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?

[laureloakwood]

Tracking ace ignored my email. The "contact form" on their website errors if you try to use it & there are no phone numbers for the "company". It's dodgy af. Look it up on trust pilot & see all the people they've scammed since 2019. There was no sign of which courier was used in my case either. I can't believe ebay are fine with this going on, when it discredits their entire marketplace.

[suelel1968]

Hi @laureloakwood Ebay states the following. Note that the tracking number must be from one of the integrated carriers. Track Ace is not one of them. 

Item not received request

If a buyer opens an item not received request, and you haven't already uploaded tracking, you will have 3 business days to upload tracking and respond to the buyer. In order to be protected from an "Item not received" claim, the tracking must be from one of the shipping carriers integrated with eBay and must show an acceptance scan to prove shipping.

Don't stop complaining until you get your money back and hopefully the seller is barred. 

[go_ahead_buy_me]

From what I’ve managed to find out, TrackingAce seems legitimate, but open to misuse. As it hides some details of the shipping from the recipient (for “privacy” reasons), it can be misused to provide fraudulent tracking information. But I’m guessing a lot of the time it’s just bad couriers. (If you can imagine if the likes of Evri used them to display their tracking information, there would be a huge number of people calling it a scam, as Evri “deliver” many parcels that the recipient never actually gets.)

I’m not sure where @suelel1968 got that text from, but in the help page for the policy “eBay Money Back Guarantee”, it states the below.

Evidence of successful delivery
We require all of the following to prove a successful on-time delivery:

• Tracking number that can be validated on the shipping carrier's website and which was uploaded to eBay before the latest estimated delivery date;

• A delivery status of "delivered" or "attempted delivery" (or equivalent in the country to which the item was delivered);

• The date of delivery or attempted delivery;

• The recipient's address, showing at least the city/county or postcode (or international equivalent) that matches the one found on the Order details page; and

• Signature confirmation, on orders with a total cost of £450 or more. Learn more about our signature confirmation requirements.

---

There is no mention of shipping carriers integrated with eBay. However, it does specifically state a tracking number “that can be validated on the shipping carrier's website”. As they (Tracking Ace) are not a carrier, I can’t see that any tracking via them can be accepted as proof by eBay.

[suelel1968]

Hi @go_ahead_buy_me 

The information I read was from .COM so I guess is not the same for UK, but you still have to put in the name of the courier and TA is not a courier and the TA number is not a tracking reference. Because i always use Packlink I don't get the chance to test the system unfortunately. I was desperate to try putting a made up number and courier name in to see what happened. On the occasion I have had to add the tracking number manually because two items are going in one parcel I think it provides a drop down list, so it would be interesting to know if TA are on that list.

[go_ahead_buy_me]

Ah, okay.

As I pointed out in my post, they are not a carrier/courier. So eBay should not be accepting tracking numbers from their site as proof.

No, they do not show on eBay’s drop-down list of couriers, when you enter tracking info.

[dannar1542]

Been scammed also. Bought a coffee machine. Seller provided 1st tracking to completely different address  and name. 

Seller says from Pakistan in about you page - didn't see this when i bought the item as it was not item page. 

sent 1st tracking via Fed ex wrong address 

sent 2nd tracking that did nit exist in fake tracking site 

send 3 tracking when i opened a case so the seller then opened a case against me with  this 

Seller has opened a case

"DDPUK022625078 PLEASE TRACK HERE https://ddpexpress.co.uk tem successfully delivered to buyer address.""DDPUK022625078 PLEASE TRACK HERE https://ddpexpress.co.uk item successfully delivered to buyer address."

fake courier company and I have still not had a refund. shocking that scammers can still get away with these things in this day and age and ebay should be better by now at sorting these things out.  so £300 out of pocket. Seller has most likely withdrawn money by now so need to make a claim on credit card. so much time i don't have to sort out. 

[laureloakwood]

I'm so sorry to hear that you've also been scammed. ebay never helped me get my money back either. I hope your credit card company can do a chargeback for you.

[trla_1352]

I’m in the middle of a complaint at the mo. Seller using tracking ace….i googled it and it’s a scam site. Seller repeatedly told me not to worry. Complaint now with eBay as item never arrived….want my money back!

[laureloakwood]

I wish you luck with getting a refund - ebay let me down badly & sided with the seller & scam delivery company's "proof of delivery" (which was just them saying they'd delivered it)