6 ms·

I'm going to guess this only works with sellers that aren't fulfilled by Amazon? It's an annoyingly effective scam: How can sellers protect themselves?

by laksjd 10y ago

tomjen3 10y ago
Some shipper has to provide verified shipment as a service: you packaged will be opened, a photo will be taken of the content and it will be packed and sealed by the shipper.
- joezydeco 10y ago
  And the shipper can't be an accomplice in this adventure? A collusion between scammer and a dodgy shipper would work very well.
  - canuckintime 10y ago
    I believe the OP was implying a shipping service like USPS, FedEx, DHL etc offering the feature. Amazon now has their own logistics delivery team too and offering pickup with picture would be a logical next step to combat this scam.
- Animats 10y ago
  Amazon could X-ray the items just before shipment, using a standard package inspection scanner.
Alupis 10y ago
Fulfilled By Amazon would provide no protection here. When you send a replenishment shipment to Amazon for a FBA item, they don't open and verify you sent the correct product. You only find out about mistakes after the items have been sold. For some common FBA items (presumably like an iPhone), you can co-mingle your inventory. This means you send in an identical item (with UPC, etc), and your inventory can be used to fulfill another seller's order (if that warehouse happens to be closer to the customer). They do the same for you. This means buyers get their order faster, but it also means the item going out the door may not have been yours (opening the door for this clay scam to spread to impact many many sellers).
- ianferrel 10y ago
  I would be very surprised if Amazon actually mixed up merchandise from several sellers to the point that they don't know where the items originated. It's one thing to ship from the closest warehouse and credit the sale to whichever seller offered the price chosen by the customer. It's a totally different thing to not know where the item came from at all.
  - Alupis 10y ago
    That's not what I implied. They track inventory internally, but your item may ship from your local FBA warehouse to someone else's customer. This does leave a door open for many items to ship before any error was realized... (sometimes within a few days, but usually up to a few weeks after it happened).
leakybit 10y ago
Actually, these type of scams, which are called refund scams, are extremely widespread with FBA sellers and Amazon directly just by how easy it is to pull off. I mean the clay bar is overkill. If you dealing with amazon customer service and your account is aged and in good standing, simply saying your package never arrived, even if tracking says delivered and even if you signed for it, amazon will almost in every case give you a 100% refund or replacement on the spot. In fact, if the scammer is skilled, he can probably double or triple dip the order, in which they'll say their replacement shipment never showed and get another replacement shipment for the original replacement, so in total get 3 iPhones. Another method is to return the item for a refund, but instead of shipping the item back, you place a block of dry ice equal to the weight of the item, so the tracking details say it weight xx pounds on origin, but by the time it arrives to the destination, it'll be completely evaporated and it'll look like it was stolen in transit.

I'm going to guess this only works with sellers that aren't fulfilled by Amazon? It's an annoyingly effective scam: How can sellers protect themselves?

by laksjd 10y ago

I'm going to guess this only works with sellers that aren't fulfilled by Amazon? It's an annoyingly effective scam: How can sellers protect themselves?

tomjen3 10y ago

Some shipper has to provide verified shipment as a service: you packaged will be opened, a photo will be taken of the content and it will be packed and sealed by the shipper.

joezydeco 10y ago
And the shipper can't be an accomplice in this adventure? A collusion between scammer and a dodgy shipper would work very well.
- canuckintime 10y ago
  I believe the OP was implying a shipping service like USPS, FedEx, DHL etc offering the feature. Amazon now has their own logistics delivery team too and offering pickup with picture would be a logical next step to combat this scam.
Animats 10y ago
Amazon could X-ray the items just before shipment, using a standard package inspection scanner.

Alupis 10y ago

Fulfilled By Amazon would provide no protection here. When you send a replenishment shipment to Amazon for a FBA item, they don't open and verify you sent the correct product. You only find out about mistakes after the items have been sold. For some common FBA items (presumably like an iPhone), you can co-mingle your inventory. This means you send in an identical item (with UPC, etc), and your inventory can be used to fulfill another seller's order (if that warehouse happens to be closer to the customer). They do the same for you. This means buyers get their order faster, but it also means the item going out the door may not have been yours (opening the door for this clay scam to spread to impact many many sellers).

ianferrel 10y ago
I would be very surprised if Amazon actually mixed up merchandise from several sellers to the point that they don't know where the items originated. It's one thing to ship from the closest warehouse and credit the sale to whichever seller offered the price chosen by the customer. It's a totally different thing to not know where the item came from at all.
- Alupis 10y ago
  That's not what I implied. They track inventory internally, but your item may ship from your local FBA warehouse to someone else's customer. This does leave a door open for many items to ship before any error was realized... (sometimes within a few days, but usually up to a few weeks after it happened).

leakybit 10y ago

Actually, these type of scams, which are called refund scams, are extremely widespread with FBA sellers and Amazon directly just by how easy it is to pull off. I mean the clay bar is overkill. If you dealing with amazon customer service and your account is aged and in good standing, simply saying your package never arrived, even if tracking says delivered and even if you signed for it, amazon will almost in every case give you a 100% refund or replacement on the spot. In fact, if the scammer is skilled, he can probably double or triple dip the order, in which they'll say their replacement shipment never showed and get another replacement shipment for the original replacement, so in total get 3 iPhones. Another method is to return the item for a refund, but instead of shipping the item back, you place a block of dry ice equal to the weight of the item, so the tracking details say it weight xx pounds on origin, but by the time it arrives to the destination, it'll be completely evaporated and it'll look like it was stolen in transit.