I was looking for Unique Toys Buzzing/Runman (their homage to Blurr). It’s sold out on all my usual sites. And once again, I found a different eBay seller in China, asking buy-it-now for about $84. Again, this guy has all 100% positive ratings, with close to 200 ratings. I buy it and get a tracking number. This time, the tracking seemed legit (initially anyway). It tracked its location in China, and that it got onto a flight headed towards the US. After nearly 2 weeks, tracking shows that it arrived at an airport in the US. But that’s where things got stuck. 3 weeks go by, and it’s still the same status. And once again, contacts with the seller goes ignored. So I contact eBay and get my full refund. This seller is still active on eBay. Seller ID: wanli-chengke. eBay hasn’t banned him yet, but he’s racked up close to 40 negatives in the past month.

So this seems to be a trend. Buying from China on eBay used to be ok. eBay sellers in China dealing in TF products are not to be trusted today. This post is not a commentary against eBay, but sellers doing business on eBay in China. I won’t buy from them again until I see hard evidence that this trend is reversed. And I do think eBay could do more to police this.

In summary, I urge everyone to not use eBay to buy items based in China. These scams can only go on for so long before buyers wise up. Transform and Roll Out.

Teletraan I Communiques