Fake tracking number, no way to dispute missing package

[sgath92]

I ordered a toaster oven on eBay. After much delay, the seller notified that the package had been shipped but no tracking number was provided. Then tonight, I receive an automated ebay email saying my package had been delivered to my house.

The seller had basically submitted a valid Fedex tracking number for a package that had arrived at some house in California today. However, I live on the opposite side of the country. I've never even been to California before in my life.

Since the tracking says delivered, I have no way to open a case with eBay. My only option is to contact the fraudulent seller, or return the item. I CAN'T DO THAT BECAUSE I NEVER GOT IT.

When I call ebay for customer service help, all its automated phone system does is redirect me to the website where I can't do anything because of the above problems.

Oh, and by the way, the seller has other negative feedbacks for ripping other people off also on today using the same methods. They know that if the tracking number says delivered, the buyers are screwed. Ebay's automated system is too dumb to realize/care if the package was delivered thousands of miles away from where its supposed to go. My shipping address is not in California and it should be easy enough to get the computers to see this in the tracking info.

I have been an ebayer since 1999. We need real help here.

[12345jamesstamps]

I never heard of an"automated eBay email". 

I would get an email from FedEx about a delivery from my inbox.

eBay doesn't sen me an email in my inbox about any deliveries.

I actually have to look into the eBay or the FedEx site to see if something has been delivered.

[sgath92]

Once a seller submits tracking number(s) to eBay, eBay will send me an automatic email entitled: "ORDER DELIVERED: [item listing title]" to my email usually within a few minutes from when the tracking# shows the item as having been delivered.

This is NOT an email from fedex, USPS, or UPS. The email shows it came from ebay at ebaydotttcom (spelled by me incorrectly so the forum lets it be visible).

[xadexane]

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@sgath92 wrote:

The seller had basically submitted a valid Fedex tracking number for a package that had arrived at some house in California today. However, I live on the opposite side of the country. 

Since the tracking says delivered, I have no way to open a case with eBay. My only option is to contact the fraudulent seller, or return the item. 

I have been an ebayer since 1999. We need real help here. 

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You may need @sgath92 to mail a printout of that tracking showing it was delivered to California 

using a seller-paid return label issued for a return request, to get your refund.

[mudshark61369]

@sgath92,

"When I call ebay for customer service help, all its automated phone system does is redirect me to the website where I can't do anything because of the above problems".

There has not been a direct phone line to ebay for several years now. If you found a number by doing an online search it was not to ebay.  Even if you got a call back from ebay, the reps can't really help you since they work for a call center not ebay itself.

"They know that if the tracking number says delivered, the buyers are screwed. Ebay's automated system is too dumb to realize/care if the package was delivered thousands of miles away from where its supposed to go... My shipping address is not in California and it should be easy enough to get the computers to see this in the tracking info".

Scammers do know that any of the 3rd party online shopping sites buyer protections are hamstrung by shipping agencies privacy policies.  Since they are neither the sender or recipient, they are only allowed to access is the tracking information, and if there is a delivered scan, they find in favor of the seller. eBay is not allowed access to the shipping label info; address, package type/size/weight. That is why this particular scam is so popular.

    If you have yet to file an appeal, open the link below, which is to another topic written by buyer who had the same issue. In it I spell out what you need to do, to get a refund.  If you have filed and lost an appeal, there are links to ebay's Facebook and Twitter sites where reps who are actual ebay employees can help you.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/What-do-you-do-when-ebay-support-will-not-help-you/m-p/340800... 

"... the seller has other negative feedbacks for ripping other people off also on today using the same methods".

You should have checked the seller's feedback profile page Before buying from them.  The only reason why those feedback were able to be left, is that those buyers did not file and lose disputes through ebay's Money Back Guarantee.  If they had they would not have been able to leave those feedback.  That is an issue ebay should be working on resolving.

[sgath92]

> you should have checked the seller's feedback profile page Before buying from them.

All those negs were issued the same day as when I experienced the problem (of tracking showing delivery to another state). They must have waited until they had a bunch of sales and then entered in all the bogus tracking numbers in one-go.

[eburtonlab]

All those negs were issued the same day as when I experienced the problem (of tracking showing delivery to another state). They must have waited until they had a bunch of sales and then entered in all the bogus tracking numbers in one-go.

What did the feedback look like before that happened? Was there past positive feedback for sales of similar items? Or was there just feedback for sales of inexpensive items like keychains, feedback for purchases only, or no feedback at all? Or a large gap in feedback, or a sudden, drastic change in seller behavior reflected in the feedback?

At the time you were deciding to make a purchase, would you have characterized the seller as an experienced seller with a consistent track record of selling and delivering similar items, as shown by feedback from satisfied buyers?

[kensgiftshop]

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@12345jamesstamps wrote:

I never heard of an"automated eBay email". 

I would get an email from FedEx about a delivery from my inbox.

eBay doesn't sen me an email in my inbox about any deliveries.

I actually have to look into the eBay or the FedEx site to see if something has been delivered.

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it doesn't happen every time, but I've got emails from Ebay shortly after an item is delivered telling me the order has been delivered.

[bonjourami]

I have always gotten an email from Ebay when an item is delivered, got one this morning, actually.

[sgath92]

> What did the feedback look like before that happened?

Before it happened it was all positive feedbacks, though not a lot of feedback history. Not a feedback/seller history that would scream "BE ALERT" to me. Its plausible that this was an account that got hijacked by scammers and started off as a benign, run of the mill low volume occasional user. I'd say half of my purchases come from low volume sellers who are not operating as a business. And in the 20+ years of using eBay, better than 90% of the time things go smoothly. When I encounter problems its usually something like poor packing. Scams, frauds and lying in descriptions have been rare tiny minority.

In any case, this focus on the seller's history is a red herring. Ebay promotes this idea that they have strong buyer's protections so you're set if anything bad happens. And going by google searches on the subject, this is not a new or novel scam. There are people going back years falling victim to this, so its not as if eBay doesn't know about it.

So there really needs to be something in place to help combat this type of scam and to help people who fall victim to it. Any account with good history can be taken over by criminals if the associated username/password or email account gets taken over/leaked.

At the very least, it should be simple enough to program something that would see if the entered-in tracking info shows the package being delivered to the wrong state entirely... most major shippers allow this information to be easily found, and ebay itself if you click on the tracking info on a purchase, pulls up the detailed tracking history from the shipper(s) showing the geographical places the package has passed through & when. To just say "well the tracking shows it was delivered [somewhere]" is to say "we tried nothing and we're all out of ideas."

[kaidran]

At this point it is hard to see eBay as anything but complicit in this scam. I was burnt too and am still in a certain amount of shock. I loved eBay and had complete faith in the guarantee (until I needed to use it). I am going to try with PayPal if I can get more information on the actual package from the actual recipient. FedEx and I assume all shippers should not give that to you (reasonably) because the real package has nothing to do with you. 

If you can track down information on the package then take it to your payment provider. As is warned in other posts do not go straight to complaints about an undelivered item as they will just side with eBay.  Write about this being a tracking number scam and get as much information on the real delivery that you can. 

Your other options include:

1. Never shop at eBay again

2. Tell all your friends