Long term project 51" mono proposal

**Old School** · 01-11-2018, 05:22 AM

I have another two weeks or so to commence a dispute with eBay. If I await until the seller sends another hull plus the estimated four weeks plus postage time then the time would elapse to commence an eBay dispute. Hopefully, the tracking number he provides will be valid. If not then a dispute will be started to protect myself.

I had been expecting the hull to arrive (supposedly sent EMS) any day and now I find out that effectively I have at least another four to six weeks to wait its arrival. Very disappointed.

Yesterday I had a scale rudder (hydraulic push/pull type) for the large hull arrive from China with bolts missing. The inadequate packaging had ripped open intransit and Aussie Post had retaped the box. Luckily the main components had not escaped.

**rol243** · 01-11-2018, 04:37 PM

wouldn,t mind checking this ebay site out.

**Old School** · 01-11-2018, 05:07 PM

Just check "rc boat hull' on Aussie eBay, he has a lot of boats listed. I just found out though that while he may say he has boat hulls available, the boats apparently are made to order. My hull purchased four weeks ago has the listing still showing one available and yet a message just received states that the replacement boat is being manufactured and will take several days to build. If he still has one available why do I have to wait for another to be built. Trust level is not very high at present.

Edit: On rereading his message to me from last night it appears the hull may have not even left his place of business and was actually damaged on the premises. Thus even though marked as posted four weeks earlier, the boat was still onsite when I messaged him as to why it had not been delivered. The tracking number supplied implies the package is sent EMS which supposedly takes a maximum 14 working days to arrive. Thus the eBay arrival date of January 8th was the maximum time contracted for EMS deliveries. I feel that I am in for a wild ride with this one.

Edit 2: after discussion with eBay customer service I have had to open a dispute for an item not received as eBay only allows 30 days to raise a dispute. I argued that as items from China generally take in excess of thirty days to arrive then the thirty day limit is too short. His response was that to protect my money then I had no choice but to raise a dispute. I can imagine now that the seller may not be happy to proceed with the sale and may simply refund my money (it will actually come from PayPal's purse) and I will be left with a box full of parts intended for the boat. I will then need to find a similar hull. Hopefully, the seller will continue with the sale but with the threat of PayPal refunding me then I cannot see him posting an item knowing that he may not get paid for it.

Another Chinese seller has the same hull for more money but as she only has a feedback of 450 and lists ten available for each hull version I am reluctant to go there. Low feedback and supposedly ten available per listing implies maybe that she drop ships and does not have items onhand as required by eBay policy. Trust level is very low at present making me suspicious of all offerings.

**rol243** · 01-11-2018, 10:32 PM

I would demand a refund now and go elsewhere as you will be waiting along time for your hull if it ever arrives. yes get the money back as this seller is not good. there are other places to buy simular hulls.

**Old School** · 01-11-2018, 10:54 PM

The eBay spokesperson this morning was incorrect as the thirty day time limit to lodge a dispute starts from the day of the final expected arrival date from the seller. In my case it was January 8th. Thus I had another three weeks plus to raise a dispute. By then I would have had a valid tracking number showing the item had been scanned by China Post, not as provided an inactive tracking number as the seller had not even posted the item and simply raised a tracking number using eBay's postage scam system.

I purchased the item using a 10% discount coupon so to purchase from another seller will cost me the discount plus the additional cost the other seller "ceramic_lady" sells the hulls for. I will be up for a further $100.00 minimum. "ceramic_lady" shows ten items available per listing which for a seller with 450 feedback seems like a lot of stock. Suspicion and lack of trust are two uppermost feelings right now.

(Edit: in case of confusion, "ceramic_lady" is not the seller that I originally purchased the boat hull from and I have no reason to doubt that store's integrity. This store is one of two others that I know that supply the hull that I need.)

**rol243** · 01-12-2018, 12:56 AM

you don,t have to lodge a dispute just ask the seller for a full refund. unless you want to take the risk and hope you do get the hull.

**Old School** · 01-18-2018, 03:55 PM

Finally the time has elapsed to enable me to raise this dispute to involve eBay. I strongly caution anyone thinking of purchasing from this seller to be very wary. While he lists about forty or so of these large boats on his eBay site store I really do not believe he carries any stock and when an item is purchased he then purchases the item from a distributor. This is fine if the item is immediately available. In my case he marked my purchase as posted and provided a tracking number which showed to be invalid and after four weeks no item had actually been posted.

