Im not sure if this is the correct place to ask this, international ebay purchases.

[slurp]

I recently purchased an item from e-bay, this has arrived and is all ok with the purchase, i.e i have what i bought at the price i agreed, the only question i have is the seller says they are based in Canada, and the item i bought would be despatched from Canada, when this item arrived it had been posted in Hong Kong, how can this be and are this company likely to be doing this intentionally to deceive and is it within the laws of business or also the laws of ebay, why do companies or individuals do this?

[Buenchico]

'Drop shipping' is a well-established (and perfectly legitimate) business practice:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_shipping

Chris

[scarlets fan]

Just last week there was an item on TV about those mail shots that tell you you have won a prize (doesnt everyone!!). The mail has a UK post mark but actually comes from Nigeria or similar. They send it in bulk to UK and apparently it is perfectly legitimate to send it on as if it originated here. We are all being lulled into a false sense of security when we accept things at face value.