eBay

daban-22 · ‎15-08-2025

I bought an iPhone on eBay and received an alert stating that the item would be delivered the next day. The next day, I received another alert to confirm that it had been delivered. I was at home all day, and I never received anything. I called Royal Mail to find out what had happened, and they told me I would need to call back the next day. I then called eBay, and they opened an INR case for me.

I called RM this morning, and they said the item was delivered to another address, and they don't know why. The agent then gave the name of the business where it was delivered. I googled the company and decided to visit to see what had happened. On arrival at the industry, I was shown the parcel that had arrived.

It wasn't the phone, but a large envelope with a red bedsheet inside.

Now, this is where it gets strange: the tracking number on the packaging matches the one on my item (see picture below). The name on the parcel isn't my name, but the business name. It's a scam, but I don't know how they were able to change the address and name with a different tracking number.

It appears to be a new scam circulating on eBay, as I can still see numerous iPhones matching the exact details of the one I purchased. The phones are mainly brand new and at a lower price than usual.

The picture is the actual item that was delivered to an address that didn't match mine. As soon as the item was posted, I received an alert from eBay to confirm it had been posted. Then, when it was delivered, I received another alert to confirm it had been delivered.

style_wise · ‎16-08-2025

Did you contact eBay for a refund? The main point is that the 'delivered' postcode doesn't match yours. Keep it simple and factual for them ; )

eburtonlab · ‎17-08-2025

@daban-22

If tracking shows delivery, but nothing arrives, contact the shipping service to determine if the tracking corresponds to a delivery to your address.

If you can obtain hard copy documentation that the tracking does not correspond to a delivery to your address, contact eBay via social media and explain that you have a case of "false tracking" and you should be given the opportunity to provide your documentation to eBay via direct message. This is different than the usual "item not received" case which is handled automatically and which allows the seller to win by providing tracking that shows delivery.

https://x.com/askebay

https://www.facebook.com/ebay

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

You can avoid many issues entirely by choosing to only do business with experienced sellers that have a proven track record of delivering similar items as seen by examining the seller's feedback page, and by avoiding inexperienced sellers, sellers with patterns of negative feedback indicating serious problems, or sellers with large gaps in the selling history or recent drastic changes of seller behavior.

papso22 · ‎17-08-2025

Sophisticated scammers know how to do this, I am obviously not going to explain how on here.

All you need to do is open a case for item not as described and, if provided with a return label, send back what you collected. The scammer will not want their actions under scrutiny so are likely to just agree the refund and write this one off as a failure, hoping to catch others.

Don't open a case for item not received, you will lose and then need to appeal, which won't be necessary if you open the not as described case. The scammers will be hoping this is the case you open, which you would have done if you had not been able to collect the parcel. To be honest you were lucky RM gave you the address, that was actually against the rules.

You could let ebay customer service know what has happened separately to the case, but you won't know what action, if any they take.

dontworrybehappyalways · ‎17-10-2025

Exactly same thing happen to me and I was lucky to immediately walk out and found the door from the proof of delivery photo from RM. It was sent to an address on the same street with one missing door number and addressed to home owner. The old couple were baffled to have received a special delivery packet with strips of paper in it.

Obviously the Ebay system says delivered. You claim and then you have to chase RM/courier for details and they may or may not give you where it was delivered. in the meantime, the scammer gets his money from Ebay and spoof - they are gone! I have been trying to buy an iphone for last 3 weeks and 90% of the listings are fake and the one I thought was genuine, I was scammed. I have been on ebay for more than 22 years and recently the scamming has become a real issue, even when ebay has made things better and difficult, scammers are always a step ahead.

pegr-834437 · ‎17-10-2025

The issue with scams now is the scammers cant just be lazy and obvious. Like you say they are 1 step ahead and it takes time to catch them out, especially if they are not doing anything illegal or scammy at first, people buy accounts with history so you cant even just say dont buy from new accounts. Once an account gets enough reports eBay will close them down (depending on the report lets be fair) but the scammers will have 5 more lined up.

I used to work for a high street store in head office, we knew who were using stolen credit cards but once you blocked that card and IP another would pop up the next day, you were basically playing whack a mole hoping you didnt miss a few before catching them.

sml192 · ‎17-10-2025

@dontworrybehappyalways wrote:
Exactly same thing happen to me and I was lucky to immediately walk out and found the door from the proof of delivery photo from RM. It was sent to an address on the same street with one missing door number and addressed to home owner. The old couple were baffled to have received a special delivery packet with strips of paper in it.
Obviously the Ebay system says delivered. You claim and then you have to chase RM/courier for details and they may or may not give you where it was delivered. in the meantime, the scammer gets his money from Ebay and spoof - they are gone! I have been trying to buy an iphone for last 3 weeks and 90% of the listings are fake and the one I thought was genuine, I was scammed. I have been on ebay for more than 22 years and recently the scamming has become a real issue, even when ebay has made things better and difficult, scammers are always a step ahead.

As you did receive something, albeit not actually delivered to your address, you need to open an 'item doesn't match description or photos' return request. The seller will then have to either refund you or issue a prepaid label for you to return what you received. If they don't do either then you will be able to 'Ask eBay to step in and help' after 3 full business days and they will force the refund.

I would also report what's happened to Action Fraud.

dontworrybehappyalways · ‎17-10-2025

Thats a new information for me that they buy accounts with history. It now explains why some people wont respond, or the moment I ask questions, the listing ends. Either because the account was hacked and the actual owner sees the messages, or ebay catches it or something else.

I am actually now very nervous buying from Ebay. Gumtree is another scam tree with deep roots! There are also scams I get to see where you sell stuff and then the scammers open a case against you. Its just getting ridiculous now.