Buyer is a scammer/reshipper address

[movielover72016]

If your buyer’s address has New Castle, Delaware, DO NOT process the shipment. They are scammer. 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Just as any other address, some buyers are scammers, others are not.

The merchandise usually predicts the chances the buyer is a scammer.

Never had a problem with a customer who used a freight forwarder because my merchandise does not meet the needs of scammers to quickly convert to cash.

Your Funko buyers are more likely to include some scammers than many other types of item. Consider the demographic they appeal to.

[buyselljack2016]

Are you suggesting that all those 5,500 people are scammers?  

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OP had more of the "address in question" displayed😁

[dcrtechandelec]

Have been recently getting repeat buyers claiming that the item never arrived to the forwarder (Miami), despite it being clear as day saying Delivered: Left with an Individual. Now, aside from that, the buyers conduct seemed truly genuine, despite an obvious delivery, and I had to refuse a refund. Could they just have been fishing for refunds? Sure, but never have I encountered a bad buyer that made such easily verifiable claims. They either play stupid, message me every day, cuss me out, or retaliate by misusing the feedback system. This buyer did nothing. I never have packages go missing, but just about every time it has been claimed it was either done so falsely, or the delivery address was a freight forwarder. Yes the buyer using a freight forwarder could make false claims, but due to an unknown third party there is no way to truly know. Also, these buyers using these services use them because they are likely the few economically viable options they have. Most are solely concerned with the arrival of their item and because of this the last thing that they want are any problems. These companies are low-profile organizations opting to transport goods internationally to buyers from less developed geographic areas. We all know that every-so-often theft occurs within the USPS, UPS, and FedEx. Theft of packages from American Citizens or Domestic/International Businesses is an enormous no-no for a multitude of reasons. Now, what about when this happens to foreign individuals who use these services which operate solely on the basis of a questionable-at-best loophole? 

I have no doubt in my mind that there are people within these organizations that fully realize they can take advantage of these oversee's buyers with a whopping 0% chance of repercussions, as there are 0% consumer protections for people outside the jurisdiction in which these protections even apply. Can you imagine if it were not a federal offense for mail-theft committed against an American citizen? The giant tech company Golden Delicious would have to produce twice the volume of eyeTalks. This is the #1 reason I state that I don't allow buyers who ship using freight forwarders. Not that my policy is even enforceable; I gave up wasting my time trying to enforce when the only notifications are available at label creation or transactional history. I can either cancel a bunch of orders and have a bunch of people leave dissatisfied internal and external reviews; all of which can only serve to negatively affect my service metrics and therefore sales. Or I can just fulfill the order and enjoy my surprise little "International Fee" that serves as the sprinkles on top of an already marked down price via the send offer function. At least we have super awesome, and totally useful artificial intelligence to help convey to buyers how disingenuous and forgettable I am via the dial-up speed it takes to generate a blob of generic text. 

[kensgiftshop]

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@chilie68 wrote:

I do not discount your experience for one second, but I have been successful in recovering thus far. That being said,  in the future I can and will cancel all sales from freight forwarding addresses I recognize and I do track those addresses. Maybe I have been the lucky one. 

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I don't now if it's just ones in certain states or certain freight forwarders, but there's been a lot of post about packages not getting the delivered scans.

There's also been post from sellers trying the lost mail route or an insurance claim and they get the message about that address not being eligible.

[chilie68]

My issues have been with certain addresses in Miami, Doral and New Castle arriving in these cities and not moving on to the Buyers address provided me by Ebay.  I have not had any issues with claim denial but others obviously have. I have a very good relationship with my Postmaster and I will be discussing this with them to see if I can get some clarity.   No Seller should be on the losing end when they mail to the address Ebay provides them.

[ittybitnot]

 I will be discussing this with them to see if I can get some clarity

@chilie68 

Thank you, and hope you will share when you find out. 

[chilie68]

Just talked with my Postmaster regarding the issue you addressed and with my limited knowledge of information surrounding this sale the recommendation is PLEASE contact your local Postal Inspector and report this to them. Postmaster stated scams are increasing in this area especially with postal labels with tracking getting switched out after mailing thus being delivered to someone other than the original addressee. That is a common complaint on this board regarding return packages. Postmaster encourages anyone with concern to contact Postal Inspector as this is the ONLY way the postal system is alerted. Said unfortunately this behavior is not stopped immediately because of the need to investigate as to who is responsible. Said the Postal System just busted a business in California for this very thing.  Warned me never to purchase postal labels from any online business which is not authorized by USPS.   Freight Forwarders and 3rd Party Reshipers are two different ballgames!  Good luck and I certainly hope you can recoup your loss.

@ittybitnot 

[gurlcat]

But how could it be product dependent?  Why would the postal carrier be less likely to mark a package delivered to the FF if it was a phone than a T-shirt, and how would they even know what's inside the package? 

[ittybitnot]

But how could it be product dependent? 

@gurlcat 

It is the SCAMS that are product dependent,  not the absence of the "delivered" status to the Forwarder.   The usual scenario for F.Forwarder related scams are unlikely to occur with lesser value commodity items.  As many people indicate, shipping to a Freight Forwarder is NOT problematic.  These sellers are likely NOT selling the latest IPhones, Gaming Computers, tablets or LapTops.  

