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Tracking number scam?
I'm not trying to learn how to do this I just don't understand how the seller benifits from it. Items price was to good to be true but I ordered anyway (seller had 95.5% positive). Was emailed tracking # (Fedex). Showed delivered with picture of package at front door but at wrong address. Package looks to be right size and weight (15lbs.) sounds about right. Cost of shipping was probely more than price paid for item. I can't return or get refund but why ship to wrong address. If price was a mistake but they had to send it anyway how do they gain anything by sending to wrong address? Just to prevent me from recieving at that price? If pricing was not a mistake and they shipped it to wrong address on purpose can they get item back? Wouldn't they still be out the cost of shipping? They seem to have done this many times but I don't understand why. If this was/is a scam where does the profit come from. Or are they being vindictive because they made a mistake. What am I missing here? Thanks
eburtonlab
Mentor3 years ago95.5% is a poor seller rating. That means about one in twenty transactions involving that seller did not result in a satisfactory outcome for the buyer.
Many scams work by advertising something that is too-good-to-be-true, attracting quick purchases from inexperienced or unwary users that do not bother checking the seller reputation first.
If the scammer ships nothing, the buyer can file an "item not received" case, and if the seller cannot provide tracking that shows delivery, the buyer can get refunded by eBay and the scammer gets nothing.
If the scammer ships something to the buyer, but not what the buyer ordered, the buyer can file a "not as described" case with eBay and get refunded, and the seller has to pay return shipping and loses money or else refunds the buyer and loses whatever was shipped.
If, on the other hand, the seller ships something (anything) to an address near the buyer, perhaps a card to a local business using tracking, the buyer cannot easily win an "item not received" case (because the seller has tracking that appears to show delivery to the buyer's area), and the buyer cannot legitimately file a "not as described" case (since the buyer has not received anything and has nothing to return). This makes it difficult for the buyer to get a refund using eBay's automatic refund process. Other steps must be taken; not every buyer knows how to do this, and the chance of the scammer getting away with some funds is increased.
Good instructions for dealing with false tracking can be found here:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Tracking-number-provided-shows-delivered-but-to-another-address...