OMG help please

[b86fiero]

This is a very unusual situation. In my 23 years of eBay selling I have never come close to experiencing this.

Friday I received an order for 7 lots of 12 coloring books each. Total of 84 coloring books. Order total $223.93 plus $20.99 tax = $244.92.

I packed up 84 all different coloring books placing 3 each inside protective plastic sleeve as always and shipping them in a heavy eBay branded box via USPS ground advantage.

Here is the unusual part:

The shipping address provided with the payment was to: eBay - Attn: J M, Hamilton Ave, San Jose, CA 95125-5904. (USPS confirmed receipt with tracking).

BUT - The Buyer ID is an active seller with 90 current listings who is shown as being located in Delavan, WI.

So ..... what do you think?

[b86fiero]

I also have had buyers change the shipping address at payment. Bought as gifts or on vacation and wanted the item shipped to where they were staying.

I guess it is the size of the order and the fact that is was shipped to eBay headquarters and paid for by somebody else.

Now I'll be wondering what eBay's plans are for those 84 adult coloring books.   😄

[albertabrightalberta]

---

@reallynicestamps wrote:

But it looks like another seller stole your listing, sold it as his own, to an eBay employee, and is using you as his supplier.

---

That's quite a leap to assume that someone (in Wisconsin) is using the OP as a dropshipper to an ebay employee! That's a huge risk to the buyer's account!

I did have a buyer/reseller do that to me years ago but certainly NOT to an ebay employee!  Although I was a bit suspicious of the note saying not to include a packing slip, thank you note or any reference to ebay, I just figured it was a gift and they didn't want the recipient to know where they bought it and how much they paid for it.

I'd never have known I was being used as a dropshipper if the package hadn't gotten "lost" in the Albuquerque, NM post office. Long story short but the intended recipient told me he didn't do business on ebay and didn't make any ebay purchases. (I did end up getting reimbursed for the loss by USPS because it was priority mail and there was no d.c.) 

[albertabrightalberta]

---

@b86fiero wrote:

Now I'll be wondering what eBay's plans are for those 84 adult coloring books.   😄

---

Add ebay branding and send out swag? 

[buyselljack2016]

Now I'll be wondering what eBay's plans are for those 84 adult coloring books.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Watch for posts from a seller about a huge "lot" of crayons purchased and shipping to  XXXX Hamilton Ave.

Stocking the employee break room with entertainment 🤣😎

ETA:  perhaps to check the coloring books for "off color" coloring. (too adult)😐

[a_c_green]

---

@albertabrightalberta wrote:

---

@reallynicestamps wrote:

But it looks like another seller stole your listing, sold it as his own, to an eBay employee, and is using you as his supplier.

---

That's quite a leap to assume that someone (in Wisconsin) is using the OP as a dropshipper to an ebay employee! That's a huge risk to the buyer's account!

I did have a buyer/reseller do that to me years ago but certainly NOT to an ebay employee!  Although I was a bit suspicious of the note saying not to include a packing slip, thank you note or any reference to ebay, I just figured it was a gift and they didn't want the recipient to know where they bought it and how much they paid for it.

I'd never have known I was being used as a dropshipper if the package hadn't gotten "lost" in the Albuquerque, NM post office. Long story short but the intended recipient told me he didn't do business on ebay and didn't make any ebay purchases. (I did end up getting reimbursed for the loss by USPS because it was priority mail and there was no d.c.) 

---

Not addressing anyone in particular here, but I don't quite see how any of this is either scammy or even dropship-related. The buyer in this case is apparently based in Wisconsin but included a California address with their payment. So what?

When I receive payment for a sale, I pack it up, print the label with whatever address was received, and send it out.

In the Original Post in its original form, the quoted address contained the full recipient's name and shipping address, everything needed to ship the package. I snipped it myself when quoting part of it in my original reply, though the name has now been reduced here to its initials only, and the street number has been removed. (The USPS doesn't care about the recipient's name anyway, unless the package is a Restricted Delivery Signature Confirmation item, which this isn't.)

Despite the incomplete address now showing here, there was nothing in the original post that suggested any kind of scam activity to me.

[ed8108]

---

@b86fiero wrote

Now I'll be wondering what eBay's plans are for those 84 adult coloring books.   😄

************************************

 A stress reduction tool ?

[az93]

I don't do any snooping, i just mail things. Much easier.

[b86fiero]

Yes, the shipping address was to: eBay - Attn: J ... M.... (full name spelled out with payment and appears on shipping label). If there is an employee with that name I would hope the eBay mail room would deliver that heavy box to them.

The whole thing just seems unusual to me. If an eBay employee wanted to purchase an item from me, or any seller, why not do it directly? I don't get the round about way it was done.

[b86fiero]

I delivered the box to the post office Friday afternoon on my way to an appointment.

I thought the order was unusual but I've sold items to television production companies and well known people in the past, so why not an eBay employee.

Last evening I took another look at the order because I was curious as to what the eBay employee had listed for sale. Using the links in my sales receipt I looked at the buyers feedback and items for sale. That's when I discovered the buyer ID was located in WI and not in CA.   

[b86fiero]

FWIT many eBay employee's names appear on various locations on this site and in government filings. 

[b86fiero]

I agree.

Although the eBay headquarters address was an attention getter.   😁

[inhawaii]

A very interesting story, but still a no-brainer.

Ship it.

[b86fiero]

That's funny!

Perhaps to be used for relaxing entertainment in Walker's West? Destress with a cocktail and coloring book at the end of an exhausting day? 

[b86fiero]

As stated, this no-brainer immediately shipped the order on Friday within hours of payment received.

[a_c_green]

---

@b86fiero wrote:

The whole thing just seems unusual to me. If an eBay employee wanted to purchase an item from me, or any seller, why not do it directly? I don't get the round about way it was done.

---

This is probably a bit of a stretch, but perhaps there's some company policy about not using your company account for purchasing, and thus the buyer had a family member do it for them.

As for unusual buyers, I've had a ton of them over the years: 

• An author who was buying back his own books after losing his own stock in a garage flood
• Another author who was writing a book on a couple of items I had listed, lost the bidding for them in a fierce bidding war, but asked if he could at least have my photos as illustrations for the book. (Yes! 😎)
• A museum that bought some vintage items of mine because they were originally made in that city
• A Hollywood prop house buying a number of related vintage items without regard to price or condition

Basically: they pay, I ship. No worries.