Etsy Rant/Warning - Made in (Insert EU country) label isn't reliable
Just a little rant about my recent etsy experience. I wanted to buy a custom pottery makers mark and decided i wouldn't just go for the cheapest as i want to make sure it's local. I order from a nice looking etsy store that says it ships from the country i live in, all good, order submitted. Within a few days i find out the order will be delayed about a week, which isn't a problem in itself, custom orders are expected to have this but then i saw a reddit post mentioning how with Chinese Labour day the country effectively stops working for 5 days and a small alarm bell rung in my head.
The seller had already made a mail tracking number and for a few days it's been stuck in some "Transport to DHL", i assumed this was from the seller to DHL, but looking into it further, it often means it's coming in from abroad. Then the final nail in the coffin, the company labelled in the mail tracking which was only visible via the DHL app is Retlog DHL-YW. This is a label used by Yanwen Express, a major chinese logistics country.
I was so annoyed when i realized, I wanted the seller to dig a hole for themselves so after discovering all this i just asked frankly if it's shipped from (EU Country). They said it was definitely. Then i brought up all these matters and they were very quick to cancel the order(Even though it's been shipped, so i will probably still get the product). I have left a review at least to alert others and reported to Etsy.
If you do spot one of these posers, there is an unethical life hack in that if you order from them and call them out on it after it arrives(or if it ships and is delayed past the original delivery date), they are likely going to give you a refund. I'm not supporting this as you are much better off ordering from someone genuine if you can find them. But at least it would hurt the shady dropshipping business model when doing this, especially as you are still able to leave a review and report it to Etsy.
TLDR: Brought an item on Etsy labelled as coming from an EU country, Was obvious from the shipping label it was from China. Seller immediately forced a refund on me when i called them out on it. Reported to Etsy in hope their store gets taken down and left a 1 star review anyway.