Beware of companies that appear to operate from Europe
I ordered some 'adult' clothes for my missus the other day from a seemingly UK store (.co.uk domain). Normally parcels get delivered within 2-3 days but this was taking longer. When checking the package tracking link, I noticed that it's coming from the US and that's why it's taking a lot longer than I expected.
Lesson learned: I need to check the FAQ, help, etc. pages and fine prints for information about the origins of stuff I'm about to order. :/
Might I interest you in some organic British-grown mangoes, dates and avocados? You can find them in my shop at real-british-mangoes-dates-and-avocados.co.uk ! The TLD is .co.UK, so you know I'm not lying! 🫣
Diddly Squat Farms, is that you?
Oh wow, thanks! I've ordered a few tonnes of them. :)
Joking aside, the TLD wasn't the only thing that was UK specific, its contents and language (British English) are also very convincing.
I had a similar issue, also with a company that looks like a UK store but ship directly from China.
It took a while to arrive, the products looked fake and with no CE marking, we have to ship it back to China to get a refund.
It's called Dropshipping and it's been around for ages.
Dropshipping simply means the seller does not hold stock and ships directly from the supplier after the sale. The supplier can be just as British as the seller.
If a website presents itself as British but does not clearly state that the product ships from California, that is misleading.
I had this happen to me with "mykitsch,eu", the whole website was localized (even the images!) and I thought it was a shop based in my country. Turns out they are an american company and the shit I purchased was flown in from california. After I purchased I began to receive email spam on the address, so they probably sold my data too.
Is there a name for this? Eurowashing? Eurobaiting?
Dropshipping
https://captaindrop.com/
I hate it. It has forced me to do a massive background check whenever I order something online which sometimes takes an hour or more, but now I kinda enjoy it so yay I guess 🤷♂️
Honestly, foreign companies with local domains is common practice since .... So long, Can't even remember..... (Still good advice)
Zieeuq