Search, advanced, location, "UK only"
Sadly not fool proof as certain far Eastern sellers use a UK address to get around that but still ship from China etc...
I turn "UK only" on AND check delivery "expected by" dates, sometimes their feedback to weed out the comedians.
Spray that again?
Since a lot of posters seem to use eBay a lot ...
I'm guessing it's as it seems, but when looking for an item, is there a secret filter to list only items that will be shipped from the UK ?
Usually, I don't mind a couple of weeks delay, but if I want something shipped locally, then I have to view every single listing to see the "delivered 13-20 June" line and discount that particular seller.
I thought Amazons filters were pisspoor (and they are) but was rather take aback to realise there could be worse.
(I was looking for a Lux meter. Loads of sub £10 inc. P&P on eBay that would take a couple of weeks to get. Eventually I used Amazon, £15 all in with next day delivery).
yes. Its called 'show uk shipped items only'
Shame the delivery estimate is not a search variable.
One thing I also do to Far East companies with a UK shipping address and claim to have a VAT number, is to check validity of the number and to ask for a VAT invoice or receipt. 9 times out of 10 they refuse. I then ask for the VAT element as a refund.
It has never failed and morally excusable on my part if they have obviously no intention to pay the VAT element to HMRC.
Had an interesting one. Bought a bit of electronics which said UK supplier, and delivery within a couple of days. Email etc said it was dispatched very quickly. But RM tracking didn't receive it until about 5 days after dispatch. So total time over 7 days. Not really complaining, given the value for money. But too quick to be sent from the far east? No customs etc stuff on the packaging.
I believe things are sent by air mail to a UK hub on which the UK postage is affixed. Air mail from China is very quick.
(goes and checks)
no such filter.
There is the "Item location" filter. But selecting "UK only" just reveals it's useless as the shipping time is still 2-3 weeks (so not a UK item after all).
Generally, when I have ordered stuff with a 2+ week delivery date, it's been much quicker ... less than 10 days, which isn't bad, considering it once took me 6 days to get something (the last thing) from eBuyer that was shipped in the UK.
Not really, you can filter for "item location = uk only" but plenty of sellers lie about location.
One method I sometimes find useful is to search for items that offer "click and collect delivery", as only genuine uk sellers seem to offer that, but as many smaller sellers don't offer it, so you will restrict what options you have for buying, also you need a handy Argos/Sainsburys to collect from.
I had an item which given the estimated time of delivery I thought was optimistic for coming from China and to be fair the vendor made no attempt to pretend it was coming from somewhere in the UK. It arrived within the time stated via amazon and an Amazon warehouse in Germany. That also meant there had been no will they won?t they interception by HMRC wanting VAT.
GH
I just turned one of my Amazon accounts into an "Amazon business" account. That then allows you to add a bunch of new purchasing policies, like only want products with downloadable VAT invoices. You can then filter on those on listing, or show all but have it give warnings on items that don't match the policies.
That would explain it as 'hub' was mentioned in the RM tracking. But generally when I get such things from the far east, there are customs labels etc on it? This just had an ordinary postage label.
No problem here ....
Unfortunately there are Chinese sellers that advertise that they are UK sellers and with an estimated delivery of a few days. What happens when you order is that the item is sent from china to the UK and the re-sent by a UK agent by royal mail. The whole process takes typically 10 days.
Filtering for only UK sellers/stock may/will also get you these Chinese sellers.
Yeah, I noticed :(
Oh well, despite checking it out 15 years ago, I still know why eBay is my souk of last resort.
The best you get is to tick the UK only box in the Item Location list in the left hand column when looking at the list of hits.
But plenty of sellers lie about that detail as you discover when it shows up.
The time it will be delivered by is a useful indicator and is the only thing that matters but isnt a filter option.
ebay is much better with the search terms, it doesn?t offer you stuff which doesn?t match unless there are no hits at all.
Yeah, its much better with delivery time filtering.
Andy Burns explained on 26/05/2019 :
The Argos delivery is one option, delivery to your address is the other one.
Huh? The bods shipping from China can arrange delivery to your address, so it's not much of a filter ...
Andy Burns used his keyboard to write :
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