Fraudulent Tracking
Summary: A participant reported an issue with fraudulent tracking, leading to denied cases and appeals. taki2324 experienced a similar issue and has disputed the charge with their credit card company. chris-69680 also encountered a similar problem and expressed frustration with the platform.
I am beyond disappointed with eBay’s handling of an obvious scam case. I ordered an Owala water bottle, but the seller uploaded a fake FedEx tracking number tied to a package that was NOT addressed to me or my home. eBay still sided with the seller twice simply because the tracking number showed “delivered” somewhere within my ZIP code.
I provided overwhelming evidence proving this package was not mine:
• FedEx customer service confirmed multiple times that the tracking number was NOT associated with my name or address.
• I submitted official FedEx chat logs with timestamps and the FedEx website URL visible.
• I even recorded a phone call with FedEx confirming again that the package was not addressed to me.
• The delivery photo showed a house with gray vinyl siding, while my home is red brick with no front porch whatsoever.
• An eBay representative actually claimed it was delivered to my “front porch” — except my house does not even HAVE a front porch.
• The tracking number showed a package weight of 33.7 lbs, while the item I ordered weighs around 1 lb. Even with packaging, the weight discrepancy is nearly 30 lbs.
Despite all of this, eBay repeatedly ignored clear evidence because their system apparently only checks whether a package was delivered somewhere in the same ZIP code. That is unacceptable and incredibly negligent. This is a known scam tactic on eBay, and instead of protecting buyers, eBay is enabling scammers to continue stealing from people.
What makes this even worse is that eBay demanded “written proof” from FedEx beyond official chat logs, despite FedEx customer service not providing emails or formal letters for these situations. In other words, they required documentation that the carrier itself does not provide.
I have been an eBay customer for years, and this experience completely destroyed my trust in the platform. Their customer service failed at every level, ignored obvious facts, and protected a fraudulent seller instead of the buyer who provided actual evidence.
Buyers beware: apparently on eBay, if a scammer can generate a tracking number to your ZIP code, that is enough for eBay to call the case closed — no matter how much proof you provide showing the package was never yours.
eburtonlab
·2 weeks agoIf 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.
chris-69680
·2 weeks agoWow! I wish I would have known this before trying eBay because something is similar. Appears to be happening to me as I speak. It's almost to the point where eBay is so bad. You have to just say well okay they got my money and there's nothing I could do
taki2324
·1 month agoSame exact thing happened to me. Not sure what to do because I opened two cases and appeal and everything was denied. I have disputed with my credit card company and hopefully that will get me my money back.