New(?) amazon scam in the works

[jerryherb]

It appears that sellers are getting scammed lately by buyers who use hotels as their shipping address claiming the package was not received  by the front desk and requesting replacements/refunds/opening AZ cases that sellers are bound to lose. if you have an amazon seller account you should be able to access the link below, if you dont you MAY be able to get it as well:

 

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=225779&ref_=im_sf_C_225779_wsfqs_home&sortBy=helpful

 

it starts with the following:

 

  Posted on: 16 Oct, 2014 11:10 PM  

  Reply

Out of nowhere we have been getting orders from hotels in the past month. All the names appear to be of an "Indian" or "Asian" origin. They order an item then we get the following email within 24 hours of delivery.

"Details: The customer is currently in a hotel and the package was tagged as delivered by the carrier but the front desk of the hotel didn't receive it. Please refund the money to the customer."

After this they file an A-Z claim with 24-48 hours. Amazon has paid out on every one so far.

This person staying at an Alaska Holiday Inn Express is living at a hotel ordering items. This has happened now over fives times to our account in the past month.

I am wondering if Amazon notices a pattern. I asked another seller here and he told me it happened to him over 10 times in the last month.

I am contacting the hotel and Post Office myself!

Watch out for this latest scam my fellow sellers.

 

 

[Bold-Arrow]

Best thing to do would be signature confirmation

[jerryherb]

Best thing to do would be signature confirmation

 

signature option appears to be way more than insurance. i fully insure all my sets/no signature. havent had an issue yet, however did sell a lion temple to a hotel almost 4 weeks ago and have not heard anything yet. need to add no hotels to  NO POBOX, APO, FPO.

[Bold-Arrow]

signature option appears to be way more than insurance. i fully insure all my sets/no signature. havent had an issue yet, however did sell a lion temple to a hotel almost 4 weeks ago and have not heard anything yet. need to add no hotels to NO POBOX, APO, FPO.

I would think it would be worth it in these cases .

Regarding the second part , are u able to do that? I didn't think Amazon allows such restrictions but I rarely self fulfill .

[jerryherb]

I would think it would be worth it in these cases .

Regarding the second part , are u able to do that? I didn't think Amazon allows such restrictions but I rarely self fulfill .

 

It appears that since i put that in the description no one with such an address places an order. i think i would be required to fulfill it if one came through, but the description appears to be working thus far.

[ravenb99]

I would do signature confirmation over insurance any day if you were worried about being scammed on the transaction.  Costs 2.35 and seems worth it if you are having that issue.  Insurance does no good in those situations.  

[Deez_Brickz]

I would think it would be worth it in these cases .

Regarding the second part , are u able to do that? I didn't think Amazon allows such restrictions but I rarely self fulfill .

If Amazon were to fufill an order like this and it gets "lost", would they be liable for the loss or do they pass that on to the seller?

[Bold-Arrow]

If Amazon were to fufill an order like this and it gets "lost", would they be liable for the loss or do they pass that on to the seller?

if you are doing fba, u are not liable for the product once amazon receives it into your inventory ( aside from returns and mislabeling) Any lost, damaged item is on amazon and they will reimburse you but their reimbursement can sting at times.

[smittypop2]

NM. I misread your post I guess.

Edited October 17, 2014 by smittypop2

[Bold-Arrow]

I should have been clearer , damaged while in storage or in transit to buyer.

[JRandall]

Depending upon what I'm selling, if it's a toy over $50 or to someone with a strange name or in a far off location, I always use signature confirmation because it protects you from so much. Even though my profit is taking a small hit, peace of mind is worth an extra $3.  When I sell larger items I always contact the customer before the shipment and even during the shipment to clarify anything and to let them know I'm an aware and knowledgeable seller.  Usually I get good feedback because of it.

Edited October 17, 2014 by JRandall

[trekgate502]

I sold a Tumbler to someone on eBay to ship to a Hotel which looked like a long term stay hotel but a hotel.

The ebay account was opened 13 years ago with 100% feedback and activity.

I shipped it along with insurance and signature confirmation.

That with seller protection I should be covered.

I would never send anything to a hotel without a signature based on my day job experience and a $300 item I would get insurance.

[lodibricks]

I normally pay more attention, but I just had an eBay sale a couple of days ago to a Staybridge Suites. Since jerry mentioned, it's also an Asian name for the buyer.

I just checked the tracking and it's being returned as Undeliverable. So, thankfully I should be getting it back  , but I'll probably at least eat the shipping and fear losing my 100% feedback as well.  I'll have to add that "no shipping to hotels" too I guess.

[justafrog]

I normally pay more attention, but I just had an eBay sale a couple of days ago to a Staybridge Suites. Since jerry mentioned, it's also an Asian name for the buyer.

I just checked the tracking and it's being returned as Undeliverable. So, thankfully I should be getting it back  , but I'll probably at least eat the shipping and fear losing my 100% feedback as well.  I'll have to add that "no shipping to hotels" too I guess.

 

You can add that to your listings, but it's not an accepted eBay restriction and you can't enforce it - if someone orders with a hotel address, your options are going to be to ship, or to cancel the sale and take the defect rating on your account. The buyer will also be able to leave you negative or neutral feedback for the cancellation.

[lodibricks]

You can add that to your listings, but it's not an accepted eBay restriction and you can't enforce it - if someone orders with a hotel address, your options are going to be to ship, or to cancel the sale and take the defect rating on your account. The buyer will also be able to leave you negative or neutral feedback for the cancellation.

I appreciate the info.

[johnwray]

Put it in the description anyway. It'll deter some scammers who might not know any better, and there's no downside to doing so.

[justafrog]

Put it in the description anyway. It'll deter some scammers who might not know any better, and there's no downside to doing so.

 

There are two downsides I can think of right off the top.

 

The first is that buyers typically don't read descriptions, and their likelihood of reading descriptions decreases rapidly the more verbiage you add to your listings. So, the instruction not to bid if you want something shipped to a hotel isn't going to be seen by most, and its very presence in the listing (making the listing bigger and more complex) is going to deter the bidder from reading other, and more relevant to most of them, information.

 

The second is that trying to deter scammers is negative listing language that can also deter honest buyers who are worried the negativity indicates that seller is a PITA to deal with.

 

The range between "Please note, we do not ship to hotel addresses" to "Hey, Scammer Scum! Read THIS!" followed by a list of 20 nonsense rules everyone has to follow and an addendum paragraph or eight about how much eBay sucks these days -- it's amazing how quickly the list of "you can't do this, I won't do that, everyone's out to get me!" increases once you decide to go down that path as a seller.

 

The temptation is strong, especially when you're new or have a naturally short fuse or lack customer service experience, to treat all buyers reading like the few criminals you're trying to talk to.

 

It's helpful to look at ads written by true e-commerce professionals -- how does Amazon present things to their buyers? How does Macys.com? How does Lego.com? etc.

[Alfiepops]

The temptation is strong, especially when you're new or have a naturally short fuse or lack customer service experience.

 

 

A bit like the guy a year or two ago who put in his listings, "If you're not buying my stuff, STOP WATCHING MY LISTINGS"