A new low for a scammer eBay seller

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by kwadguy, Apr 30, 2019.

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  1. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    I recently bought something (some HDMI cables) from an eBay seller.

    Turns out the seller is something of a turd. First, he is drop shipping using Amazon (a no no, but there are lots of people who do that). Second, in my case, he apparently didn't ship anything at all, and just gave me a bogus tracking number. Whatever was shipped got delivered today, but to someone in another state.

    OK, so typical scam behavior.

    But now it gets better. I write to the seller to tell them that the item seems to have been delivered to the wrong state. They write back and tell me "oh, sorry, I gave you the wrong tracking number. Here's your tracking:" followed by a link to a sketchy website (tongpost-tracking.com) that was just created in China in January and seems to have been created just to provide bogus tracking. Of course, the new tracking number he gives me tracks to deliver to my place today. He suggest "oh, maybe it got delivered to your neighbor by mistake".

    I then look at his feedback (he has about 8000+ feedback). There are about 30-40 negative feedbacks in the past year, and they are all variations of "gave me a bogus tracking number, never shipped, had to get eBay involved to get my money back."

    A fake tracking site. That's a good one.

    The shocking thing (and, yeah, it's eBay so nothing should shock me anymore and neither does this--it's more grossly annoying) is that the stories are so consistent and eBay hasn't bothered to shut him down.

    Last week, it was the guy who claimed he shipped something to me. It never arrived. When I complained, he said he had had "two strokes" and that a friend had made a mistake and never shipped my order (but his friend seemed to have had no problem marking it as shipped).
     
  2. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    Any chance Amazon can step in and help mess this guy's business model up?
     
  3. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    They can...but it takes a lot for that to happen. Like eBay, you can complain, but usually those go into /dev/null.
     
  4. GentleSenator

    GentleSenator what if

    Location:
    Aloha, OR
    given paypal buyer protection, what exactly is the angle here for these scammers? it seems like a lot of effort for some HDMI cables!
     
    E.Baba likes this.
  5. samthesham

    samthesham Forum Resident

    Location:
    Moorhead MN
    Only if you don't follow the chain of command & demand to speak with someone who has brass dragging the ground...

    That type of pursuit has worked for me the few times I had problems on EBay & Amazon...

    I use the direct verbal approach not the other avenues...

    & it's suggested to use PayPal because you are guaranteed a refund if not happy...

    Good luck
     
  6. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    One more suggestion...did they ship through the U.S. Post? If they did, and you can show a pattern of mail fraud, well, dat's messin wif da gubmint...!
     
    Dave likes this.
  7. MARTHY

    MARTHY Forum Resident

    This is why one always checks feedback, regardless of how many positives, and look specifically at the negatives -- **before** the purchase is made.
     
  8. My latest eBay pet peeve is sellers selling 'reproductions' of rare picture sleeves and acetates. For example, they'll list a rare picture sleeve (one that goes for at least several hundred dollars) for, say, $50. Deep within the text of their write-up is that it's a reproduction, but I'm guessing they're hoping to get the collector who quickly hits the 'buy it now' button out of concern someone else will scoop in and get it, or who doesn't catch the buried word 'reproduction'. Regardless, these types of items (unauthorized reproductions) are against eBay terms so I report them every once in a while but I don't think any action on eBay's part is taken.
     
  9. Dave Garrett

    Dave Garrett Senior Member

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    I just had something similar happen. Bought an item on eBay, paid immediately, seller marked as shipped soon thereafter. At which point the tracking number sat at "Pre-shipment" (label created but package not yet received by the post office) for two weeks. Yesterday I got an eBay notification that it had been delivered, and when I checked the tracking number, it showed delivery in Knoxville, which is obviously nowhere near Houston.

    Now, I knew this was a gamble up front as the seller had only joined eBay recently and despite getting a fair amount of positive feedback, had already accumulated at least ten negs (poor packaging/damaged item, poor to nonexistent communication, etc.). But I figured I'd roll the dice since the item was less than $10, and if the transaction went bad, I'd file a claim and get my money back. Which is where this seems to be headed very shortly, as I sent a polite but firm message to the seller yesterday asking for a resolution ASAP and have yet to receive a response.
     
  10. mobility

    mobility Member

    Location:
    philadelphia
    i once purchased a univox guitar from a seller in south philly and it never came. my female cousin came up with a plan. she emailed the seller and told him she heard he was handsome and would like to meet up with him which he did and we were waiting for him. no resist. no fight and he did pay back a little at a time since we knew who he was. a computer geek or someone in the know could easily track down this guy for you. not as hard as we think. in my case i just got lucky.
     
    tmtomh and Dave like this.
  11. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Paypal are great for refunding but if you are Australian you lose the ten percent the Government took up front.
     
    mikmcmee likes this.
  12. That sounds...awfully risky. I'm glad that worked out for you, but that could have gone in any number of bad directions for you and your cousin.
     
  13. BigMikeATL

    BigMikeATL Well-Known Member

    Location:
    USA
    Yup. The recipient may be different, but if the sender address is the same they might be able to investigate.
     
  14. mobility

    mobility Member

    Location:
    philadelphia
    just luck bro. i have had enough bad LIFE EXPERIENCES to know sometimes you go down to the level of shade to weed out the truth. case in point. i love boxing and a guy tried to sell me a george forman book with his autograph. hey i was at the book signing at borders in philly and got the book with his autograph and it wasn't same . all for the guy to make a few bucks. again. just luck i pay attention to everything. my deceased wife taught me that.
     
    Dave likes this.
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