Seller is using my address

[mec19808]

For the past 6 months or so, every week or two my USPS Informed Delivery email shows outbound packages from my address, and the date they are expected to be delivered. These are labelled "eBay Powered by Pitney Bowes." When I check the tracking numbers on the USPS site it shows the labels originated from my ZIP code, but they were physically shipped either from Maryland or from a post office in my city, but not near where I live.

I don't have an eBay shipping account and have not sold anything on eBay in at least 15 years (when I did sell a few things it was when I lived elsewhere).  I'm not the one shipping these packages. Whoever is selling these items, whatever they are, has set up their seller's account using my address. 

It is possible this is the previous owners of my home, and they have just never updated the address on their account. But I don't know that for sure and eBay refuses to give me any sort of help. I have made several attempts. They won't tell me the eBay store name that is using my address (so that I can message them through their store) and they won't notify the eBay seller that they must update their address. (It seems like they could just apply a pop-up to the account that tells them they must do so.)

I was told that if something they sell gets returned and shows up at my home, then I should just mark it "return to sender" and drop it back at the post office. Then when it bounces back to the person who bought it and was trying to return it, that will probably lead to the seller realizing the problem with the address. And if there is ever any issue with something being sold on eBay illegally or fraudulently, by an account using my address, then my contacts with eBay Help will serve as evidence that I was not the one doing the selling and I had reported the misuse of my address. So it will get sorted out without repercussions to me. Seriously? I mean, what the heck?

So in theory an eBay seller can just set up a shipping account with whatever address they want and there is nothing proactive the actual occupant at that address can do? Is there really nothing that can be done via eBay? 

I have never met the person I bought my house from, he sent his agent to the closing, but I suppose I could track him down, maybe find him on social media or ask for help from the listing realtor, who probably has, or can get, his current address. But I don't even know for sure if he, or one of his adult kids, is the one using my address, so it just seems weird to do that.

Is this a common issue? Any suggestions?

[wastingtime101]

The 2 most likely scenarios:

1. As already suggested, someone hasn't properly updated their ship from address on eBay after moving. Even if they updated all of their address on their account settings page, that doesn't always translate to the shipping label page. Sometimes you have to change the ship from address separately on the shipping label page.

2. A typo.

What would I do @mec19808?

I would go to my local PO with the tracking numbers. Ask them to look up the packages to make sure it's not your name on the ship from address.

See if they'll confirm whether or not the name on the ship from address matches the name (or last name) of the former resident. At least then you'll have a better idea what's going on.

If it is the former resident and you can easily locate their current address through public records, consider sending them a letter letting them know they need to update their ship from address on eBay.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@buyselljack2016 wrote:

Not sure if that "address" would be printed on the package as the "senders" address. If it was, it would surely seem that the sender at some time would notice that, and go into panic mode.

When I print a label that "from" is clearly displayed before me when I get ready to ship. Even if the seller/sender was not printing their own labels, such as if they did the "QR" code, and let USPS print the label, that info should be quite evident.

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The sender would certainly have noticed if he was in a different zone than the OP and was getting billed for unpayment of shipping costs. But because the Delaware and Maryland addresses are in the same zone, the shipping prices are the same. 

[libragoddess04]

This is happening to me too, the exact same thing!!

[kr68]

I've been going thru the same thing for several months.  The exact same thing. I've done everything under the sun including talking with ebay,  Pitney Bowes,  post office and filing a complaint with the postal inspector for our area. I will tell you it isn't because of the previous owner not changing their address as they moved across the US and nowhere near where these packages are being dropped off at. Just had 3 go out this week according to USPS Informed Delivery. Driving me nuts! I do not like the idea either my address is being associated with any mail I didn't send myself. Especially in today's world.   

[etrusca]

For all having this situation i would actually contact both postal inspectors on either end in case it's identity theft/ fraud. the maryland PO would want to know and if they can track the PO where they were dropped off . if scanned at the counter maybe they can alert the counter clerks to be looking for this person and catch them, they take the package and then say the postal inspector needs to see you etc 

i would also scrutinize all your other accts & cards to make sure nothing is compromised. if you have had an uptick in spam that is an indicator also.

when and if this gets resolved i would close your ebay acct and open a new one with a diff email address and not use your zip code in it as i think that's inviting trouble !

i am surprised ebay cant do an address search and pull up data that way.

if the label is an ebay label then the shipping dept with tracking should be able to trace it back to the item sold and then will have the buyer

I would talk to the fraud dept after the shipping dept and always ask for a supervisor

i've had bad identity theft so i take v seriously if more than one are experiences it then 3 is a crowd and not accidental unless Ebay or USPS 's data systems are corrupted and at fault

[brightlightbookseller]

It has nothing to do with where the packages are dropped off.  Only the address printed on the label matters to Informed Delivery.  It's merely a seller who didn't put the correct address somewhere in eBay's system (probably an old address, but possibly a typo).  There's probably nothing you can do unless you can find the seller somehow, which I can't imagine how you'd do so.

