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Drop shipping scam


Legodog

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I received a set I purchased off of eBay the other day and it is obvious that it was drop shipped. It came directly from Lego and had my address information in the shipping area while in the billing area it had someone elses name and address which was not the seller I bought it from. The price on the receipt was way over what I paid for the item. Obviously I am going to report the person to eBay but what harm could it do to me? I would assume that if this happens multiple times maybe Lego will stop shipping to my address? Anyone had any experience with this or any thoughts?

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They probably do but they have the shipping address separate so people can send items as gifts.

I would imagine there are many reasons why they need to allow you to ship to an alternate addresss so it is probably something that they can't get rid of. Just like Amazon. I ship stuff to my family all the time so they can use my Amazon Prime free 2 day shipping. Then they just pay me back. Different addresses, last names, etc and Amazon never questions it.

In this case things just don't add up. And this is the second thing I have bought from eBay that shipped directly from Lego. The receipt has my name in the "ship to" area but in the "sold to" area has a name other than the person I bought it from. In both cases I paid a lot less through eBay than what the receipt shows it was purchased for through Lego. I can't think of another valid explaination other than this person is drop shipping these items.

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Whatever the case I think it's good you brought this to our attention so the community is at least aware.

I would definitely keep an eye out for it. Like I said this is the second package like this and I am a little skeptical of a couple others that are on the way now. I will report on those when they arrive. Basically I should know that if it seems too good to be true it probably is. I am sure the worst that can happen is that Lego LEGO Shop at Home puts me on some banned list and refuses to ship to my address. Which would definitely suck but not the end of the world.

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I had this happen to me twice last year and when it did LEGO blacklisted my address. Customer service helped me resolve the issue, but said if it happened again they would blacklist me permanently. From now on if I am looking to buy a new set that is currently in production, I contact the seller and ask if they have the set on hand.

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I was caught up in a drop shipping scam in 2010. I ordered over $1000 dollars of stuff from a shady site that has since been shut down. The physical invoices for my items were from Lego Shop at Home, and the shipping boxes were Shop at Home shipping boxes as well; although these details should have raised my suspicions, I didn't think anything of it. After all, I did receive my items, right? A month later, a squad car pulled up outside my house and a detective got out to inform me that I could be arrested for credit card fraud unless I could prove I had purchased the items legitimately. Once I showed him the printed out order confirmation from the scam site, he backed off. Still, if I hadn't been able to find that order confirmation, I could have ended up in jail. Drop shipping scams (aka triangulation scams) pose a real risk. If a website looks untrustworthy, remember that you risk not only your money but also your reputation by ordering from it. tl; dr I fell for a drop shipping scam and was nearly arrested. Be careful out there.

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And it happened again. This time the package was shipped from Walmart directly to me. The persons name on the invoice is different than the person who sold it to me but my info was on the ship to address. The total on the invoice is $85. I paid $60 for the item. I am going to get banned from ordering at all these online stores. It may be time to stop shopping on eBay.

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And again... FedEx just showed up with another package. I opened it and the same thing. Shipped directly from Lego to me and the "Sold To" information is different than the person I purchased it from on eBay. This receipt says the total was $195 and I paid $140 for it on eBay. Does anyone else buy off of eBay and are they experiencing this? BTW I never purchase from anyone that hasn't been a eBay member for at least 6 months and 20+ feedback. Does this mean that these people did this same thing to at least 20 other people? Maybe I just buy a lot more stuff off of eBay than others on here so I run in to this more often?

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Legodog, I also was caught up in the same type of thing through eBay auctions. I discovered it because I was sent THREE copies of the same set, when I had only bid and won on a single copy of it. All three sets arrived with different names and addresses on the invoice. The person I'd bought from had great feedback and was a long-standing eBay member. You cannot go by that type of information because those running the auction are not the direct criminal. They respond to ads on sites like Freelancer, which promise commissions and require the seller to have good and long-standing feedback. The trouble with the scam is that most people who buy from them don't notice, and as far as they are concerned it was a positive experience all-around. They leave good feedback, and the cycle perpetuates. It is only discoverable if you buy multiple, like you have, or if there is an error and you receive multiple, like for me. In my case, I reported everything to all parties involved. My credit card has the 3 names and addresses on file of those who had their cards stolen. Lego had me return the two extra sets that I did not actually pay for, and allowed me to keep the third. Since this point, I've decided to only buy Lego auctions where the photo is not a stock one - it at least gives me one bit of certainty.

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