Ordering on Ebay From China

I've had a little business/hobby selling jewelry at bazaars for a few years.  Believe me, it's more a hobby than a business when it comes to profit but it's something I enjoy doing occasionally.  I used to have a couple of venues every year but now I'm down to one so I'm definitely not run off my feet.  Kim comes with me to help and now she's even gotten interested enough to buy a few things to sell.  We buy from China on Ebay because that's the only way to make a tiny profit.

I've always had good luck dealing with China.  They're polite, keep you up to date with e-mails, and refund when necessary.  I've seldom had items simply not arrive but this year was different.  I'd ordered maybe 24 bracelets and only 6 arrived.  This has never happened before but Canada Post was threatening a strike this summer so maybe that has something to do with it.

Anyway, it takes a good 6 weeks to get your purchase from China but it's sent postage free so I accept that.  Because of the threatened strike that never came about, I wasn't too concerned when most of my items didn't come on time.  I gave them another 2 weeks before asking for a refund.  It was then that I found out I'd waited too long and 6 of the items were no longer covered by the Ebay guarantee.  I sent refund requests anyway and was more than pleased to see I got a complete refund for all of them overnight.  I doubt very much that Canadian businesses would respond so quickly and after a guarantee had expired!

I would advise anyone buying on Ebay from China to not buy something that might need to be returned, though.  I'm not sure paying the return postage would be worth it.  Anything I've bought has been about 80% great but the few items that arrived damaged or not at all were immediately refunded.  I don't deal in high priced items, either, so I don't worry about losing money.

Some people say we're taking advantage of the Chinese by purchasing items at a low price but where do they think the regular stores get their merchandise?  You can bet they buy in bulk and at lower prices than we Ebayers do, too.  

Personally, I enjoy dealing with China and have found their sellers to be very conscientious and very polite.  Of course, I'll continue to buy from them!