How are people selling things this cheap WITH free shipping?
There is no way to ship even a small container of coffee like this for $4.04, let alone make a profit.
42 comments
There is no way to ship even a small container of coffee like this for $4.04, let alone make a profit.
deltilogical
·4 months agoThe VPN may shield their location but to get paid they will need a confirmed account - unless they are spending it directly through ebay but even that would be tricky, unless items are forwarded out of the country, but that is risky....
onefootflipper
·4 months agoThey can safely confirm their account. None of their crimes are happening on ebay, they are all happening off of ebay, that is why some of these accounts have been around for years.
Also, in poor countries it is trivial for them to open an account in someone else's name if they ever do get shut down.
nh_sales_lv
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nh_sales_lv
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onefootflipper
·5 months agoThere are a ton of these accounts and they constantly undercut each other by a matter of pennies. That is why trying to report them is a waste of time. It just means their listings vanish and someone else's listings each move up a slot.
after9m
·5 months agoOut of curiosity I bought the 12 pack of cherry dr pepper for $5 shipped. No way $5 even covers shipping. We will see if this shows up.
after9m
·4 months agoSo the soda showed up today delivered by Walmart shortly after the seller added a UPS tracking number that shows I have a package showing up Monday. The really odd part is the soda had my name and 2 other names on it. That might just be a Walmart thing but could also be whoever this seller is potentially scamming. I am curious what shows up Monday now or if they have someone on the inside at UPS that alters tracking info. Currently it does show that its at my local UPS hub.
So somehow they are selling soda cheaper than I can walk into Walmart and buy. Something stinks but hey I found a new way to save on groceries.
Unavailable member
·5 months agoIt’s not your circus and not your monkey, so why do you even care about how other sellers are selling?
wpt05
·5 months ago@quadcitypickers
I was unable to locate the exact listing that you provided, but I did see similar listings. Upon review of these items, I discovered the sellers accounts were riddled with negative feedback. Many of the feedback claimed they never received the item. Other feedback said that they received the item from Walmart possibly purchased with a stolen credit card.
Always check feedback first to avoid these scams. Go the seller's main feedback screen and click on the number to the right of "Negative" and below "12 months" or click on the number to the right of "Neutral" below "12 months". I recommend doing this before all purchases to reduce your chances of a problem transaction.
meme6253
·5 months agoThis has been an ongoing debate for awhile,Who knows how they do it, If you run the math it just doesn't make sense to even try & do it!
kibble-net
·5 months agoWhen you see someone selling an iPhone for 1/4 of the market price, it's the same thing. Except with coffee.
nh_sales_lv
·5 months agoI know of Nobody on this Planet that would leave me Green Feedback for Not Delivering an Item. No One. Somehow these Scummers break into Grounds Unheard of in the Annals of Ebay History. Maybe they never deliver anything and only Refund those WHO COMPLAIN. 🤔 Or maybe they left feedback stating they. Refund but Never Do. Either way you're getting Scummed.
The Variety treats pack has a great price but you never got it. $5.72 at Walmart but 4.84 on Ebay
How can something be a great price if you can't buy it. Mind Boggling
bashort
·5 months agoIt's one of those new government ran grocery stores.
soh.maryl
·4 months agoWHICH new "government ran grocery stores" would that be? Whose government? Why have I never heard of this?
gator08041971
·4 months ago@soh.maryl
Probably referring to the supposed free grocery stores that were coming to NYC. Though I have a strong feeling how that will end up.
soh.maryl
·4 months agoThanks -- really wish people would add a bit of context to their messages for the old lady who's not up on important national news.
gator08041971
·5 months agoThis is most likely a triangle scam. There are a lot of them floating around.
Seller lists an item, then buys the item from Walmart or Amazon using a stolen card. They get paid for this sale, but commit fraud on someone's card and against eBay since this type of thing is prohibited. Just report sellers you see like that when it makes no sense.
There is no logical reason for any seller to be selling an item that costs more to ship than it sells for. None.
