My first purchase with invalid tracking

I want to handle this correctly. I do know not to file INR but as for how to do it

Timeline:

Purchased September 3
email from seller on September 8 telling me that the package (with an Amazon TBA tracking number was "delivered yesterday" which would have been last Sunday, Sept. 7. Of course, nothing was delivered.
(My mistake in not doing it sooner) but it was at point I looked at the seller location and other listings, saw the seller as located in Kenya and listings CLEARLY being dropshipped from Walmart and Amazon.
Nothing was updated on the order until this morning, September 13.
Item delivered to the correct zip code (supposedly) by UPS with a picture showing a house that I don't recognize.

FWIW, I've called UPS locations but most are franchises or authorized locations and have no more tracking info than I can see and on the corporate website and phone number, they referred me to Amazon.

UGH! Can't get a human!

I know I have to file NAD.

@wastingtime101 I discussed this with you and saw it coming!

albertabrightalberta

I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.104 View listings

Posted 11 months ago·Last reply 11 months ago

20 comments

albertabrightalberta

OP11 months ago

I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.104 View listings

Small update but no resolution yet.

I contacted UPS through Facebook and sent a PM with all the necessary information.

Received this, to which I responded requesting a PDF UPS letterhead stating such:

I've already filed a claim for NAD for which the seller has until Sept. 18 to accept and issue return label or refund. If I receive neither, I will escalate.

In the event that I lose the NAD claim, will ebay accept the facebook convo?

ittybitnot

·11 months ago

18 View listings

"The first step is to open an order not received case...."

@albertabrightalberta

Was this person that gave you that advice a regular Call Back or Chat eBay person? It sounds like the advice those agents give. Glad you didn't follow it. Thank you for making the post, it is most helpful.

albertabrightalberta

OP11 months ago

I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.104 View listings

@ittybitnot wrote:
"The first step is to open an order not received case...."

@albertabrightalberta

Was this person that gave you that advice a regular Call Back or Chat eBay person? It sounds like the advice those agents give. Glad you didn't follow it. Thank you for making the post, it is most helpful.

This advice was given by a Facebook employee (actually 2 different people) after I'd sent private messages through Facebook. First "Mario" told the me open INR. After I replied that I thought that was inaccurate because there's tracking showing delivery meaning I will lose the case, "Shane" responded saying that I'd still win because tracking would show delivery to a different address!

I do have a bit of an update. But the case isn't over yet.

I opened the claim and ebay gave the seller until Sept. 18 to respond with a return shipping label.

When the seller didn't respond, I went back on Sept. 19 and asked ebay to step in.

At that point, I expected ebay to issue a refund and close the case but instead, it now shows as

"The return case for this item was escalated to eBay Customer Support.

eBay Customer Support has placed the case on hold until Sep 24, 2025 to allow time to provide additional documentation. If we need additional information, we'll send you a request by email."

This is crazy!

house*of*paws

·11 months ago

779 View listings

Thanks for the update @albertabrightalberta. Having to wait until the 24th seems ominous. [I assume you would have been told if the seller had provided eBay with information that caused the delay.]

Does anyone actually know of someone who filed a NAD claim for the FTN scam â€¦ and received a refund? Iâ€™m really glad youâ€™re testing it out. ðŸ˜Š

albertabrightalberta

OP11 months ago

I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.104 View listings

FWIW, I opened NAD.

klhmdg

·11 months ago

1523 View listings

@albertabrightalberta -

Just do the NAD -

This is the easiest, until eBay provides a way to deal with these scammers.

albertabrightalberta

OP11 months ago

I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.104 View listings

So should I do as Mario suggests and open INR?

Or should I do what I think is better and open NAD?

house*of*paws

·11 months ago

779 View listings

@albertabrightalberta

*sigh*. Iâ€™m afraid the â€˜information in blueâ€™ from our Facebook friends would NOT put my mind at ease. ðŸ™„

You could have filed the INR â€¦ just to check out Marioâ€™s optimistic assertions â€¦ and then filed the NAD if pessimism prevailed, but it really doesnâ€™t matter. Iâ€™m eager to learn whether a â€˜fake NAD claimâ€™ (so to speak) goes through seamlessly. LOL

I am also curious whether the package showed in the Delivery photo was consistent with the item you ordered. [We hear about small envelopes being shipped for this scam to hold down shipping costs, but this is not that.]

And how often do you think youâ€™d be willing to file lengthy claims if you experience this scam regularly. [I maxed out after my 2nd FTN scam in a couple of weeks. My first one was very interesting, and I learned a lot by following through all the steps in pursuing a refund â€¦ but who has the time or patience to go through this nonsense multiple times?]

albertabrightalberta

OP11 months ago

I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.104 View listings

@house*of*paws

"*sigh*. Iâ€™m afraid the â€˜information in blueâ€™ from our Facebook friends would NOT put my mind at ease. ðŸ™„"

Nor did it put my mind at ease, thus my reason for doing what I did!

