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eBay is a viable alternative now that Amazon charges taxes.
Note that may be changing for some sellers on eBay as well in the future, particularly high volume sellers who use eBay Valet. Since the eBay Valet partners may have a presence in multiple states, that may in fact trigger sales tax nexus for the seller in the states where the valets are located. This is similar to Amazon's Fulfillment by Amazon service.
Last edited by Pink Jazz; 07-18-2017 at 09:18 AM..
I buy from both US and Chinese sellers. I don't find the Chinese sellers to be any less reliable. Of course shipping from China takes a lot longer. But reliability is about the same. I have a few problems with products not getting shipped on time, but it always gets resolved eventually.
I have had issues with poor packing by Chinese sellers. Some will ship a small electronic item in a thin layer of bubble wrap inside an unpadded plastic envelope. The item will arrive looking like somebody sat on the box. A couple of times the item has arrived broken.
I've been waiting 24 days for a $20 pair of earrings and ebay has been less than helpful obtaining a refund. They are going down hill, definitely.
Did you leave the seller a negative feedback and a note that the item was never received? That has never failed to get me results, usually within minutes of leaving the feedback.
I still find great bargains on eBay on everything from used textbooks for my son for college (Amazon is often much higher), shoes, clothes, jewelry, home decor, and just cool things that I would not find on Amazon.
I hate all the junk from China, though. I always set my search on eBay to USA only.
I used to be a eBay person, but not for the past 4 or 5 years. I don't know if the business on eBay is dying or not, but compare with Amazon, I would prefer shop at Amazon because it offers much more protection to the buyer and the seller. Is good for both party.
It has the name recognition.. google or somebody should buy them up and get into the online retail business. It's been a good 10 years now since people started making the same complaints about them... the days of getting quality used items from individual small sellers back during the internet's early days are long gone.
I've noticed when looking for CDs sometimes that even though I set my search for "USA only," sellers in Russia get through.
In general, I only buy things on eBay that I can't find anywhere else.
Are you sure? That's really weird. I have never seen a result from outside the US, when I search US only. Are the Russian sellers shipping from the US maybe? A US search means the item is being shipped from the US. One problem I have had is that I ordered an item to be shipped from the US. I received the package from Amazon and the item was broken. When I contacted the seller it turned out he was in Thailand, and communicated in very limited English. He asked me in broken English if I still wanted the item. I said sure, send me another one. Instead he issued me a refund. I don't think he even understood what I told him. But I got my money back anyway, and reordered it from another seller. It turned out for the best. I got two items for the same price from the other seller.
Are you sure? That's really weird. I have never seen a result from outside the US, when I search US only. Are the Russian sellers shipping from the US maybe? A US search means the item is being shipped from the US. One problem I have had is that I ordered an item to be shipped from the US. I received the package from Amazon and the item was broken. When I contacted the seller it turned out he was in Thailand, and communicated in very limited English. He asked me in broken English if I still wanted the item. I said sure, send me another one. Instead he issued me a refund. I don't think he even understood what I told him. But I got my money back anyway, and reordered it from another seller. It turned out for the best. I got two items for the same price from the other seller.
Note that if you buy Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), Amazon (not the seller) takes responsibility for any issues with the order and handles the customer service. Most third party Prime items are FBA, although Amazon now allows sellers to fulfill their own Prime orders.
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