Is this a scam?

[yang]

I recently bought a 10211 for $275 free shipping on eBay. The seller said he shipped the item but did not upload the tracking number. I messaged him several times, he did not respond until I opened a case. He said he cannot provide the tracking because he lost the tracking number. He also said he insured the package, so both parties are protected. (I wonder how he can get insurance money without a tracking number.) Then I still never receive the item. Right now we are in the refund process.

My question is: is this some kind of scam? I'm curious what's the reason behind that the seller wants to do this. I found it really unlikely that both things happened at the same time: carrier never delivered the package (or lost the package) and the seller lost the tracking number! Just seems like the seller never shipped the item (or did not have the item in the first place).

Anyone had similar experience?

 

[rdandy5875]

He should have added the tracking number to ebay. In short, It's on him to show proof of delivery. If you don't receive the item, you file a claim and he must provide proof of delivery to your confirmed address, if he does, you are out. If he does not, they will refund you. Sucks.

Link the item so we can check out his feedback, if you want..

[TheGallows]

Interest free loan

[Sandwraith]

I mean.. i guess if he shipped it by going into a physical post office and only had the tracking number on the receipt; i could see him "losing" it. However if printed online there would be no way to lose it as it would be visible somewhere. If he did lose the receipt then that's some pretty poor service.

Does sound fishy, but with no item received you are obviously covered.

[Andyperkins]

Sounds like the pay day loan scam, how long has he been registered and how much feedback?

Edited February 12, 2016 by Andyperkins

[yang]

4 minutes ago, Andyperkins said:

Sounds like the pay day loan scam, how long has he been registered and how much feedback?

Oh, I forgot to mention, he actually has the account since 2008, and has 100% positive feedback, more than 100 feedbacks. That's why I bought from him in the first place. So weird.

[yang]

17 minutes ago, rdandy5875 said:

He should have added the tracking number to ebay. In short, It's on him to show proof of delivery. If you don't receive the item, you file a claim and he must provide proof of delivery to your confirmed address, if he does, you are out. If he does not, they will refund you. Sucks.

Link the item so we can check out his feedback, if you want..

He is an eBay member since 2008 and has more than 100 feedbacks, 100% positive. So I cannot be sure that he is lying. Although the chance of him losing tracking number and carrier losing package is vey slim. I guess I'd better not post his listing, just in case he is not lying.

[Supreme4eva]

I got scammed at Brickclassifieds by this seller below. Don't buy from him. No reply at all after I made the payment.

https://www.brickclassifieds.com/shop-section/toybrickys

[Phil B]

4 minutes ago, Supreme4eva said:

I got scammed at Brickclassifieds by this seller below. Don't buy from him. No reply at all after I made the payment.

https://www.brickclassifieds.com/shop-section/toybrickys

Did you report the seller using the "Report this shop to BrickClassifieds" link at the bottom of the store page?

[yang]

9 minutes ago, Supreme4eva said:

I got scammed at Brickclassifieds by this seller below. Don't buy from him. No reply at all after I made the payment.

https://www.brickclassifieds.com/shop-section/toybrickys

Does brickclassifieds have buyer protection like eBay's money back guarantee?

[Supreme4eva]

4 minutes ago, yang said:

Does brickclassifieds have buyer protection like eBay's money back guarantee?

I think no but I have made a report to paypal.

8 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Did you report the seller using the "Report this shop to BrickClassifieds" link at the bottom of the store page?

Nope. Not loading after I clicked the report button. I'm not sure why. I have email the admin but no reply as well.

[Phil B]

1 minute ago, Supreme4eva said:

Nope. Not loading after I clicked the report button. I'm not sure why. I have email the admin but no reply as well.

I would PM Jeff or Ed Mack here on this forum - they run BrickClassifieds.

[Supreme4eva]

Just now, Phil B said:

I would PM Jeff or Ed Mack here on this forum - they run BrickClassifieds.

Can you please help me to get to them? 

