Ok, this is something I've never come across before. I've been selling odd bits on eBay since 2006, with over 200 successful sales without any issues. However, a couple of weeks ago I sold a relatively expensive Blu Ray box set for £50ish.
The buyer paid straight away and I sent it via Royal Mail Signed For. About 4 days after posting i I get a message on eBay from the buyer saying "Do you have the tracking number for this order, it hasn't turned up yet." I check the delivery status on the Royal Mail web site using the tracking number and it shows as being delivered to the address and having been signed for by someone with the recipient's surname.
I fire a message back to the buyer telling him this and asking him to check with his family / housemates / neighbours to see if they have his item and he gets back to me after a day saying he has checked and nobody he knows has it. After another day he raises an "item not received" claim through eBay saying that nobody was home at his house when the item was delivered and that the signature on Royal Mail's tracking isn't his.
A quick search on Google suggests that this is very likely someone trying it on for a free item and I have got in touch with Royal Mail and asked them to investigate. According to my research I should be covered under eBay's seller protection scheme but I know there's a lot of people on here who sell through eBay and I'd be interested to hear if anyone has come across this before / how you deal with it?
There's also the very remote but niggling possibility that the buyer's postie has stolen it!
Not eBay related, but Amazon, UK Mail and Royal Mail have all “forged” my signature for items.
UK mail left over £2k of bolts on my doorstep, both Amazon and Royal Mail found the items I had allegedly received and signed for, after I had escalated the issue with customer services
Dodgy postie although my spidey senses are leading from info in op that the buyer is pulling or at least attempting to the wool...
Had this a couple of times..... one was a simple mistake on the house number, the other went on for a bit but eventually turned up "apparently" a few doors away despite the tracking stating the parcel was delivered to the original address!
Message them to tell them the PO will be contacting them about the matter as there have been several incidents in the area.
Unfortunately this type of "scam" seems to be on the rise.
I had a similar incident on a £1k pair of Fox 40's and the buyer raised an ebay and paypal claim against me for non delivery!
Even though I provide full tracking info on 48hr delivery, he told me he was out on the day of delivery and also informed me that the postman would not be able to access the property, even to leave a delivery card. My scam warning bell went off at this point.
Thankfully his claim was rejected as I had posted it to correct address given by buyer and Parcelforce provided proof of receipt at the correct address. It may have been signed for by someone else and nicked, it may be a scam by buyer, but I think you should be ok wrt ebay claim.
After that was rejected he somehow managed to raise a claim from Parcelforce for the purchase sum. I raised a query with Parcelforce about this as apparently only the seller should be able to do this?
I've provided all info required by Parcelforce, but heard nothing back yet and buyer/scammer has gone quiet. If anything does appear from Parcelforce, I think I'll just wait to see if buyer contacts me again 😉
Im currently going through the opposite
Bought some stuff on ebay, seller has then used a gift card to buy and send me via special delivery, a perfume sample
He gets a proof of delivery signature, I have to prove to ebay that the parcel I signed for wasn’t what I ordered and that I haven’t had the ebay item
Fortunately when I saw a tiny perfume sample in a large box, sent S.D my spider senses went off and I have kept all the packaging etc with the tracking number visable which when you search on Royal Mail website can be seen to have been posted in Manchester rather than where the seller is based
I’ve had buyers claim they’ve not received the item. Not at all uncommon and half of the time I suspect it’s s genuine mistake. I’m well aware of elaborate schemes to rip you off circulating though.
Weirdest experience for me was someone offering me £5,000 via payment from a credit card ( they even asked me to set up a stripe account) for a £500 pair of wheels then asking if I can pay their driver who will collect said wheels £4,500 cash.
Amazing how brazen these guys are.