"I am also curious whether the package showed in the Delivery photo was consistent with the item you ordered."

It's hard to tell the dimensions of the package in the picture but yes, it could possibly be about the right size.

"And how often do you think youâ€™d be willing to file lengthy claims if you experience this scam regularly."

Nope, don't want to do this again. In fact, after hearing from the seller who claimed the item was delivered on September 7 and realizing the scam, I placed an identical order on September 8 and it was delivered on September 11.

Interestingly, this is an item I purchase 3-4 times a year and price it on both Amazon and ebay. I've purchased from ebay sellers when it's cheaper. Although this is the first ebay purchase with invalid tracking, every other ebay purchase has been delivered by Amazon! I don't know how those ebay sellers do it because I'd priced it on Amazon and it was more expensive!

lacemaker3

·11 months ago

4, 3, 2, 1 ... Earth below us, drifting, falling ... Floating weightless, calling, calling ...690 View listings

@albertabrightalberta, I'm sorry you are having to go through this.

I noticed that the tracking has a link to get the proof of delivery photo, and to a map that should show the delivery location. You have to know details about the transaction (delivery zip code, and phone number) so you should be able to access those links.

If you can identify where the package was delivered, you could go there and politely ask if they have received an unexpected UPS delivery on the 12th. You might be able to recover what was sent.

If you have to send something back, you could send a printout of the delivery map, if you don't get the actual item they sent.

albertabrightalberta

OP11 months ago

I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.104 View listings

@albertabrightalberta wrote:

1Z82V0630374266799

@albertabrightalberta wrote:
Thank you for the replies.

I haven't filed NAD yet but will likely do so after I hear back from Ebay/Facebook.

This is the (hopefully) concise and clear explanation of the situation. If nothing else, it can be a helpful template for future victims of the scam:

I am the victim of a fake/invalid tracking scam. Seller is located in Kenya but is dropshipping from amazon and walmart.

Seller (seller ID redacted) - registered in Kenya

Item purchased on September 3, 2025: (Link to listing but redacted from this post)
Item location shown in listing: Evergreen, CO
seller contacted me claiming delivery on September 7 with Amazon tracking number: TBA324172714982 (I cannot track because it's not my amazon account)
No tracking updates on order until September 13 with UPS delivery (1Z82V0630374266799) shown as September 12 with a photo of someone else's door/home in same city as my order
UPS tracking shows origination in Schertz, TX, NOT Evergreen, CO as shown in listing
NOTHING received

Clarification: The above in red is what I posted to Ebay on Facebook. In that private message, I DID include the seller's ID and the link to the actual listing. That information was redacted (by me) when I posted here.

@lacemaker3 wrote:
@albertabrightalberta,

I noticed that the tracking has a link to get the proof of delivery photo, and to a map that should show the delivery location. You have to know details about the transaction (delivery zip code, and phone number) so you should be able to access those links.

If you can identify where the package was delivered, you could go there and politely ask if they have received an unexpected UPS delivery on the 12th. You might be able to recover what was sent.

If you have to send something back, you could send a printout of the delivery map, if you don't get the actual item they sent.

@lacemaker3

I was able to access the picture of the delivered item but the phone number is not my phone number and that's required in order to get the delivery map.

Delivery picture -- not recognized by me:

Text in order to get map to delivery location -- my number starts with 3 and ends with 94. Thus I can't get the location of delivery:

I also got a response from Facebook and I'm not sure I got good advice!

These are the 2 messages I received from "Mario."

Message 1:

Thank you so much for reaching out to eBay Customer Service, (my name)! I get that even though the tracking for this order shows a delivery, you did not receive the order, and you have concerns with the tracking information provided by the seller. I'd love to review the order details and go over your options in this situation. -Mario

Message 2: I've highlighted the part I question in blue. The seller DOES have tracking showing delivery so I will lose the case if I do as advised.

I'm glad you decided to reach out, (my name)! I know these situations are not ideal, and I want to help you in any way I can. The great news is that this order is protected by the eBay money back guarantee, and the seller is required to provide valid verifiable delivery confirmation. The first step is to open an order not received case. You can follow the link below to open the case. Once the case has been opened for 3 business days, we'll be able to step in and review the tracking information to help. I appreciate you for giving me the opportunity to look into what happened with this order to try and help sort this out. I hope this helps put your mind at ease, and you have an amazing rest of your weekend. -Mario

12345jamesstamps

·11 months ago

8757 View listings

I would do the NAD first.