[Phil B]

Go to the little envelope icon next to your username on the top right of the page. Click on "Compose New". In the "Recipient" field, start typing "Ed Mack" and his name should come up. Same for Jeff. Compose your message and send.

[HandyHand]

1 hour ago, yang said:

I recently bought a 10211 for $275 free shipping on eBay. The seller said he shipped the item but did not upload the tracking number. I messaged him several times, he did not respond until I opened a case. He said he cannot provide the tracking because he lost the tracking number. He also said he insured the package, so both parties are protected. (I wonder how he can get insurance money without a tracking number.) Then I still never receive the item. Right now we are in the refund process.

My question is: is this some kind of scam? I'm curious what's the reason behind that the seller wants to do this. I found it really unlikely that both things happened at the same time: carrier never delivered the package (or lost the package) and the seller lost the tracking number! Just seems like the seller never shipped the item (or did not have the item in the first place).

Anyone had similar experience?

Last year I had a similar experience with a German eBay seller. Also a seller with many positive feedback scores. I had won an auction style bidding and after I had paid the seller claimed to have shipped the item. But no tracking number was supplied. When the item didn't arrive after the expected time-frame I inquired about it and they asked me to wait a bit longer because it "could still arrive a bit later". They also said they lost the tracking number, which I found odd... When it didn't arrive after waiting longer I asked them about it again, and they said they would re-send the item with a different courier. That time they did supply a tracking number and the item arrived safely after all. 

But I did find it a weird situation and I haven't bought from that seller again.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Haay

[Phil B]

39 minutes ago, Haay said:

Last year I had a similar experience with a German eBay seller. Also a seller with many positive feedback scores. I had won an auction style bidding and after I had paid the seller claimed to have shipped the item. But no tracking number was supplied. When the item didn't arrive after the expected time-frame I inquired about it and they asked me to wait a bit longer because it "could still arrive a bit later". They also said they lost the tracking number, which I found odd... When it didn't arrive after waiting longer I asked them about it again, and they said they would re-send the item with a different courier. That time they did supply a tracking number and the item arrived safely after all. 

But I did find it a weird situation and I haven't bought from that seller again.

Sounds almost like they were stalling ... perhaps they had something else going on (trying to sell it elsewhere for more money) and had you on the hook knowing that the sale could always be reversed? Because if they had the item and did indeed ship it at first, how can they have it back and re-send it (unless they have multiples and took a loss).

[Thumper]

Not necessarily a scam but it is a "tactic"... often a seller will say they shipped a package but "lost" the tracking when they really didn't ship anything at all... this is done to delay the buyer while they possibly buy the item elsewhere and are waiting to receive it themselves, usually this is just to avoid the embarrassment of an inventory mistake or they found something wrong with the item after-the-fact & don't want to follow through right away or worse they are selling things they don't really have on hand. either way they don't want to loose the sale or receive bad reviews if they can fudge it over with apparently "good" customer service.  Often also they have decided that they don't want to sell it at the original agreed price, but don't want bad feedback so they put on appearances that they are doing everything they can to do right by the buyer and simply want the buyer to back out without penalty.

and sometimes the seller is simply...  just that stooopid!

[yang]

1 hour ago, Haay said:

Last year I had a similar experience with a German eBay seller. Also a seller with many positive feedback scores. I had won an auction style bidding and after I had paid the seller claimed to have shipped the item. But no tracking number was supplied. When the item didn't arrive after the expected time-frame I inquired about it and they asked me to wait a bit longer because it "could still arrive a bit later". They also said they lost the tracking number, which I found odd... When it didn't arrive after waiting longer I asked them about it again, and they said they would re-send the item with a different courier. That time they did supply a tracking number and the item arrived safely after all. 

But I did find it a weird situation and I haven't bought from that seller again.

Thanks for sharing.

