Please enlighten me .

[grumpy52]

I have recently bought a couple of items from famous internet selling sites .
Items cost way below £5 inc P+P and often come from the far east but not always.
Anyway one item failed to arrive via the post but I received a card saying insufficient postage had been paid and I needed to pay a fee . Of course the fee was more than the value of the item .
I claimed for failed delivery from the seller and they replaced the item .
I was surprised to notice when it arrived that the postage they had paid was more than the cost of the item .
Is this a strange money laundering fiddle ?
I also bought some scented candles for my sister last year and was amazed when double the order plus loads of free stuff arrived in a surprisingly large parcel that cost more to ship than I originally paid .
How does this work ?
The sellers do seem to disappear after a few months .

[hutchst]

Using somebody else's franking machine?

[Riley Blue]

I read somewhere (can't remember where!) that the Chinese government pays the postage.

[grumpy52]

Riley Blue said:

I read somewhere (can't remember where!) that the Chinese government pays the postage.

Some of the items are from UK sellers .

[anonymous-user]

Build up feedback

[Riley Blue]

grumpy52 said:

Riley Blue said:

I read somewhere (can't remember where!) that the Chinese government pays the postage.

Some of the items are from UK sellers .

They may be agents for Chinese manufacturers. I just bought a couple of items for £1 each (including P&P) from this 'UK Located' seller.

SHENZHENSHI OUTUODIANZI JITUAN YOUXIANGONGSI
VPO
MANCHESTER ONE
53 PORTLAND STREET
MANCHESTER
M1 3LD

[finlo]

grumpy52 said:

I have recently bought a couple of items from famous internet selling sites .
Items cost way below £5 inc P+P and often come from the far east but not always.
Anyway one item failed to arrive via the post but I received a card saying insufficient postage had been paid and I needed to pay a fee . Of course the fee was more than the value of the item .
I claimed for failed delivery from the seller and they replaced the item .
I was surprised to notice when it arrived that the postage they had paid was more than the cost of the item .
Is this a strange money laundering fiddle ?
I also bought some scented candles for my sister last year and was amazed when double the order plus loads of free stuff arrived in a surprisingly large parcel that cost more to ship than I originally paid .
How does this work ?
The sellers do seem to disappear after a few months .

Flooding The country with covert surveillance devices

[bloomen]

Surely Babz media or whatever it was is a reference for this. They were sending out everything first class or signed for, even the crappiest battery. If I remember rightly they had some sort of Post Office account and ran up a giant bill and didn't pay it. They were also money laundering out of Hong Kong.

Edited by bloomen on Thursday 11th April 20:59

[droopsnoot]

I've assumed they're loss leaders, hoping for a bigger order next time around.

I bought a couple of bolts from a UK supplier, 99p including P&P. When they arrived, they're in a new Jiffy bag, with something like £1.17 postage on the label.

[rodericb]

It sounds conspiratorial but China knows that industries in countries such as England have a tipping point and with the long term view they (can) take it slow and steadily. Once an industry has gone it's very difficult to re-start.

[shed driver]

E-Packet. It's a partnership with China Post for low cost items.

SD.