Another factor is speed. With the stock stored domestically, the shipping time drops to a week at most from the 3-4 weeks it would take to ship direct from China. The same thing is with Amazon with the 3rd party sellers based in China that use Amazon fulfillment.

While I agree to some this might be undesired but it's at least better than the sellers that claim they're in Canada and then drop ship the item from China. The significant increase in shipping time is a major annoyance. There is the possibly of you having to pay the import taxes but generally such items are low enough in value that the consumer would not get taxed for them in Canada. I think eBay has cracked down on that practice though but the listings were easy to spot. Anything with a vague location like Ontario, Canada or my favourite, Canada, Canada is suspect. Usually sellers list the city the item is located in.

I remember something a while back about either eBay or PayPal being partially or fully prohibited in China. If so, then it would make sense for them to ship huge quantities of their goods to distributor-warehouses elsewhere on the planet whereby as eBay members there, they could sell them from. And with a system of the proceeds relayed back to the manufacturer or primary distributor in China.

I doubt ebay would be restricted in any way, if their gvmnt supports these sales (extremely low rates for their postages,...). They are banning a lot of sites, but my guess things like ebay would be the very last on the list

Thanks for the replies. Basically, I really don't care who ships what where or why they do it. What I care about is supporting local sellers and businesses, not Chinese ones or wherever they are.

If I buy something, unless I specifically buy it knowing it is from an overseas seller, such as when I buy lamps from US eBay, then I want my money to go to the person here. This is nothing short of misrepresentation as far as I'm concerned, and I am rapidly being put off buying anything from eBay unless I know and trust the seller

I see obvious China-made stuff on eBay all the time with a ships from (somewhere in) the US location.
Sometimes the listings are even nearly identical to those that ship from China itself. (So not really hiding anything)

If the item is something I actually wanted, there have been times I've ordered from the US located listing just to get it quicker.
Its rare that any listing says where its actually made .lol. if its "some cheap electric/electronic thing" I'm looking at, I just assume its made in China.

I see obvious China-made stuff on eBay all the time with a ships from (somewhere in) the US location.
Sometimes the listings are even nearly identical to those that ship from China itself. (So not really hiding anything)

If the item is something I actually wanted, there have been times I've ordered from the US located listing just to get it quicker.
Its rare that any listing says where its actually made .lol. if its "some cheap electric/electronic thing" I'm looking at, I just assume its made in China.

That's not the issue I have, I'm well aware that the stuff is almost certainly made in China or wherever. My annoyance comes from the fact that people are saying they're located in the UK, and they most probably are, with a UK name and address shown, yet the money goes into a Chinese bank account. Why is this, if they really are a genuine UK seller..?

That's not the issue I have, I'm well aware that the stuff is almost certainly made in China or wherever. My annoyance comes from the fact that people are saying they're located in the UK, and they most probably are, with a UK name and address shown, yet the money goes into a Chinese bank account. Why is this, if they really are a genuine UK seller..?

I'm assuming they just rent a warehouse in the UK / US / etc, and a few people to work there (or maybe just send some .lol. ) ... then they have an address in the country & can appear to be a seller from. (I guess for technical/legal purposes they are)
Buy yeah like you say all payments just go back to some place in china rather than a true local seller.

I'm assuming they just rent a warehouse in the UK / US / etc, and a few people to work there (or maybe just send some .lol. ) ... then they have an address in the country & can appear to be a seller from. (I guess for technical/legal purposes they are)
Buy yeah like you say all payments just go back to some place in china rather than a true local seller.

That's about the gist of it, and it's {censored} annoying