Those that are selling the "scam magnet" products are often not aware they are even shipping to a forwarder, and do not know that if/when a subsequent a SNAD complaint comes in, the claim can be dispensed with by contact CS through the eBay Social Media portals.    This will avoid the second phase of the scam with a phony return to an address in the seller's Zip Code (either by supplying another tracking/label, or more recently using the eBay return label and altering the address information).  

The absence of a "delivered" scan makes it much easier for the scammer to get those products for free.  File INR, and it is theirs without having to file the usual phony SNAD and ship a box of paperclips to the seller's local gas station to provide eBay with proof of return. 

At least with a "delivered" scan, the 'buyer' has to work for it, AND the seller who is aware will not be a victim so long as they know what to do. 

[ittybitnot]

PLEASE contact your local Postal Inspector and report this to them

@chilie68 

This was the recommendation suggested when parcels sent to Freight Forwarders are NOT being scanned 'delivered' and subsequent claims for the insurance being denied?      

[chilie68]

Without knowing all information on any of these cases judgement can not be made as to where the problem lies. I always purchase my postage through Ebay. Ebay has a contract with USPS. I have had many "no delivery" claims and I have always been paid by USPS.  If I purchased from someone other than Ebay and they did not have a contract with USPS then it makes sense to me USPS can not track the package and therefore would not be responsible for payment.  My Postmaster was not 100% sure but did not believe USPS contracts with Third-Party ReShippers which is the attachments shown by those who were denied a claim.  I feel sure if all the people who have had lost packages and denied claims talked to a postal inspector they could understand why they can not be reimbursed. I hope all will.

[ittybitnot]

 USPS contracts with Third-Party ReShippers

@chilie68 

I don't think USPS contracts with the Freight Forwarders either.  USPS is just often refusing to scan the parcels "delivered" at the Freight Forwarder addresses. An eBay seller is not required to show a "delivered" scan to the destination country, only to the Forwarder Address if a buyer files "Item not Received".    A seller that cannot show a "delivered" scan online visible to anyone, will be forced to provide a refund, even if the package is delivered for any INR claim be it through eBay or a chargeback (aka Payment Dispute). 

[chilie68]

I don't think USPS contracts with the Freight Forwarders either.  USPS is just often refusing to scan the parcels "delivered" at the Freight Forwarder addresses.

@ittybitnot 

Everything you are saying I believe to be 100% correct. USPS is the problem with scanning delivered to Freight Forwarders. But if the package was sent thru a USPS contracted site like Ebay it is tracked shipment to delivery (or not delivered) and USPS does take responsibility for that. The denied claims are because USPS does not have the tracking when third-party re-shippers are actually somehow selling the mailing service to their own location. USPS is computerized with every address in the nation and if a mail piece is taken to the post office with an address which it does not recognize the clerk will tell you it is an unrecognizable address. They will process it but can not guarantee it will be delivered. I have heard clerks explain this to customers at the counter. Most times it was that they had written the street number wrong and the issue was corrected.  It certainly is above my pay grade to figure this out. I do believe a Postal Inspector is who could give any of us the correct answers.

[ittybitnot]

USPS does take responsibility for that

@chilie68 

Apparently, they are NOT taking responsibility.   It does not seem to matter if you buy your postage on eBay, Pirate Ship, on the USPS website, or any other approved label generating site. They are USPS labels that come with delivery confirmation up until recently it was honored.  Of course, you may still get a delivered scan, or you may not.   The repercussions for an eBay seller if a 'delivered' scan is not provided would be the same if they shipped their product with postage stamps.  

From a historical perspective,  there used to be a rather famous address in California.  Because many sellers were finding that when they shipped to that address.....nothing ever seemed to arrive.  The package appeared to be lost, or sent into outer space.  Because the users in the forums were actively sharing information on a regular basis,  it was soon discovered that is was this ONE particular address that was problematic.  There was a poster here that said they lived really near that address, and would go visit and see what was there and what was going on.   

That person came back and reported that it was some sort of "business" and USPS trucks, UPS vans, and all sorts of carriers were in line to deliver MOUNDS and MOUNDS of parcels to a single facility. There was no scanning going on at all "because there were just too many".   For people here, this  was our first introduction to a Freight Forwarder business.  Back then, delivery confirmation was NOT included in the label price, and even if paid for separately it was not scanned.  Insurance was not included either, so unless you purchased that as well, the seller was certainly SOL. 

For many sellers shipping internationally was not in their playbook. International tracking basically did not exist, and one had to ship to a "confirmed address" which international addresses were not.   This was our first introduction to the fact eBay allowed international buyers to use the Freight Forwarder address as their shipping address to bypass any seller's blocks for international sales. 

As expected, INR claims were quite abundant, but we could at least prevent the international users from BUYING since we were allowed to NOT accept payments from non-US sources. So if you wanted to avoid that California address that is what you had to do. It was a simple setting in PayPal that could be turned on/off at will to allow a buyer to pay if you so choose, and then reset it.  

So we need to determine if this is a new USPS policy, and where we can read about it.  I have not found it yet. 
 

[chilie68]

So we need to determine if this is a new USPS policy, and where we can read about it. I have not found it yet.

@ittybitnot 

OP posted message he received. When I re-read this I wonder if the third-party reshipper is not a recognized address by the postal system.  Your historical perspective of the California site certainly makes me wonder if history is repeating on the East Coast. 

I certainly have great concerns if eBay provided this exact address to the OP.