BEWARE - HUGE number of Amazon seller scams

[Winston]

Amazon Scams On The Rise In 2017 As Fraudulent Sellers Run Amok And Profit Big

https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadesh...as-fraudulent-sellers-run-amok-and-profit-big

Excerpt:

A seller opens a new account and begins selecting popular items to "sell," which they can easily select with a few clicks using Amazon's streamlined seller's platform. They then list these items for prices that are generally cheaper than what other vendors are selling them for. When the orders come rolling in they almost immediately claim that the items have left the seller facility and are in transit to the carrier -- which releases the payment to their account. But they don’t actually ever ship out anything. In all likelihood, they never really even have the items they are claiming to be selling in the first place.

The game now is to buy time, to wait out Amazon’s two week payment cycle before the negative feedback and customer complaints inevitably begin coming in. To do this, these merchants claim that their items will not arrive for three to four weeks from the purchase date, which enables them to get paid long before customers even start wondering where their stuff is.

---------

I don't typically buy from "Just Launched" seller accounts as I didn't trust them even before I discovered this major scam on Amazon. As a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever before bought anything from one until I recently saw a used XBox 360 game selling for about half the going rate - $6.99. That's not all that unusual as I've seen many well established sellers offering that sort of discount, but this scumbag was a "Just Launched" seller. I suspected a possible scam based upon the seller's name alone, but it was only $6.99 and the item was eventually "shipped". However, when I checked its status today, the USPS tracking number was obviously garbage and didn't work for tracking the certainly non-existent parcel.

The fraudulent seller had ZERO feedback when I placed that order only 10 days ago. Now he has 400. Read them:

https://www.amazon.com/sp?_encoding...153039&seller=A27F8C4RHM3XES&tab=&vasStoreID=

While looking at larger than I currently own computer monitors today on Amazon, I noticed a number of "Just Launched" sellers selling some "New" ones at ridiculously low ($32.99) prices that I'd GUESS they're hoping buyers would be suckered into thinking were typos for $329.95 and would take advantage of the price. When I saw those too-low monitor prices, I hadn't yet checked the status of the game I'd ordered, so I didn't even know of the scam and wasn't even looking for other examples of it. They were found totally at random, so this scam is probably all over Amazon.

 

[Winston]

Here's another example I just found. Note the two "Just Launched" sellers above the already confirmed as fraud seller Gunter. This item sells for $19 new:

 

[Peartree]

Yeah, I'll almost always go for a dollar or two more and buy from the seller that has 10,000 ratings and 98% positive.

 

[Zeus-cat]

I recently got scammed on Amazon too. Same as you, new seller, no ratings, price too good to be true, fake tracking number, etc.. Anyway, I jumped at the deal and now I doubt I'll ever see my penny again. That's right, I wasted a penny trying to get a $40 board game. No fraudulent charges on Amazon or my credit card other than the penny. The seller now has 98% bad reviews (out of about 800). Apparently he took some people for $15 or $20.

I thought Amazon did a decent job with their associated vendors. Apparently not. I'll be much more cautious in the future.

 

[KenRico]

I saw that when shopping phones this week.. first it was one seller and then a few more New Sellers at half price.

Was tempted, i have been lulled into just clicking by Amazon and their guarantees. . But it wasnt amazon . If the items would have been Used instead of new and marked Mint it would still be a fantastic price and i probably would have tried to buy it.

Will end up getting a free phone from carrier .

Kenny

 

[Woody's Workshop]

That's right, I wasted a penny

That one penny is all they need to get your CC number, and other information.
I'd be watching that real closely for an Identity scam at work on the back side of that penny.

 

[tHoagland]

On the flip side, even if you're outside of the Amazon return window, you can still dispute the charge with our credit card. I've found this works very well.

 

[Winston]

That one penny is all they need to get your CC number, and other information.
I'd be watching that real closely for an Identity scam at work on the back side of that penny.

They are paid from Amazon and never see the buyers credit card info. That his fraudster posted a penny item may have been just a test of the operational setup of the scam to see it really worked with his payment receipt configuration. If it had failed, the investigation of a penny loss would not have been intensive.

 

[Winston]

On the flip side, even if you're outside of the Amazon return window, you can still dispute the charge with our credit card. I've found this works very well.

I've already contacted Amazon and didn't bother to give negative feedback to my particular fraudster as hundreds of others already have. I'm not too worried about $6.99.

 

[Winston]

Yeah, I'll almost always go for a dollar or two more and buy from the seller that has 10,000 ratings and 98% positive.

For me, if they have a few hundred sales and that same 97-98% approval rating, I go with them. I don't buy from sellers on the new/used seller page anything other than used DVDs, CDs, computer games, books, and other inexpensive items. Anything more expensive I buy from Amazon or an Amazon sponsored seller.

 

[Winston]

I thought Amazon did a decent job with their associated vendors. Apparently not. I'll be much more cautious in the future.

This scam takes advantage of a weakness in the seller program that in hindsight has existed for its entire long history. I'm amazed scumbags haven't taken advantage of it before. Perhaps they have, but the scumbags wisely didn't spread around the news about the scam so it didn't become so obviously widespread. Now, according to that Forbes article, the news of the method has been spread far and wide and, as a result, so has the practice of the scam. The weakness of the Amazon seller system - the seller is paid after the item is CLAIMED by the seller to have been shipped and NOT after the item has been confirmed to have been RECEIVED by the buyer.

 

[cerving]

That's the problem with "one click buying"... it only takes one click to get hosed. eBay can be just as bad... you have to pick your sellers carefully. Even then, I've had orders get "lost" for months from overseas, with the seller just saying, "Oh, can you please wait a little longer for customs?". If I need multiple items, I've taken to ordering from at least two sellers simultaneously, so if one of them doesn't deliver I'm not totally screwed.

 

[modeltrains]

Scam noted; will add this to the factors evaluated when buying.

 

[TaekwondoRockets]

YES, do be careful.

As a seller on Amazon, I can say I've seen first hand certain rockets being listed at impossibly low prices. Check the seller rating before buying on any online marketplace site.