Same zip code RETURN scam

[stop.here.and.buy]

New eBay buyer purchased an Intel 8th Gen i7-8700 processor for $323.99 from my eBay store on Mar 31, 2018. Shipped to his confirmed PayPal/eBay address.

A couple hours after delivery, the buyer opened a “Defective/Not working” return request stating that the product is faulty which was a surprise since an Intel CPU is the less likely component to fail in a computer. Nonetheless, I tried to look at this objectively and tried communicating with the buyer couple of times in the return request, no reply from the buyer. I accepted the return and I provided a free prepaid label to the buyer thinking that it will solve all the issues.

On the very last day to return the CPU, the buyer uploaded an invalid tracking # from Hong Kong to the return request. He did not use my prepaid return label.  I called eBay stating that the buyer shipped the product to a different address after delivery and that he voided his Buyer’s Protection in doing so. The CS agreed with me and closed the case in my favor and released the funds. To my surprise, couple of days later, the buyer contacted eBay to dispute the decision and got his money back by providing another tracking number showing delivery.

I was so surprised because I didn’t get any package from Hong Kong. So, I gave USPS a call regarding this package. The USPS CS rep asked for my name/address and was able to quickly find out where the package was delivered to. The package was addressed a Pizza store 26 streets away from my home with the same zip code. I quickly went to the Pizza store asking if they got any package from Hong Kong. I found out the tracking number is correct, but the address and recipient are wrong.

At this point, I knew I am being scammed by this buyer. I am currently filling all the reports I can to bring some light to this scammer and fight for my money. I just checked this buyer account and found out he purchased a similar CPU from another seller the very same day he got his refund back, which I believe will end up like me since this is not a legitimate buyer, but scammer.

Any input/help will be appreacited greatly. Thanks

[missjen831]

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@retrose1 wrote:

That block actually doesn’t work the way you and many others think it does because PayPal automatically converts the buyers payment to US funds. It doesn’t stop international buyers from making payment.

There are two blocks in the pal to block International buyers and I mentioned both of them....NonUS accounts and currancies you do not hold.

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And neither works the way you think they work. They don’t stop international buyers from paying. The currencies block doesn’t stop these buyers from paying because PayPal coverts to US funds. It also doesn’t stop non-us residents from buying because they can buy without a PayPal account now. 

[badrock]

Maybe wrong but if someone were to pay me in Pounds then I would have to pay a conversion fee to US Dollars, that is why you use the currency block to only what you hold. Buyer can only send US $ and they have to pay any fees or exchange rates, does not prevent them from buying.

[badrock]

Payment Receiving Preferences

If you have a Premier or Business account, Payment Receiving Preferences can handle payments automatically. You can convert any payment into your primary currency or block certain types of payments.

You can:

• Block payments from U.S. customers who don't have a confirmed address.
• Block payments sent to you in a currency you don't hold.
• Block payments for duplicate invoice IDs.
• Block payments from customers who have non-U.S. PayPal accounts.

[sg51]

You can convert any payment into your primary currency or block certain types of payments.

You can:

• Block payments sent to you in a currency you don't hold.

The devil, as they say, is in the details, and it's not hard to imagine this both being true, as well as buyer from Hong Kong being able to pay.

[ymeagainlord]

The only one I know of that does that here are the ShopAmerica IDs.

[ymeagainlord]

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@emerald40 wrote:

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@retrose1 wrote:

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@badrock wrote:

My listings state no international sales, however buyers that have a US ship to address be it their Uncle or re-shipper, quite sure I have to ship. I also have had buyers registered in Hong Kong and Russian Federation that have US ship to addresses, DE and CA.

I googled the US addresses and saw the two in DE are in warehouses  and close to each other. One in San Diego is in a Hotel. I hear there is another in Vegas.

Have sold many items delivered to reshippers and only 2 problems from Russian Buyers via the DE addresses.  Buyer claims  item defective, ( Computer Parts). I already know the scam. Ok immediately I accept the return issue label. Of course they refuse to return just demand refund, both emailed the items were in Russia and they could not return. eBay read that and closed cases my favor.

What caught my attention on one of these was buyer emails says he is in Russia, wants to buy but it won't let him. Yes sorry no international sales, couple of days later, buyer purchases item. I'm like how did this happen nope no way, I don't have to ship to a country I don't accept. Then saw the USA address in DE. Called ebay, was told USA address I have to ship or take a defect.