Even a seller using a loss leader for attracting attention wouldn't be that obvious. Loss leaders usually have a low or near loss to attract buyers to hopefully buy other things. A get-them-in-the-door kind of item. This is not that. This is seller being an idiot, or seller running a scam. You can guess which one is more likely.
Good luck.
christworks
·5 months agoeBay is not going to do anything. Time after time we see threads here where crazed people report listing after listing and nothing changes. You can say the seller is likely running a scam, but until it catches up with them and eBay has to get involved from either an unhappy buyer or a bank that is fighting a charge on behalf of their customer, the train will keep on rolling.
If people invested half as much time into their own business as they do worrying about others, maybe their sales would be better.
gator08041971
·5 months ago@christworks
Whether eBay actually does anything or not is irrelevant. Reporting these kinds of listings are the only way to bring attention to them.
If enough people report enough sellers, things happen. Saying its pointless and not bothering at all may as well mean you are willing to put up with it.
I report any listing I happen across, even if it might not be taken down for the infraction I think it has.
And that is why they are hit or miss.
Whether the seller is actually doing something bad/illegal/prohibited is determined by what the person doing the reporting thinks it might be.
Some people report competitors that sell items they sell, but they don't like how another seller sells items, or they think they are fake, or whatever. Those are usually very subjective, and may be illegitimate.
On the other hand, if a seller is selling something obviously outside the permitted acceptable for something, then reporting them should happen, and it may have a higher chance of being taken down, or further action taken.
So report, even if you think its pointless. Otherwise, nothing changes if no one speaks up.
onefootflipper
·5 months agoWell you will have a full time unpaid job just from the walmart credit card fraud dropshippers alone. I wish you the best of luck.
gator08041971
·5 months ago@onefootflipper
Why all the negativity about it?
I'm not going to go looking for this stuff. I'm just simply talking about if you come across one, simply report it. People here are acting like it won't matter at all. Well yeah, if you don't bother reporting these, that obviously won't make a difference for sure, now will it?
I already stated that if I came across obviously bad listings that I report them. If someone wants to take it to another level, go for it. But ignoring them completely isn't going to solve anything for sure. But hey, do what makes you feel good.
😄
onefootflipper
·5 months agoI always approach ebay and give advice under the assumption that the person is here to make money. Anything in the category of worrying about what other sellers are doing wrong is completely unpaid time, thus I always suggest not to worry about what other sellers are doing wrong.
christworks
·5 months agoWhat "things?"
oldwestgold
·5 months agoReporting anything is a waste of time. eBay will never do anything. This has been my experience, and I have been here for over 27 years. eBay has become a cesspool of thieves and scammers. At anytime I can find hundreds of scam listings in minutes. Just my professional opinion, others are entitled to theirs.
oldwestgold
·5 months ago👍to your last sentence.
soh.maryl
·5 months agoI buy Folger's when I can afford it, but where does one find a 9.6 ounce container?
That's barely a hair over half a pound.
1
mr._bob
·5 months agoSo for certain items, shipping used to be so subsidized from China, that they could sell the items for a loss or even give them away and make a profit off the shipping subsidies.
I would assume with the tariff nonsense that has happened these past 2 years, those got unwound, but Im actually not sure if they did or not.
12345jamesstamps
·5 months agoI purchase stamps from Macao, China all the time.
My shipping charge is like $2.49.
Here's what is really strange...I have to sign to accept the item...even if it's like $10.00.
And there's no tariff charge by the way as well.
inhawaii
·5 months ago12 pack of Diet Coke (12 oz. cans) for $8.33 with free shipping.
Any idea what it would cost to ship a 12 pack of soda Ground Advantage?
A 12 pack of soda weighs around 10 lbs.
soh.maryl
·5 months agoLet us know how that works out for you.
inhawaii
·5 months agoThey wont ship to Hawaii.
onefootflipper
·5 months agoThere are literally dozens of these accounts selling all Wal-Mart groceries at well under the price Wal-Mart even charges for them.
