Interesting ebay scam?

[vincenz]

Originally Posted by old_fat_and_slow

Had a package sent to me a few weeks back sent from Ohio. I followed USPS tracking. The day it was supposed to be delivered USPS tracking showed package delivered, but didn't say where, and it definitely wasn't to me.

No worries I thought, probably delivered to one of my neighbors on accident. Two days later, still no package. I went to my local post office. They tracked it and told me it was delivered to a business in an industrial park across town from me. Post office said, we can't do anything for you. Best outcome will be that incorrect recipient will find package, and turn over to post office for proper delivery.

Package showed up about a week later. USPS tracking doesn't mean jack. I was worried I was gonna get stuck paying even though I initially didn't receive the package. Luckily my seller was very understanding and had insured the package, and was willing to submit a claim for me if necessary.

Really lost what little faith I had left in the USPS.

For high value items, I never use USPS or UPS for this reason. Their tracking and accountability are just not good enough. FedEx insured all the way. Now for very high value items (over $5000), I would go USPS Registered Mail.

[45K10]

I had something similar happen but is was with a seller on Amazon. I ordered a laboratory locker (72"x 36" x 24"). A couple of days later I get notification it had arrived. I found a small envelope on the front stoop with a shipping label attached which had the tracking info I had been provided.

I contact the seller and without so much as an "that's strange" they issue a refund.

Not sure how this scam works but it sure felt like one. I reported it to Amazon and never heard anything back but the seller is no longer on Amazon.

[ultraman6970]

THe item to another address has been around for a while now... so far I think usps now has a service where they actually scan the label itself, so if you want to see it you need to request that service with them or something. The question is what happens when the address is not your address...

Either way it helps to know at least what the label says.

The badguys just send an envelope with any name or they just pick an address and a name close to you so the recipient takes the item, if nothing is inside the recipient will toast the envelope and nothing happened here.

THe other problem is that ebay has no way to know if a zero feedback guy is a bad guy or not, and that's the reason I try no to deal with zero feedback users at ebay at all and try to stick with guys i have dealt with before eventhought is not that cheap sometimes.

Originally Posted by ravdg316

Ha! This is probably what happened. The trick is new to me. I’m familiar with the scams of sellers requesting buyers to wire money instead of using credit cards or PayPal. However, a package delivery address switch on a $200 item that had bids going on it for a week just seems too weird and almost like too much work for the final outcome. Did he not expect that the transaction would be disputed?

[Don49]

The other day I met the USPS delivery guy on my driveway coming to leave me an Amazon package. Rather than hand it to me he carried it to my front door and took a picture of the package by my door. The camera looked to be part of the scanning device they carry. He said they are required to get a delivery picture now.

Not sure what the means for scam prevention but I thought it was interesting.