Possible “Delivered to Wrong Address†Scam on eBay – Sharing My Experience
I’m sharing this to see if others have recently encountered a similar situation.
I purchased a camera lens from an eBay seller who claims to be located in New York. The seller provided a USPS tracking number, and four days later the tracking status showed “Delivered.†However, I never received the package.
I went to my local post office to investigate. The post office manager checked the tracking record and confirmed that the package was delivered to an address different from mine, although within the same ZIP code. Due to privacy rules, USPS could not provide me with a written statement or disclose the other address.
I submitted an “Item Not Received†claim to eBay, explaining this situation. However, eBay denied my claim solely because the tracking number shows “Delivered,†without considering whether it was delivered to my address.
When I looked more closely at the seller’s account, several things did not add up:
- The seller has an account over 10 years old, registered in Germany, but claims to be located in New York.
- The USPS tracking shows the package was shipped from Whittier, California, which is about 6,000 miles away from Germany and does not match the seller’s stated location either.
None of these inconsistencies were considered by eBay when they ruled against my case.
To make matters worse, I left feedback on the seller’s profile to warn other buyers, but that feedback never appeared publicly. When I asked eBay about this, I did not receive a clear explanation.
At this point, it feels like this is a known loophole: a seller can provide a tracking number that shows “Delivered†to some address in the same ZIP code, and eBay will automatically side with the seller even if the buyer never receives the item.
I’m posting this to ask:
- Has anyone else experienced this kind of situation recently?
- If so, how did you eventually get your money back?
This has been an extremely frustrating experience and, in my view, a serious failure of eBay’s buyer protection system.
mamacassidy
·9 months agoAs others have mentioned, there are 2 ways to handle this:
on ebay: open a return for Item Not As Described. The seller will be forced to issue a return label or refund. If you have to return something, just return an empty envelope, because that is what they sent out. Your ebay return request must be within the 30-day window
your payment source: contact your bank/ paypal/ credit card company and file a chargeback. Be sure to use Not As Described as the reason. Don't say "didn't receive" because they may look at the same tracking info ebay uses.
As far as the feedback goes, ebay goes by the tracking, so they removed your feedback because the tracking to them showed "delivered".
We remove neutral/negative feedback when the buyer is referencing:
12345jamesstamps
·9 months agoMaybe should have done 'item not as described' and have gotten a return label to send something back to seller...that's what I would do with something that had item delivered with tracking.
If you have online banking with debit or credit card...do a 'dispute' as 'address different than mine'.
simba6
·9 months agoIt's a very common scam. If you paid by credit card, contact your card company. I had that happen not with an eBay purchase, but it took several months with my card company to win. They know all about the fake tracking number scam.