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Items not received
I have two separate tracking numbers for items I purchased, both out for delivery today, same shipping, both say delivered at different times, I am home waiting for both, Nothing delivered, but registered on Ebay as delivered, filing with Ebay not received and one of the sellers has been removed for policy violations for the item, and I am hit with a banner, item may still be coming. WTH is this, I need them this weekend. Neither has responded to my contacts. What can I do?
5 comments
eburtonlab
Mentor4 months ago@wil677856
If you have contacted the shipping service directly to determine that the tracking number does not correspond to a delivery to your address you are likely looking at a case of "false tracking".
If you can, I would suggest obtaining documentation that shows that the package was not addressed to you, then contacting eBay via social media direct message using Instagram and mentioning that you have a case of "false tracking" to be given an opportunity to share your documentation:
https://www.instagram.com/ebay/
If you cannot get documentation, or if that does not work:
Since false tracking allows a scam seller to win an "item not received" case, the next step would be to file a "not as described" return on eBay and be prepared to return exactly what you received if the seller provides for return shipping, or ask eBay to step in after three business days if the seller does not refund you or provide return shipping.
You may have recourse through your payment method if you are unable to get satisfaction through eBay, though once you involve a payment method, eBay can no longer help with that transaction. Be sure you mention "false tracking" specifically, otherwise your provider may assume a simple missing or stolen package and defer to eBay's ruling based on the tracking showing delivery.
In the future, stick to experienced sellers with a long and demonstrated history and avoid new or unproven sellers, or sellers that show warning signs of being drop-shippers or potential scammers: drastic changes in selling behavior or offering deals that are "too good to be true", or shipping heavy items that are unlikely to be profitably shipped via retail shipping.
wil677856
OP4 months agoI received the items, Both sellers used tracking numbers they didnt use to ship the packages, which is confusing for me, because both listed delivered to my area! One drop shipped from Walmart, and the other used OnTrac services, but the tracking number was UPS, for that one Ebay removed the item from my purchasing list because it was incorrectly listed. A New seller. Ebay couldn't step in until the 2nd. Contacting the sellers several times, finally got results.
eburtonlab
Mentor4 months ago@wil677856
It sounds as if those sellers are engaging in retail drop shipping against eBay policy -- that could be why they provided tracking for a different shipment.
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.
wil677856
OP4 months agoWow, all of that is new info to me, Thank you for the advice, I also have to pay more attention to sellers location, I have purchased a couple of times from companies overseas with expected tariffs fees that I had to beg to cancel.
eburtonlab
Mentor4 months agoYou are welcome -- good luck!