4 minutes ago, Thumper said:

Not necessarily a scam but it is a "tactic"... often a seller will say they shipped a package but "lost" the tracking when they really didn't ship anything at all... this is done to delay the buyer while they possibly buy the item elsewhere and are waiting to receive it themselves, usually this is just to avoid the embarrassment of an inventory mistake or they found something wrong with the item after-the-fact & don't want to follow through right away or worse they are selling things they don't really have on hand. either way they don't want to loose the sale or receive bad reviews if they can fudge it over with apparently "good" customer service.  Often also they have decided that they don't want to sell it at the original agreed price, but don't want bad feedback so they put on appearances that they are doing everything they can to do right by the buyer and simply want the buyer to back out without penalty.

and sometimes the seller is simply...  just that stooopid!

Makes sense. Thanks.

[Brian Briggs]

21 minutes ago, Thumper said:

[...] or worse they are selling things they don't really have on hand. [...]

That behaviour is common in the world of finance and called short selling. 

[c_rpg]

If it's not a professional seller, you should always ask for multiple pictures of the item. If they don't want to provide them or they are stalling, don't buy it. Also: if they only show one side of the box, there is a good chance there's some damage.

[Thumper]

14 minutes ago, Brian Briggs said:

That behaviour is common in the world of finance and called short selling. 

Drop shippers do it as well... even if the rules are specifically detailed and agreed upon on the merchant platform.

[siulon]

3 hours ago, yang said:

He is an eBay member since 2008 and has more than 100 feedbacks, 100% positive. So I cannot be sure that he is lying. Although the chance of him losing tracking number and carrier losing package is vey slim. I guess I'd better not post his listing, just in case he is not lying.

i have had "lost" my receipt before.

What actually happened was I shipped couple items and uploaded to ebay to the wrong items, then found out later. by that time my receipts were in a bag full of tens if not hundreds of other receipts, took me forward to find it.

I have also forgot to upload tracking number immediately after I shipped it.

So, it's possible. but never with a combination that the carrier lost the package.

[TigerG]

Another scam possibility is a high-jacked account. They put on a lot of high value items in a short frame of time, try to gain as much money as possible from that account, keep making excuses to buyers until they secured all funds coming through that ebay + paypal account and move on to the next high-jacked account. That a pretty popular ebay scam over here...

[Zelgazra]

I don't want to intentionally hijack the thread, but putting another up with the reverse question seems pointless... If Mods want to move it to the general Ebay Shipping Questions thread that's cool.

I sent out an expedited parcel Feb 3rd to New Brunswick from BC. Tracking info shows the item's expected travel route, but then there's something fishy... The status updates show "Delivered" before "Out for Delivery", with a time and date stamp on Out for Delivery, but nothing at all for the Delivered notification. Every other parcel I've ever tracked shows Delivered as the last update. 

The buyer was a 0 feedback new member as of the purchase date (Feb 3rd 2016), but I'm not biased towards these folks... you've gotta start somewhere, and I was that guy just a handful of months back, so I gave benefit of the doubt. The buyer is a French-Second Language speaker (their french isn't perfect at all, verified this fact with my bilingual mother...), et je parle et comprende juste un petit peut de francais, so even with Google Translate I'm having some difficulties communicating with my buyer. The general gist of her messages is that she's extremely disappointed and wants a refund.

I've called CanadaPost today and they've opened up a claim investigation. Based on all the reading I've seen on these issues on these forums, I think I've done everything I can do from a seller's position 5000 kilometers away, but it never hurts to ask if there's any other advice folks might give surrounding this situation?

Edit: As far as I'm aware, even if a claim is opened on eBay or PayPal, I'm covered because tracking does show delivered, right? There's a chance I'm the culprit of an attempted scam, but I'm still inclined to think this was an honest buyer mixed up in a CanadaPost f-up. Right? 

Edited February 13, 2016 by Zelgazra

[mfortunek]

this guy has sold $500 Lego gift cards on eBay for $455 each about two dozen times in the last month or so. 

Dude has almost 3,000 positive feedback. My gut says scam but his eBay history and positive feedback don't fit the profile. What gives?

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Gift-Card-500-00-Dollars-/172104377471?nav=SEARCH

Edited February 17, 2016 by mfortunek
Corrected link