Seller shipped item to a warehouse and not My address in the area where I live

[safan80]

I purchased a vise from a listing that was listed as being located in Elmhurst, New York  I ordered it on Feb 9 2024 and left a massage asking for the vise to be shipped ground due to post office mishandling heavy packages. Seller marked it shipped in Feb 25, but no tracking was provided. Three days before original delivery window on the 28 closed.I contacted seller on the 29th 2024 asking for a tracking number and the person who responded said the following: 

"Hi my friend
I'm busy, my son is sick at the hospital, I'm so worried about him that I can't know this is out of stock.
So I want to refund you. Can you help me make a purchase at another seller?
Once again, I'm sorry and would like to send your best wishes to your family.
I take care of my children. Please forgive me."

the strange thing I noticed at the bottom of the message is that the seller is in Sri Lanka. Then after I received my refund they added a UPS 2 day tracking that went to a warehouse in the area where I live  and that item was shipped from Georgia.  I left negative feedback prior to the tracking number being added, but the seller which I can't name, has double digit negative feedbacks all nearly matching what I went through. Why is ebay doing nothing about bad actors from outside of the US? This is not the first time I've dealt with problems from fake sellers outside of the US, but this is the first time where they provided a fake tracking number from inside to the US. For the record I don't live in a warehouse!!! I would like to have that kind of space, but I don't. 😂 I already spent time earlier in the day dealing with an amazon drop shipper that used aquline tracking number to hide that fact. 

[safan80]

I should add the package weight seems right too. This is a WOW moment.

[mudshark61369]

@safan80,

To start the process you will have to file an item not received (INR) dispute with ebay.  when you do the on your My ebay summary page it will show up.  You will lose that dispute, because of the tracking having a Delivered scan, which is all of the info ebay's automated system can access. You will receive a message in the dispute on your summary, that has an appeal button in it. In order to win the appeal you can upload the tracking info you have unredacted, and point out to the rep who handles the case the zip code of the warehouse where the delivery was made if it is not your zip code.

If it is your zip code where the package was delivered you will have to do some leg work to win the appeal. Follow the instructions in the link below when you open it click on the Go to best answer button.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Fake-Tracking-information/m-p/34266951#M475809

FYI. there are many sellers who also sell on amazon as well as on ebay, and their items ship from those fulfillment centers, using Amazon's Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) shipping service which is ebay legal.  The aqualine tracking is a way of giving translating amazon's tracking which cannot be searched, tracking information.

[safan80]

@mudshark61369 

The seller already gave me a refund. They added the tracking number AFTER they issued the refund as I noted above.

[soh.maryl]

Am I understanding this correctly, that you have already been refunded, but that a package is still on its way to you?

[safan80]

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I have been refunded, but after the fact seller added a tracking for an item that was NOT delivered to me, but to a different address in the same city. I wish I could show the negative feedbacks plus the 2 neutrals feedbacks they have received, but that would be naming and shaming. The negative and neutral feedbacks show that the seller sent out items to people in the past, but the tracking numbers are for deliveries made to another address in the same area, so the items show up as delivered which have made it difficult for those buyers to get refunds. Had he added the tracking number and not given me the refund first I would have been out the money and would have had to go through the process of getting a statement from UPS saying that the item was not delivered to me.

@soh.maryl wrote:

Am I understanding this correctly, that you have already been refunded, but that a package is still on its way to you?

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[safan80]

The item I purchased has just come back in stock 

Panavise 302 (NEW BOX) PCB Holders & Vises

item number: 374821639561

[safan80]

For some reason yesterday (Saturday) I was not able to access live chat support, but I was able to set up a callback and the rep seemed very uninterested in what I had to say. Would it be worth my time to contact live chat support sometimes during the week?

[buyselljack2016]

I , same as CS don't know why there should be any interest.  You were refunded. Case closed.

The seller has 16 negs. 

What do you need to chat with CS about?

[kathiec]

I too am confused about what you're hoping to achieve. Even if the CS reps had any authority to take action (they don't), there's no action to be taken since you were refunded.

[safan80]

@buyselljack2016 @kathiec 

The seller has been trying to scam people on ebay for a while. Yes I did get a refund. My issue is I buy and sell on ebay and the seller I purchased from is not an honest person and he should no longer be on the platform. The seller in question continues to attempt to scam people out of their money. By shiping from warehouses in the US and in many cases does not fulfill his entire order or ships things out to wrong addresses on purpose. He then has his return address set as address in Sri Lanka, so people who do have an honest return are at a loss and have to fill out customs forms to file a return. TRY reading the feedbacks if you can see them. The account is not very old either.  How is even ok for him to ship within the US, but the return address is half way around the world?

[kathiec · Accepted solution]

I'm sorry, but eBay is not going to kick a seller off the platform based on your report. Plus, it is perfectly eBay-legal for international sellers to ship from US warehouses. And if a buyer goes through the MBG process for a not as described return the return always goes to the US 'ship from' address. So eBay is never going to require a return to an international address unless the original shipment came from that address.

There are thousands of not honest sellers on eBay. Ebay relies on metrics from account defects, returns and MBG cases to weed out those sellers. They are never going to kick someone off based on one member's report. If it makes you feel better to chat with a third-party rep who has no authority to act, by all means do it. But nothing will come from it. That may seem unfair, but that's just the way it is in eBay Land.

[safan80]

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How do explain the comment that says the return address is the seller's listed location in Sri Lanka and not the US? 

I would say buy the vise and try it for yourself. If you actually manage to get it from THAT seller I'd buy it off YOU for an extra cost because just I'd like to see you to prove me wrong. You would have to prove actual pictures of the item in your listing, not just list it New In Box.  I don't believe you would actually get the item from that seller.

You are right though for the most part.

@kathiec wrote:

I'm sorry, but eBay is not going to kick a seller off the platform based on your report. Plus, it is perfectly eBay-legal for international sellers to ship from US warehouses. And if a buyer goes through the MBG process for a not as described return the return always goes to the US 'ship from' address. So eBay is never going to require a return to an international address unless the original shipment came from that address.

There are thousands of not honest sellers on eBay. Ebay relies on metrics from account defects, returns and MBG cases to weed out those sellers. They are never going to kick someone off based on one member's report. If it makes you feel better to chat with a third-party rep who has no authority to act, by all means do it. But nothing will come from it. That may seem unfair, but that's just the way it is in eBay Land.

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