Has anyone else been scammed by a seller using Tracking Ace?

[laureloakwood]

I bought an item in good faith using my ebay balance to pay. The item is still showing on ebay as not posted, but the seller provided a "tracking id" & the website "tracking ace" when I raised a not delivered case. This site shows my item as having been delivered, but it wasn't.

Both myself & my husband were home all day the day it claims it delivered my item, but there was no knock at the door & no parcel left in my front garden.

Ebay have closed the case & sided with the seller, although there is no concrete proof of delivery (photo or signature) because the delivery never happened. Seller ignored my request for proof of delivery & ebay sided with them, leaving me out of pocket & missing a delivery I needed.

I'm very angry & wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience?

What can I do to try & recover my lost money/ get my item delivered?

[style_wise]

Tracking Ace has a lot of 1* reviews on Trust Pilot with other eBay Buyers asking the same question as you.

Start by getting eBay on the phone after 8am on Monday.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/eua?id=5275

to explain there is no item, no tracking/photo/signature for proof of delivery, and that the courier is a suspected scam.

If that doesn't work, go to your payment provider for a chargeback.

If you leave feedback before the dust settles, keep it basic like 'Unsatisfactory transaction'. Or read the Feedback Policy very carefully because you want it to stick.

Personally I would add the Seller to my Blocked List too.

[laureloakwood]

Thanks for your reply - I've already been on the phone to ebay, who aren't going to help any further. They say the courier is used by lots of ebay sellers & they don't have any problems with them. They dismissed the order still showing as not posted as a problem with the integration of the tracking system & ebay.

I've opened a case with resolver co uk & hopefully they will sort it out. There won't be any proof of delivery beyond the courier's word against mine (ie no photo or signature evidence).

Ebay say they will review again if I get evidence of non-delivery, although that sounds pretty dubious.

I'm not hopeful that I'll see my money again, but I will avoid sellers who use this courier in future.

I've not left feedback yet & I won't until I've taken this as far as I can.

[style_wise]

"Evidence of non-delivery" you can't prove a negative so this is Kafka-esque! You can prove no proof of delivery which is what I would go to my payment provider with, if it were me.

[canvas-kings]

I have exactly the same issue with a seller ..ordered item 9.50 pm on the Friday 10th october ..today emailed seller  15th as to its wherabouts ..says was delivered Sunday the 12th at 1.22 pm ..I have security cameras watching every move to my front door ..definatly no one called ..what now ??

[laureloakwood]

Update - resolver were useless - tracking ace ignored my email & resolver won't do anything else.

I've given a really *bleep*py feedback to ebay, calling this a scam.

Companies House show tracking ace have only existed for 2 years & the director is Portuguese & lives in Portugal. They're registered as a micro company (under 10 employees) in London.

Deffo a scam, but ebay seem more than happy to perpetuate this scam & *bleep* over people who have used ebay for well over a decade in favour of scammers.

It's absolutely disgusting & I'm furious there is no way to redress this.

[rainbowtrax]

@laureloakwood how did you pay? If you used a card then you should be able to pursue it with your payment provider as a "chargeback".

[laureloakwood]

Thanks for replying, but if you read my first post, I did say I'd paid using my ebay balance, which I will never do again.
After checking trust pilot it seems tracking ace & ebay have been running this scam since at least May 2019. No wonder ebay refuse to resolve this - they must have made a fortune from the scammers.
I'm beginning to wonder if there are any journalists interested in taking this on as a story...

[papso22]

I have never heard of this company and I don't think they are a courier but something more like Aquiline, which seems to provide dodgy tracking numbers.

[laureloakwood]

That's exactly what they sound like. Look at their 1 star reviews on trust pilot - all the people they've scammed since 2019. Can't believe ebay allow this scam to continue with their blessing.

[rainbowtrax]

What is the tracking number that you were given? Tracking Ace aren't a courier themselves so the number should relate to some other courier. Also the item number of the listing if you don't mind so that we can look at the postage details on the listing.

[canvas-kings]

TAR1188130566..Even the tracking doesnt make any sense? 5 in the evening their expecting it ..then 4 hours earlier package is shipped..??

I only ordered 9.30pm 10th friday evening ..it says delivered 39 hours later on  Sunday 12th.. BUT it says expect delivery by 17th to 21st..Oct..

the whole of the tracking times seem waqy too tight..

When i bought item it did say UNTRACKED ..its only when i asked that  Sunday morning what courier were they using.. an hour or so later message me saying delivered with these tracking details....

Saturday, 11 October

01:22 PM	Delivered to L"""""Q
12:48 PM	Out for delivery
11:52 AM	Package arrived at final destination station
10:01 AM	In transit
03:25 PM	Package arrived at a carrier facility
01:04 PM	Package shipped
05:01 PM	We are expecting it

[laureloakwood]

That's really similar to my tracking info: TAR0330580676

But the tracking for mine still says it hasn't been posted yet on the order page (which ebay dismissed as an integration issue with the courier website). In fact ebay order tracking says "delayed" so I've no idea why ebay accepted the bogus tracking website & no one would tell me what the proof of delivery was, so I assume they've just taken their word over mine, which stinks!

Image attached is screenshot of the "tracking page" with my postcode redacted.

[laureloakwood]

I've attached a screenshot of the order tracking as it still stands - it still shows as not yet posted & also as delayed. Tracking number is also visible in screenshot. 

[canvas-kings]

Yes yours is very similar timings to mine and on a Sunday again...very very strange

[suelel1968]

Hi @laureloakwood 

I found this online.

Tracking Ace operates as a parcel tracking aggregator, meaning it consolidates tracking information from various courier and logistics companies into one platform. Here's how their system typically works:

📦 How Tracking Ace Operates
Universal Tracking Interface Users enter a tracking number from any supported courier (e.g., USPS, FedEx, DHL, Royal Mail), and Tracking Ace identifies the carrier and retrieves the latest shipment status.

Carrier Integration The platform connects with multiple courier APIs or scrapes tracking data from official carrier websites to provide real-time updates.

Status Updates It displays key milestones like pickup, transit, customs clearance, out-for-delivery, and delivery confirmation.

Unfortunately I cannot find out which courier they used and nor could AI. It seems that this style of tracking is used by drop shippers. Did you get an invoice with the name of the courier used? Have you asked Tracking Ace? 

I have private messaged you.

[rainbowtrax]

Tagging dave@ebay to see if you can shed any light on these seemingly scam tracking numbers.

[hobbiesncrafts]

Go to your payment provider and lodge a chargeback. I have been on both sides of this problem and get extremely annoyed when a seller tries to shaft a buyer as it sends out the wrong message about buying on ebay.  

[suelel1968]

The buyer used their EBay balance. This highlights a good reason to never use your ebay balance as you will not be protected to the same extent as using other payment methods. 

[rainbowtrax]

As far as I can see, Tracking Ace is a scam website - not that that's any help to anyone. There are two different urls for the homepage: https://trackingace.net/ and https://tracking.imanageds.com/ . One has slightly more info than the other but they're essentially the same. They're supposed to be just an aggregator of other couriers' tracking, not an actual courier themselves, but no genuine tracking numbers work on their sites. The only ones that give any alleged tracking info are these fake TAR numbers that they seem to have conjured up themselves.