If that fails do the credit card dispute 'online' if you have online banking.

Do it as a 'dispute'.

It much easier and quicker and less questions.

Don't phone or walk in the bank...too time consuming.

Be very brief...'dispute the charge'...usually gets a fast refund back on credit card.

Don't go in complicated details...

airsheep

·11 months ago

2194 View listings

You can also file because it provided a false origin location for SNAD.

albertabrightalberta

OP11 months ago

I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.104 View listings

Thank you for the replies.

I haven't filed NAD yet but will likely do so after I hear back from Ebay/Facebook.

This is the (hopefully) concise and clear explanation of the situation. If nothing else, it can be a helpful template for future victims of the scam:

I am the victim of a fake/invalid tracking scam. Seller is located in Kenya but is dropshipping from amazon and walmart.

Seller (seller ID redacted) - registered in Kenya

Item purchased on September 3, 2025: (Link to listing but redacted from this post)
Item location shown in listing: Evergreen, CO
seller contacted me claiming delivery on September 7 with Amazon tracking number: TBA324172714982 (I cannot track because it's not my amazon account)
No tracking updates on order until September 13 with UPS delivery (1Z82V0630374266799) shown as September 12 with a photo of someone else's door/home in same city as my order
UPS tracking shows origination in Schertz, TX, NOT Evergreen, CO as shown in listing
NOTHING received

house*of*paws

·11 months ago

779 View listings

Hey @albertabrightalberta

I just finished typing ... TWICE (the first reply 'timed out' because I was interrupted) ... a lengthy reply to someone here about this scam:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Ebay-is-a-bunch-of-crooks/td-p/35036164/page/2

I'm happy to go into more specifics if you'd like. Feel free to DM me if you wish.

I think the fastest/easiest way to a refund will be through the Fraud Department of your CC company (if you used one). I've had to deal with this 5-6 times already ... the last time a month ago, but NOT on eBay. I don't know of an easy way to do it by filing an eBay claim. I keep reading how even the 'social media reps' do not seem to understand the scam well enough to give refunds.

EDITED TO ADD: IF you are planning to go the NAD route with eBay, then there's really no need to collect proof from UPS that your name wasn't on the package ... because you won't be asked to provide it. You just need to use the reason 'Doesn't match description or photos'. [You can copy & paste a listing photo if a photo is needed.]

If provided with a shipping label, you then send anything you want in a box or envelope ... including just 'air' ... but I'd probably type out a statement that indicated that this was a 'Fake tracking scam' return. [You can include the printout of the UPS statement if you ever get one.] You're making the return to the SCAMMER ... so you're merely letting them know that YOU know what they did.

albertabrightalberta

OP11 months ago

I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.104 View listings

@klhmdg wrote:
You can file the NAD now.

It says it was delivered on the 12th so file your NAD.

@house*of*paws wrote:
Hey @albertabrightalberta

I don't know of an easy way to do it by filing an eBay claim.

I prefer to use a c.c. dispute as a last resort and only after being denied by other claims.

Filing NAD seems to be the easiest first step since I certainly didn't get what was advertised and what I paid for. Then, if and when I get a return shipping label, I'd use it to send back exactly what I received.

If my NAD claim got denied, a chargeback would be the next step.

I also want to leave appropriate feedback for the seller but don't want to word it in such a way that it'll be removed. Any advice on the timing and wording of what I can say is welcome.

house*of*paws

·11 months ago

779 View listings

@albertabrightalberta

[I added an ETA to my earlier post right before I saw you reply. Don't know whether it's helpful.]

I didn't leave feedback for my eBay seller, who also was foreign ... because I felt it was more likely that the dropshipper was the culprit, and I didn't want to hurt the seller. [The seller had refunded me after I merely messaged them about the situation.]

I'm not sure what you could say in feedback that wouldn't risk removal. You might leave yourself vulnerable if you suggest that the item was deliberately sent to another address ... since you are filing a NAD claim ... but that isn't likely. If I can think of an appropriate feedback ... I'll post back.

And please follow up here with whatever results you achieve from eBay! ðŸ˜Š

klhmdg

·11 months ago

1523 View listings

You can file the NAD now.

It says it was delivered on the 12th so file your NAD.

kraftique

·11 months ago

4462 View listings

UPS does GPS and you should be able to Call their Main Number not a Local Store. Local Store are Privately own.

albertabrightalberta

OP11 months ago

I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.104 View listings

@kraftique wrote:
UPS does GPS and you should be able to Call their Main Number not a Local Store. Local Store are Privately own.

As I posted in the screenshot above in post 16 (from UPS), they were able to tell me that it wasn't delivered to my address and the name on the package wasn't mine.

For privacy reasons, they aren't able to tell me the address it was shipped to.