I recently had a similar experience on ebay, the item was shipped from China. The seller likely lived here in the U.S., and was simply drop shipping from China. The item I received was very poor quality and would not work. I left neutral feedback instead of negative, and the seller got angry. He offered a refund, if I would revise the feedback to "positive"; so I did.

To be honest, most of the stuff I have ordered from ebay that came from China, was JUNK. I won't buy anymore if I know its coming from there. I also don't like drop shippers.

I prefer to buy from small sellers on ebay, who are mostly selling their own stuff out of their home, and know the quality firsthand of what they are selling. Drop shippers never even see what they are selling.