Locked
Discussions in this board are limited to the original poster and Community Mentors
Buying grocery items
There is a common grocery item that I use a lot of, and it seemed too expensive in the local grocery store. So I used to but it in bulk from Amazon or Walmart, saving about 25%! But then the price went up, a lot, so I was looking for other ways to buy in bulk and save some money. I found the item on EBay. But no seller seemed to have more than 2 of the item. Yet each seller offered the item at the low price I was used to paying, shipping included, even though I was not buying in bulk like I had with Walmart (which still offered the item, but at a much higher price). So I ordered 2 of the item from each of several sites on EBay. The items have arrived and everything seems fine. But the items have arrived in open paper bags with handles or sealed cardboard shipping boxes, all Walmart branded. Not sure if they've arrived via USPS, UPS, or private courier. Anyone know what is going on here? Any chance these items were stolen from Walmart and being resold?
eburtonlab
Mentor6 months ago@rad_9850
It appears those sellers may be waiting until you place an eBay order, then turning around and buying the item through Walmart to have the item delivered to you. If the price you are paying is less than Walmart's price, then either the seller is losing money or else the seller is involved in some sort of triangulation scam, perhaps paying for the Walmart order using a stolen credit card number and keeping your payment to eBay.
eBay does not allow retail drop-shipping, but just because it is against eBay's rules does not mean that some folks will not try to get away with it.
It may not be possible to always identify in advance those sellers who drop-ship, but it is possible to identify some common characteristics of illicit retail drop-shippers or other under-performing sellers, and thus avoid the worst of them.
Often they can be spotted by a combination of low feedback number, free shipping of heavy items where it would not be profitable to use retail shipping, use of stock photos, high handling time (not necessarily if they are using Amazon or Walmart, though), poor feedback received with complaints of delays and wrong items or out of stock cancellations, very odd item selection and/or quantities like items were chosen at random from a catalog, canned item descriptions scraped from another site that exactly match many other similar listings, differences between registration location on the feedback page and item location (or vague item location -- like "US, United States"), or inability to answer even basic questions about the items being sold.
rad_9850
OP6 months agoThanks! The prices quoted by the various sellers of this item were definitely lower than Walmart's prices. Some of the shipments have arrived in a sealed Walmart box with both my name and someone else's name on the shipping label, and probably were delivered via UPS. It's the deliveries that have arrived in Walmart branded paper bags (with a carrying handle but not sealed) that really seem strange. And then there is the fact that I'm in a condo with security gates: the first shipment was left outside the gates and was ripped off (all the regular delivery services have the gate code on file), and I eventually got a refund. All the other packages, whether sealed or not, were delivered to my door.
eburtonlab
Mentor6 months agoIt's the deliveries that have arrived in Walmart branded paper bags (with a carrying handle but not sealed) that really seem strange.
Those may have been delivered by a third party service such as Door Dash or the local equivalent. The fact that it is not cost effective may be an impediment to a real seller trying to turn a profit, but not to a triangulation scammer willing to pay using a stolen credit card.
rad_9850
OP6 months agoInteresting. Very well could have been DoorDash or the local Walmart grocery delivery service (which I have used in the past), and that might explain why they had the code to get into the building. I wonder if I am exposing myself to any risk buying items this way. I went through the EBay site and paid in the usual manner.
eburtonlab
Mentor6 months agoI wonder if I am exposing myself to any risk buying items this way.
I would be concerned that Walmart (or whichever retailer the seller is buying from and possibly defrauding) might not be happy if, for instance, deliveries to your address keep getting paid for with stolen credit cards which have the charges reversed when the card's legitimate owner eventually notices. Walmart is unlikely to go after you personally for the funds after-the-fact, but it may affect Walmart's willingness to deliver to your address in the future if you do make any legitimate Walmart purchases, if these orders are apparently being made using your name and address.
rad_9850
OP6 months agoDo you think it is worth the effort (assuming that it is even possible) to report this situation to EBay?
eburtonlab
Mentor6 months agoYou can certainly report the seller to eBay; unfortunately it is not clear what eBay will do about this sort of fraud, as neither eBay nor the eBay buyer are the victim of the fraud.
https://www.ebay.com/help/action?topicId=4850