CONSERVITVS • Volunteer Community Mentor
This is so full of weirdness I can't even see how the ostensible explanations would work. This will be long but please read the whole thing before offering theories because each added detail debunks the theory I had prior to it. I think you'll agree this is a total head-scratcher, but maybe someone knows exactly what is going on.
Thursday the 28th I ordered packing tape from a seller who has zero negative or neutral feedback (I always check with new items, particularly to see if they got any complaints about being a drop-shipper). The next day I was notified that the item had shipped. It said USPS but the tracking number was 0004020621953611660436604195963 -which is obviously too long, and I got no results by pasting it into Google or the USPS website.
Sunday the 31st, there's an Amazon Prime package on my porch, obviously delivered by Amazon, as it was Sunday, Easter Sunday at that, and on my porch as opposed to my mailbox. And it was the tape of course.
I negged the seller, citing Amazon drop-shipping.
Now today I get another notification that this item has shipped.
So I go to my Purchases page, and there is a new tracking number, a normal one from USPS. -That (long) other number is no longer there. Now, I have had sellers issue more than one label for purchases before and I have done it as a seller (when I made a mistake on the first one or whatever) -and whenever this occurs, normally BOTH numbers continue to show for the item. But somehow in this case, the new one totally replaced the old one. The only reason I was able to find the old one and post it ^ just now was because I remembered it started with at least a couple 0's, so I typed them in Google and my search from the other day popped up.
I realized something weird was going on so I went to the seller's feedback, and sure enough they got my neg wiped somehow. NOW -this is the part where someone might tell me that this is not a drop-shipper violating eBay policy, that they do whatever kind of arrangement where it's okay with eBay (I'm still not clear on that but whatever) and that's why they were able to get the neg removed. But hang on, if this WAS an approved version of drop-shipping, then why upload another tracking number today and (somehow) disappear the original one?
And it gets weirder.
On eBay's popup window for this new tracking number, it says the label was just created this morning at 11:26 AM, and has no scans yet.
But when I click the tracking number, USPS shows it with history going back to "awaiting item" from UPS Worldwide Forwarding on Saturday the 30th .....to ..... delivered today, April 2nd, at 12:13 PM.
So then I thought maybe I had another whole 6-pack of tape in my mailbox .... went out there, but nope, not there. I did receive other packages today, but according to Informed Delivery they arrived at 1:41 PM not 12:13. Also this tracking number never auto-loaded to my Informed Delivery, so I am certain it was never affiliated with my address at all.
However ...... it DOES show it was delivered to my zip code. Now, if you're thinking they sent an empty envelope or whatever to a different address in my zip code, as some way to get the neg removed or whatever (and I'm not even sure what difference that would make) ..... how could they have known I was going to neg them Saturday, the day BEFORE I got the package? In fact Saturday is just when this tracking number got on USPS' radar; it appears the item was already in transit before that. So maybe they recycled another customer's tracking number? -How big a coincidence would that be, that they'd have an active one for someone else living in my zip code? And why go to the trouble of finding it and using it to replace the one I had on my order, when my neg wasn't even ABOUT not receiving my item?
Oh one last thing, if it's useful somehow: I didn't notice this before, but this item is the ONLY item in their store, and the only item in their Sold history, since creating the account last November, in Israel (didn't notice that before either).
In our area, USPS does deliver Amazon packages on Sundays.
Can't imagine why anyone would have told you that but it's definitely not a policy. Sellers can't neg buyers, so maybe that's what you're thinking of.
I don't neg sellers very often; it takes a grave offense and I do consider drop-shipping to be one, but here's the last seller I negged and it was over 6 months ago. Granted he is no longer registered, but he was for a while after that negative, and it wasn't removed.
