I recently purchased what was supposed to be a used metal detector with pictures and whatnot. The seller had multiple listings with the same pictures which I found a little concerning. I contacted the seller and they stated they had multiple units and didn't want to retake pictures. Their feedback showed positives on similar sales and they were a member since 2010, so my concerns were temporarily alleviated.
So here's how it went:
"Seller" shipped something in the form and weight of a pen or pencil to a nearby address addressed to a different name. Item showed delivered however it didn't arrive at my place... also showed delivered in mailbox (for a 10lb metal detector??) so that's wasn't right at all. I called the local post office and they tracked it down and said that it was a small one ounce package delivered to a vacant residence... not good.
USPS brought the item to my place since they didn't believe anyone lived at that address on the same street. It had the same tracking # and wrong address and name as mentioned. I refused/returned the mail item and opened a case with Ebay. Figured it'd be open and shut. Nope!
To this day, nearly a month later, Ebay still shows the item as "delivered". They closed the case in the seller's favor even though seller never responded to the issues. I appealed and just today got closure in the form of a refund, however...
There were many other listings created and sold at the same timeframe as my purchase, and most of those were duplicate listings. I could not leave appropriate negative feedback for the seller since the case was originally closed due to the "delivered" status, even though the "refused" status and subsequent statuses were after what showed "delivered".
So in closing, I'm 99% sure there are many other claims or cases against this seller's account now and those buyers are having to go through all the hoops as well with calls, police reports. I suspect that the account was compromised and whoever did this did a little research on what types of items the seller had sold before creating fraudulent listings. And technically the person could continue doing this as the account is still in good standing with NO negative feedback. The appeal was closed as "item stolen during delivery"... more like it was a total SCAM and the account needs to be investigated!
Has anyone else experienced this with "sellers" sending a fake item to nearby address to trick the system?