[brightlightbookseller]

There have already been very reasonable explanations given multiple times that have nothing to do with identity theft, and in fact there's no reason to suspect that.  Informed Delivery works in a very well known way, but is simply catching people off guard in this instance.

[Anonymous]

Hi!! This exact same thing is happening to me!! Same shipping person as well. Did you get an answer. What can I do. It’s been going on for about two months now, every couple of weeks. 

[slati_2013]

Haha. All you guys should start intercepting the parcels and send them to you. It will stop quickly. 

[tinaylonen1993]

Did you ever figure this out? This just started happening to me this week. We have been living here for two years now & we bought this house so I was thinking maybe it was the previous owners. But two years is a long time ago and I have had informed delivery this whole time so I have no idea why eBay outbound packages  just started popping up this past week. 

[a_c_green]

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@tinaylonen1993 wrote:

Did you ever figure this out? This just started happening to me this week. We have been living here for two years now & we bought this house so I was thinking maybe it was the previous owners. But two years is a long time ago and I have had informed delivery this whole time so I have no idea why eBay outbound packages  just started popping up this past week. 

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(Duly noting that this thread is actually almost six months old...)

USPS simply tracks their packages by street address, not the name of the person on the label (either sender or addressee), so if the Return Address of an on-line shipment matches yours, and you're in their Informed Delivery program, they'll assume that you'll want to see the outbound tracking from your address (regardless of whether the package actually originated there; postage is calculated from the Ship From ZIP location, which could be someplace completely different).

Why someone chose to use your address (not necessarily your name) is anyone's guess, but I have read here that Chinese shippers like to do that in order to avoid having to pay for international Return to Sender packages from recipients who have refused their junk. The package instead goes to someone else's domestic (US) Return Address that they picked at random on-line. (They may also have your street address from some prior order that either you or someone else made in the past.)

[17-4ph]

so.... what about 1099's?

I've seen a few posts in the past where folks have received 1099's from eBay that claim they never have sold any items and are now in a fuss with the IRS.....

Can anything like that be going on here?

Also.... could this be an eBay related glitch somehow?  (I know hard to beleive... lol)

[a_c_green]

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@17-4ph wrote:

so.... what about 1099's?

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Um... I don't see how this is connected to 1099s at all.

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@17-4ph wrote:

I've seen a few posts in the past where folks have received 1099's from eBay that claim they never have sold any items and are now in a fuss with the IRS.....

Can anything like that be going on here?

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No, 1099s simply report payments made to your account. They have nothing to do with what Return Address was used on your outbound packages. For items that you really did sell here, you'll want to deduct your postage expenses on your tax return to offset the income reported on your 1099, but again that's not related to the weirdness that we're discussing here.

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@17-4ph wrote:

Also.... could this be an eBay related glitch somehow?  (I know hard to believe... lol)

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Doubtful. A seller would actually need to plug in your location as a Return Address on their Shipping label in order for the USPS to match it to your Informed Delivery address (and thus send you those outbound tracking updates). A purely random seller is not going to have your data in their Return Address info. 

I think it's a Chinese seller using a previously-obtained eBay buyer address (i.e. yours) as a catchall for their own unhappy buyers' Return to Sender mailings, in case someone wants to send something back that the seller doesn't really care to recover. eBay will track the item's return, and as soon as it lands in your mailbox (lucky you), the seller can refund their buyer. (The refund will come from their account, not yours. You have no actual involvement here.) That way they can maintain a record of honoring buyer return requests (and refunds) without actually having to incur pointless expensive international return shipments to their own country.

[sundiegousa]

Did you ever get to the bottom of this?  I've been in my house for over 15 years, but now that I'm signed up for "informed delivery" with USPS, I'm receiving the same "outbound" package tracking information from Pitney Bowes - EBay and similarly, haven't sold anything on Ebay for at least a couple years.  I inquired with the USPS, but they don't seem to have any answers other than the usual canned response if I suspect mail fraud.

thanks

[toddr31]

I have just started experiencing the same thing. 2 packages over the last 2 days, originating from Seattle (I live on the east coast). 1 has a destination of Indianapolis, and one has a destination of the town I grew up in. The latter is making me nervous. Anybody get to the bottom of this?