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The simple solution to your problem is that you go into your paypal account and block payments not coming from US accounts, currancies you do not hold, ect.  The buyer can lie all they want and ebay lets them get away with it on ebay, but they will not be able to get past the pal.

____________________________________________________

This thread should be pinned at the top to all those who feel that sending items to reshippers is safe and problem free.

This Delaware address comes up over and over as being associated with scams.

And again this is why I block non US paypal accounts and foreign currency.  Got into a big battle with a couple of posters that doing so is against ebay policy.

Well look how well ebay policy is working for this OP>

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I'm not sure the run of the mill reshippers can be held responsible for what their customers do. The reshippers may have suspicions but they can't prove their customers are buying the items with say a stolen cc as the only thing they worry about is getting the right item to the right customer and that the customer pays THEM.

[gramophone-georg]

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

I can tell you right now that the scamming on the internet is only going to get worse and worse as time progresses and more and more stuff is being sold here. There are many articles on these types of risks increasing big time and there has to be some efforts to thrwart this stuff.

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The internet is fine. This place, however,  worries me. I've never seen anyplace else that ignores their own policies like eBay.

Wonder why no Blue has responded to this thread. Disappointing.

[gramophone-georg]

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@missjen831 wrote:

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@retrose1 wrote:

That block actually doesn’t work the way you and many others think it does because PayPal automatically converts the buyers payment to US funds. It doesn’t stop international buyers from making payment.

There are two blocks in the pal to block International buyers and I mentioned both of them....NonUS accounts and currancies you do not hold.

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And neither works the way you think they work. They don’t stop international buyers from paying. The currencies block doesn’t stop these buyers from paying because PayPal coverts to US funds. It also doesn’t stop non-us residents from buying because they can buy without a PayPal account now. 

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PayPal doesn't always automatically convert, but the buyer can. I purchase in Euros and GBP as well as other currencies all the time without PayPal doing anything.

[retrose1]

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

Since this scam of sending things to different addresses seems to have been going on for quite some time, is it possible to re write the rules for returns stating that buyer and seller cannot win a case if it is found through Intranet verified ,postal service verified, item sent to a differnet address than was documented as the seller or buyers address, and what problems would Ebay have with this if they implemented it? Just some thoughts.

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It will be a few years before the PO allows public access to their intranet system.  The system is enclosed and a side of it holds some finance information from those who ship online.   But when they do open it up, most of this type of scam will stop.

The problem ebay would have with it is that it would put a stop to some scammers buying.  And they would never block an income flow, especially a large and growing one.

A simple solution is that the buyer gives up their buyer protection if they have anything shipped to an address not the one registered with ebay.

[readabouthorses]

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@gramophone-georg wrote:

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

I can tell you right now that the scamming on the internet is only going to get worse and worse as time progresses and more and more stuff is being sold here. There are many articles on these types of risks increasing big time and there has to be some efforts to thrwart this stuff.

---

The internet is fine. This place, however,  worries me. I've never seen anyplace else that ignores their own policies like eBay.

Wonder why no Blue has responded to this thread. Disappointing.

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Probably because this thread started late on Friday evening. I think the blues have other things to do on the weekends.

[stop.here.and.buy]

In my case, I was able to obtain a solid proof of the scam committed. Not only I got the snapshot of the USPS Intranet Tracking system, but also the actual print-out document the clerk provided me once I informed him of the scam.

Nonetheless, to eBay this USPS document is not enough proof showing that I had been scammed detailing how the buyer shipped the package to a totally wrong address. They want me to file a police report which I tried. I went to 2 police stations and told them the story, they said they can't do police report because this is a civil matter, not a criminal matter. They ask me to go to small claim court instead.

Today, I will try to go to a 3rd police station to try my luck getting an incident police report.

[retrose1]

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@stop.here.and.buy wrote:
In my case, I was able to obtain a solid proof of the scam committed. Not only I got the snapshot of the USPS Intranet Tracking system, but also the actual print-out document the clerk provided me once I informed him of the scam.

Nonetheless, to eBay this USPS document is not enough proof showing that I had been scammed detailing how the buyer shipped the package to a totally wrong address. They want me to file a police report which I tried. I went to 2 police stations and told them the story, they said they can't do police report because this is a civil matter, not a criminal matter. They ask me to go to small claim court instead.

