Beware eBay buyers! I just got scammed as a buyer. We are in March of 2021 and this scam has been around for some years now as I see online, I just learned about it the hard way. It looks like in some cases eBay doesn't know how to tell when a tracking number is a good valid one that relates to a specific purchase you made as a buyer at a specific time.
If the seller buys and creates the shipping label on eBay (or I guess paypal) then I would assume eBay does have more knowledge and access to the label details, however if the seller just posts a tracking # that was NOT created on the eBay platform then eBay does NOT know how to check the label for validity related to your specific purchase. This tracking # can be totally irrelevant to your purchase if the seller is a scammer.
This can be a tracking # from USPS or UPS or other carriers, the bottom line is that the seller can post a tracking number that is "real" but has no connection to your purchase at all. As long as the tracking number is kind of current in time-frame period, and it went to any random address BUT in your same zip-code, then it would look like it was delivered to YOU since the tracking will say "delivered to (your name of town & zip-code)".
The seller-scammer has some way to get access and obtain existing tracking numbers that are in transit at the moment, from any point A anywhere to any point B but within your zip-code. (any name doesn't matter as long as the destination is in your zip-code). How do they get these tracking numbers in real time I don't know but the scammers do know how to... (do they hack UPS for getting these tracking numbers? Is there a black marketplace that sells live tracking numbers in real-time?)
They post on the sale this tracking number and then voilà, it shows as "delivered to (your name of town & zip-code)". It looks like you got the item, that's what eBay will see and their computer system will believe.
So you, the buyer, will look like a potential fraudster since you claim you didn't get something even though it shows marked as delivered... but in reality the tracking # that was posted has nothing to do with you and your purchase at all.
Basically to make it simple, someone really shipped something to someone in your zip code, around this same time-frame, this tracking# is then used by the scammer-seller to make it look like you got your purchased item. (this other person in your town has nothing to do with this scam and don't know anything about this whole saga).
From what I read online it looks like many many buyers ACTUALLY lost their money and eBay did NOT refund them but rather sided with the seller since it looks like they performed properly and you the buyer may be trying to scam the seller.
In my case we shall see how this unfolds? This problem for me is still current and in eBay's hands, I hope they do the right thing!
The seller "sold" me a new computer mouse, the price was too good to be true and his eBay history was just a few months old so maybe I should have seen it coming, but I have purchased good deals on eBay many time before and I never heard about this scam.
I am trying to convince eBay to refund me the funds I paid but at the moment they are "giving the seller a chance to respond". He did respond by posting again, and then again for the 3rd time, the same irrelevant tracking# that has nothing to do with my purchase at all. (Hint, I called UPS to ask and was told so).
The seller perpetrated a "same-zip-code" scam using a non-related tracking# as I explained above, hope this helps anyone who comes across this description to understand what's going on, I was confused at first.
There are 2 ways the seller-scammer can do this:
They can actually send an empty box, or full of junk or anything inside to give it some weight, and they can ship it to any random address they find online but as long as it is in your own real zip-code. (this method will cost them money to ship with UPS or any carrier and they will buy the label directly and NOT on eBay.) The person getting this box will open it and throw it away, but eBay will think you received your purchase since the tracking will say "delivered to (your name of town & zip-code)".
The 2nd method, in which they don't ship anything, is what I described above and is what happened in my case. The scammer used an existing tracking# they gained knowledge of in real time. This random other person in my town has nothing to do with this issue, he/she just bought something unrelated to me, probably unrelated even to eBay, and we just happen to share the same zip-code. The seller-scammer posts this tracking # in my purchase and Voilà, it looks like my order was delivered: "delivered to (your name of town & zip-code)".
Now, you can call UPS and USPS etc, in my case they confirmed on the phone that this specific tracking# was for a label that did NOT go to my own address. That's good enough for me as proof. But the actual address where it went to is confidential as UPS told me so there is nothing they can give me in writing as proof.
Will eBay call UPS to ask them where it went to? Will eBay know how to check this tracking # and see it had nothing to do with me?
I do hope so and we shall see... somehow I don't see the eBay rep calling UPS to ask about this tracking# like I did, also if the decision is made by an eBay computer system will it know how to understand this scam?
In addition to me as the buyer, others that are scammed are: eBay, Paypal, my credit card co, probably other entities. Chances are that after I, hopefully, get refunded this scammer-seller will still walkaway with the money and may be long gone by now. It's a shame but it degrades my eBay experience and will make me more hesitant on future purchases. Do eBay and Paypal really have no good way to weed out these scammers? (he sold 8 of these items so I am sure many others are dealing with this guy as we speak).
eBay, please do the right thing!!!
Hope this helps someone else...