I promise you this is an overseas stolen credit card operation, a few of the accounts I looked at are even registered in other countries, the rest fake a US location. It isn't bored rich people or someone trying to build up an account. You can build up an account on 99 cents free ship stickers and trading cards and only lose a tiny amount of money per transaction. No one is building up an account using a method that loses $10 per sale. Some of these accounts have huge feedback already.
Wal-Mart never notices because they use guest checkout. So to Wal-Mart it isn't one person ordering hundreds of the same thing. It is hundreds of different people ordering the same thing to different addresses using different credit card numbers. All it takes is a cheap VPN to make it seem like the orders are coming from inside America.
You can report them, but ebay likely won't find any problem and it still just turns into a game of whack-a-mole where a new one will pop up for every one taken out. They are already price competing against each other to the point where they are undercutting each other by pennies.
stephenmorgan
·4 months agoThis one has that one beat. This would weigh just over 45 pounds and over 2700 cubic inches. Seller registered in Canada.
Coffee a little cheaper at $3.95.
luckythewinner
·5 months agoThere is no way to ship even a small container of coffee like this for $4.04, let alone make a profit.
You are assuming that (a) they are making a profit, and (b) that they are paying for the shipping.
A guy in the shipping department of a local company got fired for sending his eBay sales from work using the company's shipping accounts.
adamcartwright
·5 months ago@luckythewinner
Speaking of "a guy in the shipping department" -- I saw on Instagram that Walmart shipped a seller 160 pool noodles each in its own large box.
The delivery driver had to unload 160 boxes, and the buyer had to open them all and break down the boxes.
I guess that's one way to get free boxes and packing cardboard.
oldwestgold
·5 months agoLast year, Walmart was clearing out its expensive Scott's brand lawn fertilizer, 20 lb bags for $5 each. Regular $35/bag. I ordered 75 bags. Each was boxed and shipped separately, free via FedEx. The FedEx driver wasn't too happy. Walmart surely lost money on that one. A couple of years prior, the local Walmart was clearing out its winter shoes and boots for $1. Work, hiking, and boots all $1 a pair, new. My wife and I bought three shopping cartloads and passed them out to friends and families. I believe over 80 pairs.
inhawaii
·5 months agoMake sure to check the expiration date on that will ya? 😉
ten_o_nine
·5 months agoI plan to submit an offer of $2.02 since they accept offers.😀
western-supply
·5 months agoRight now, shipping for that item with ground with advantage is $7-8 so I can't figure it out. He also has a 12P of Gatorade for $5. Most of the items may be things people buy 3 or 4 at a time most of the time.
Other theories:
1. Wealthy retired person just bored.
2. Stolen goods, shipping purchased off site with stolen credit card
3. Fake tracking scams
4. Account farming. Get a certain number of sales to get a real store going
onefootflipper
·5 months agoThey are drop shipping from Wal-Mart, likely from a foreign country, possibly paying for the Wal-Mart orders with stolen credit card numbers.
Overseas sellers buys a ton of credit card numbers on the dark web. Alternates through them buying the orders on wal-mart, if a card gets declined they just move on to the next card number. Low dollar Wal-Mart charges are not likely to stand out on many people's statements, so they might get to use the same card many, many times.
Since everything seems legitimate from the ebay side of things they can keep operating on stolen cards without ever having it causing a problem with their ebay account.
Note that everyone selling this coffee has an entire assortment of other walmart items.
quadcitypickers
OP5 months agoIt's weird Walmart doesn't look into accounts buying a bunch of the same thing and getting it shipped to a bunch of different addresses. I know Amazon started cracking down on the eBay sellers drop shipping through Amazon prime because the terms state prime isn't meant to be used for resale.
christworks
·5 months ago@quadcitypickers Why don't you message and ask them?
Seriously, what does it matter? I'm not sure why other sellers care how other sellers run their business. There are an infinite number of ways to make a profit on eBay. I could hazard a guess and say the coffee is a loss leader for that seller, but I don't know that as there may be other revenue streams that seller has that allows them to make money on that sale.