Today, I will try to go to a 3rd police station to try my luck getting an incident police report.

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Most police stations are behind the times when it comes to internet crime and are ill equipt to investigate even if they did.  The police dept you have to file with is the buyers local police.  You might try to get a report filed for internet fraud instead of theft with your police.  Ask them if they have an internet crime dept.

Even if you get a police report, ebay will probably not look at it.  Unless it can be seen by a direct link they have access to online, ebay will not look at any evidence you gather.  Some sellers have tracked a buyers facebook pages and seen them bragging about the item they scammed and ebay refused to look at it, or acknowledge that it was their item that was scammed.

AND the fact that your item was over $50 means that ebay will not open their wallet to reimburse you, and they are incapable of taking the money back from a buyer.  It has been noted that ebay is pretty liberal with tens and twentys, but high dollar stuff is the risks of doing business on ebay.

I sent you a personal message, the solution to get ebay to take a look at the injustice done you is there.

[creoleorchid]

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@ymeagainlord wrote:
But you DID have GSP as the shipping on the item. Did he ask for an invoice?

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It doesn't matter. Even with GSP on the item listing, if the buyer has a domestic address, GSP is not involved. It goes by USPS, FedEX, Ups..whatever domestic carrier OP uses.

[emerald40]

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@ymeagainlord wrote:

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@emerald40 wrote:

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@retrose1 wrote:

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@badrock wrote:

My listings state no international sales, however buyers that have a US ship to address be it their Uncle or re-shipper, quite sure I have to ship. I also have had buyers registered in Hong Kong and Russian Federation that have US ship to addresses, DE and CA.

I googled the US addresses and saw the two in DE are in warehouses  and close to each other. One in San Diego is in a Hotel. I hear there is another in Vegas.

Have sold many items delivered to reshippers and only 2 problems from Russian Buyers via the DE addresses.  Buyer claims  item defective, ( Computer Parts). I already know the scam. Ok immediately I accept the return issue label. Of course they refuse to return just demand refund, both emailed the items were in Russia and they could not return. eBay read that and closed cases my favor.

What caught my attention on one of these was buyer emails says he is in Russia, wants to buy but it won't let him. Yes sorry no international sales, couple of days later, buyer purchases item. I'm like how did this happen nope no way, I don't have to ship to a country I don't accept. Then saw the USA address in DE. Called ebay, was told USA address I have to ship or take a defect.

---

The simple solution to your problem is that you go into your paypal account and block payments not coming from US accounts, currancies you do not hold, ect.  The buyer can lie all they want and ebay lets them get away with it on ebay, but they will not be able to get past the pal.

____________________________________________________

This thread should be pinned at the top to all those who feel that sending items to reshippers is safe and problem free.

This Delaware address comes up over and over as being associated with scams.

And again this is why I block non US paypal accounts and foreign currency.  Got into a big battle with a couple of posters that doing so is against ebay policy.

Well look how well ebay policy is working for this OP>

---

---

I'm not sure the run of the mill reshippers can be held responsible for what their customers do. The reshippers may have suspicions but they can't prove their customers are buying the items with say a stolen cc as the only thing they worry about is getting the right item to the right customer and that the customer pays THEM.

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Problem after Problem at that Delaware reshipping site.  Taking a blind eye is probably why many of the scammers choose it.    I am sure there is a way for them to weed out those who are pulling these scams and refuse to do business with them.

And if not, then I should not have to do business with those who use them.

[emerald40]

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@gramophone-georg wrote:

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@missjen831 wrote:

---

@retrose1 wrote:

That block actually doesn’t work the way you and many others think it does because PayPal automatically converts the buyers payment to US funds. It doesn’t stop international buyers from making payment.

There are two blocks in the pal to block International buyers and I mentioned both of them....NonUS accounts and currancies you do not hold.

---

And neither works the way you think they work. They don’t stop international buyers from paying. The currencies block doesn’t stop these buyers from paying because PayPal coverts to US funds. It also doesn’t stop non-us residents from buying because they can buy without a PayPal account now. 

---

PayPal doesn't always automatically convert, but the buyer can. I purchase in Euros and GBP as well as other currencies all the time without PayPal doing anything.

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Same here.  I just bought items from France and Germany.  They were in Euros.  When I purchased them paypal showed them in Euros as well.  Nothing was converted.