I have had to await until after the final estimated delivery date to commence proceedings against the seller to recover my expenditure. As I have purchased everything needed to complete this hull then I need to play 'Russian roulette' with yet another Chinese seller, hoping that unlike the previous seller, this one will show to be honest and actually supply a hull.

A search of the original seller's site shows that he sold a similar hull just days prior my purchase back in early December last year. No feedback has been posted for that purchase so possibly that purchaser is also out of pocket. China may be an Aladdin's Cave but remember that it was thieves who filled the cave with ill gained merchandise.

**rol243** · 01-18-2018, 04:36 PM

Good luck and hope you do get a full refund. how about you let us know who this seller is ?

**Old School** · 01-18-2018, 04:48 PM

He is quite simple to find having about half of the 77 items listed under "rc boat hull" on Australian eBay. I would prefer not to mention his name as a Google search will highlight this forum and possibly impact on my refund claim. My posting is to warn others that any purchase may not go as smoothly as you would want. The seller comes across as extremely friendly and constantly infers that he is to be trusted. My experience is that he is the opposite.

**rol243** · 01-18-2018, 07:32 PM

if the seller is that good he will refund your money instantly. this is why sometimes it is easier and quicker to ask the seller for a refund and cancell the order.

**Old School** · 01-19-2018, 06:21 PM

With so many of these largish catamaran hulls listed on eBay how hard could it be to actually be able to buy one? Well, the answer is not simple. After the fiasco with the first seller I messaged other sellers requesting whether the boats listed on their sites were actually instock. Not one has responded. My original seller finally confessed that of the many cat hulls listed in his eBay store he only has two plug and play models available and not the numerous bare hulls he listed as available.

When one looks at the fine print on these sellers sites it is not uncommon to see something like "seller ships 30 days after payment clears". Thus the seller holds onto your money for thirty days before actually shipping the item. This would infer that the seller does not hold stock and only orders an item when it is purchased. In my case the seller found that the factory could not supply a hull in a timely manner. However, this does not excuse him for stating the item had been posted five weeks ago and even providing a tracking number for an item that had not even been manufactured.

If I had not pre-purchased all the items to build this hull then I would be looking for another project and keeping well clear of these Chinese sellers.

**srislash** · 01-19-2018, 10:02 PM

So sorry for the hassles you have encountered. I have been lucky so far. All your gear should work fine on a similar sized hull right?

**Old School** · 01-19-2018, 10:23 PM

There are basically three supposedly different eBay sellers with the hull that I am interested in. However, the item description for most listings for all three sellers is identical, word for word. Now either it is the same seller or two other sellers are cloning the original seller's site. They sell basically the same items, r/c planes, r/c trucks and r/c tanks and boats with almost identical available listing numbers in each category. Each seller has only one or two negative feedback and usually for minor complaints so one must assume that each seller is genuine even if the stores are the same trading under different names. Perhaps explains why the stores messaged yesterday did not respond to me regarding actual stock onhand.

As regards the items purchased to fit out the hull, yes, they could be used on other similar sized hulls, however, due shipping limitations on oversize hulls, the postage cost would be prohibitive as it would need to be classed as airmail freight and handled by one of the large air freight companies like FedEx, UPS, etc. China Post offers attractive postage rates for large hulls making the hulls from China more affordable.

**srislash** · 01-19-2018, 10:41 PM

Ahhh, ok so it is a proximity thing. Makes sense. Bear in mind that a lot of things are made in one manufacturing place and re branded by sometimes many. There is like three lipo plants on the planet (or so I have read), Seaking/Turnigy ESC’s, Flier=/Alien/MBP/FDM. You get my point. It doesn’t take much in China to set up shop and do just like you are saying, take orders till you can approach manufacture then get them shipped out. I really feel most are on the up and up. But certainly delays occur. I have waited quite some time for things from China and even had them resent at no charge to me. With apologies!

Hopefully you find one of those sellers that you feel you have faith in.a response would be a good start. Perhaps there is a holiday on there right now as I have an email off to Hifei and have no response either in four days now.

Shawn