I was in deal with a person from China to buy these two rare and expensive figure items. I paid him using peer-to-peer payment (stupid, I know, but not the point of the story lol). After the payment we were communicating with each other but he was giving very vague shipment dates. "Oh, I am ill right now. I will contact you again when I am ready to ship", a month goes by. "Oh it is CNY, there will be delays". I respected the delays and tried to keep contact with him but it has been two months.
I understand both the illness and especially CNY, because businesses in general are closed for a week. However, in those two months, he was not replying much to my contact attempts. Before the payment, he was very responsive. After the payment, not so much. Interestingly enough, he has been getting new reviews nearly everyday however. Keep in mind that people review after they get the item and shipping in China only takes two days. I eventually had enough of the lack of communication and reported him to the platform I found him on. It felt unfair to see other people get their items but not me.
I paid a huge sum of money that I am embarrassed to admit. So, after I reported him, I got him banned off the platform and platform said that they will have their specialist try to contact him. Hours later after the ban, I get a very angry email from him, threatening me to withdraw my report within 24h and how I am "destroying the deal with \[my\] own hands". I was sure I was in the right until I got that angry email, but now I don’t know.
My opinion, NTA
Nta. He’s pissed because that’s how he makes money
NTA. He’s a scammer and got what he deserved.
NTA. What do you do when you pay for something and don’t receive it? Report the scammer. It’s his own dang fault he doesn’t ship and stopped responding.
NTA! How is there no tracking number or _anything _ after over a month?! If seller told you ahead of time it might take a while with customs, etc I can see having to wait…but there isn’t much coming from overseas nowadays that doesn’t include a tracking number. Suuuper sus!
definitely. i paid him off platform because i do not have a chinese bank account. he is a legitimate seller and he gets good reviews every single day and has an approved status from the marketplace platform. but he is delaying mine for whatever reason.. lol..
NTA, also how do you know the reviews are real? Sounds like a scammer to me.
they have to be verified by the marketplace platform itself
NTA.
It was recently chinese new year. A lot of Chinese businesses shuts down for 1-2 weeks. From what I heard people don’t typically respond during that timeframe. So like if it was the last few weeks that would be one thing. But super weird not to receive communication for over a month.
I’ve bought items from China before. I don’t normally receive a tracking number. It just shows up one day. After like 3 weeks I start to think, where is my stuff. Then it shows up.
In all honesty, without knowing much about that website. My assumption is this is not the first time he’s been reported. I feel like they wouldn’t ban him so fast if it was just you. Or it could have been how much you paid for your items. That caught their attention to react so quickly. It sounds like it worked and was very much needed.
I would ask him why is it taking so long? It’s really odd. You should have gotten something by now. Even if he sent it through a cargo ship. It should have in theory arrived by now.
yes, so i was going to ship the items to a forwarding warehouse. i usually get a tracking number from the seller and it ships within 1-2 days. i ordered from sellers during cny and they were happy to ship it out very quickly, but obviously it is not the expectation during cny. what makes this seller different though is that i paid for this item on january 8th of this year. he had time before chinese new years and after his illness. its disappointing.
I am Chinese. On Chinese e-commerce platforms, if a seller fails to ship goods on time as agreed, they are required to compensate you. The compensation is approximately 10% to 15% of the product’s price, deducted directly from their store’s deposit and given to you as a coupon. You can use this coupon to purchase any other item on the platform. Additionally, the platform will deduct service points from their account, which significantly impact the store’s search ranking. If the points become too low, the account may be suspended. This policy does not apply to secondhand shopping platforms where transactions are made with private sellers.
Here’s the thing: I don’t imagine a platform banning a seller just for one report. This probably has happened before, and you can’t be blamed for that. I don’t think he necessarily is a scammer, but it does walk like a duck and quack like a duck.
Edit: clearly NTA
good way to put it. he is legitimate and is very concerned about his seller ratings on the platform. but he is indeed acting like a scammer, even if he isnt one