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Fraudulent tracking
I'm trying to keep this brief. I purchased something from a seller ($120). They sent tracking with shows it was delivered "inside" "to office" on January 16. The package was supposed to come to my house and there is no way for it to be delivered inside. For a week I kept trying to find the package but was getting no help; UPS kept saying the tracking belonged to an item sold through Amazon so I needed to deal with them. (I know sometimes sellers might also sell on Amazon but it wasn't making sense.) I finally went in person to a UPS dispatch location and they were able to help and give me more information about the delivery of the item that matched that tracking. The package that matched that tracking number was delivered inside to the office of our city high school. It was an Amazon purchase and was delivered to "Michelle XXX". UPS gave me a printout showing that the package was not from the seller I purchased from and was not addressed to me or with my address. They siad that that was a common scam that sellers can hack the system and find a tracking number going to your zipcode and send that, never shipping the item but you will think it is on the way to you. I initiated a case with ebay indicating that it had not arrive. The seller however re-sent the fraudulent tracking number to ebay so they believe it was delivered. What do I do now? I cannot find an email address to contact ebay or a way on the dispute page to submit the paper UPS gave me that shows that it shipped from Amazon and was NOT shipped to my home. Has anyone had a similar issue? Thank you for your time.
eburtonlab
Mentor8 months ago@boxermom_7
If the buyer actually receives something, the buyer can file a "not as described" return within thirty days for a full refund. In fact, any buyer on eBay can file a "not as described" return, provided the buyer is willing and able to return exactly what was received.
If tracking shows delivery but nothing arrives and the buyer can obtain some hard copy documentation (email is not good enough) that says that the package was not delivered to the buyer's address or documentation that shows the weight or size of the package cannot possibly correspond to the ordered item, or the shipping date precedes the order, then the buyer may be able to contact eBay via social media direct message, provide that documentation to eBay and get help with "false tracking".
https://x.com/askebay
https://www.facebook.com/ebay
https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/
With "false tracking" if you go through a standard automated "item not received" case, on the other hand, you will lose the case because the seller can provide tracking that appears to show delivery. If you then appeal, you may have some additional options at that point. It appears that eBay has added a new appeal option regarding "delivery to another address", but I do not know how effective that is compared to contacting eBay via social media with documentation and explicitly mentioning "false tracking", which seems to work provided you can obtain the necessary documentation.
If you are unable to get help through eBay, you may have recourse through your payment method, though you should probably exhaust all your eBay options first since once you go through your payment method, eBay will no longer help with that transaction.
In general, you can avoid a lot of headaches by choosing to purchase only from established sellers that have recent and past positive feedback as a seller for selling items in the same category that you intend to buy. If someone is selling a dozen apple watches, but has no feedback, or only has feedback as a buyer, or only has feedback for selling dress patterns or fishing lures (actual examples I have seen), perhaps wait until they have a track record of positive feedback for selling electronics before you buy from them.