Fake Tracking Numbers from Asian sellers

[irie_chickie]

Really getting fed up with the fake tracking numbers provided by various China vendors...Ebay appears to be doing nothing about it, and paypal is equally ineffective 

Asian vendors are able to acquire tracking numbers for FREE and post item shipped on ebay, and they don't become a legitimate tracking number till the vendor actually purchases the shipping. More often than not, it's just a fake unregistered tracking number.

I am not new to purchasing on ebay, I check the vendor rating before I do business with them. I always check each and every tracking number and keep notes in ebay so I know the status of every single order I make and where the item is.

of the 25 different vendors I have used in the past 3 months...only 25% of them have actually been decent vendors...and the rest, are snakes in the grass....they take your money and leave you to wait for a parcel that will never arrive, as it was never shipped.

I am a small business and can not afford to have thousands of dollars tied up in purchases that are never going to arrive.  It has now gotten to the point where I communicate with the vendor BEFORE I make a purchase to ensure they understand I want a real tracking number...and that I will NOT wait till the arrival date or parcel to escalate a claim. 

If I am not able to confirm it's a real tracking number and the parcel is in transit within 5 business days of date they claimed to have sent out the shipment I escalate the claim immediately as vendor is breaching TOS (terms of service) of EBAY.

It will take near 45 mins on the phone (and having to speak with 8 different humans) to get to the top of the food chain for complaints against a fraudulent vendor on EBAY....why is this process so difficult? Ebay customer service reps, have no clue how to handle these types of complaints. Thus having to speak with 8 different humans.

Will see how the rest of my orders work out...but have to say ALIEXPRESS is looking better and better as each day passes...as I can't see how they can be any worse than what Ebay is or is NOT doing to protect the customer.

[xeposter]

Can I ask you a simple question?

If you do not like the sellers from China, why do you keep buying from them?

Looking at your feedback, almost all of the 14 feedbacks you have gotten in the last month are from people in foreign countries. You say that you always check the seller ratings before you buy. I will use the seller you recently bought from as an example. They have 1020 NEGATIVE feedbacks within the past 12 months. That is more than TRIPLE your current feedback score. You call that good feedback?

Most China, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, etc. sellers are complete scams that sell junk. Not all of them are like this, but most of them are.

Alex

[irie_chickie]

Funny you picked that vendor to make a point, lol, their parcel was received EARLY with valid tracking number. Yet you didn't mention the +50000 positives reviews...and I did business with them, because they communicated with me BEFORE I decided to purchase with them...but thank you for your comment.

[femmefan1946]

Too many eBayers equate feedback percentages with school marks.

In school, 97.8% is excellent.

On eBay, it's pretty poor and 97% means the seller may be kicked of the site very soon.

Remember that Neutral FB is not counted in the percentages at all, although most of those customers are also less than delighted with the seller.

And it is worth reading the negative and neutral FB for consistent problems. (There are always some nuts, so the odd neg is to be expected out of thousands of sales.)

I don't think tracking numbers are any use at all to the buyer, even when they are genuine.

They don't speed delivery and they don't insure against any damage in transit. Actually, if there is damage any insurance would be paid to the seller not the buyer.

Instead, I allow 20 days for arrival from North America and 30 days from Asia.

If the item is not delivered by then, I send a polite note to the seller.

If he does not respond with a refund, I open an Item Not Received Dispute with eBay.

If the seller cannot prove delivery (not shipping, delivery) he is required to refund in full. If he doesn't do this, eBay will refund the buyer and go after the seller for their money.

If the item appears after I have been refunded, I can return the refund by using Paypal's Send Money service, attaching the eBay transaction number and title for the seller's bookkeeping.

This means my money is not tied up and I don't have to worry about where my purchase is. Either I have it promptly (20--30 days) or I have my money back.

It will take near 45 mins on the phone

The INR system is automated. There is no need to waste time talking to a bored clerk. Just file and get your money.

[femmefan1946]

If you file a Dispute, you are not allowed to leave feedback. So your problem with that makeup supplier would not show. His selling record with eBay would still have the Dispute recorded.

Which means your Dispute failed and you have neither money nor goods.

You should try filing with Paypal. They allow 180 days from payment for Disputes. And stick with the automated system. It's faster and less stressful.

PP hides its Resolution Centre at the top of your Account page under Tools.

And there is always the credit card I hope you back your PP account with. Call the 1-800 Customer Service number and ask about a chargeback. She'll need a lot of information about dates, payments, transaction numbers, currency etc. so have those handy.

[sylviebee]

This might be a post that every seller should read.

It presents the viewpoint of a buyer who truly does not understand the difficulties sellers encounter when shipping out of their own country.

I do not mean this is a criticism of you, irie_chickie, but rather as a post which offers insight into the way some buyers experience transit time.

The issue of transit time vs. handling time is currently looming large for sellers and I'm pretty sure that Chinese-type sellers are feeling the crunch more than anyone is.

Some buyers want tracking, but very few will to pay for it.  Over the years I have encountered many who requested upgraded shipping, but  only one who actually opted to pay for it when give the choice.

Chickie, the reason sellers are posting these fake tracking numbers is to protect themselves against false claims of non-arrival.

A seller can have your item shipped within an hour of payment but after that shipping/transit time is out of the seller's hands.

You are blaming sellers for slow transit time and that's very very unfair.

I buy from Chinese sellers too, and over the years only one or two items (a very low percentage) haven't arrived.

However, many have arrived after the date when eBay will give buyers automatic refunds for claims of non-receipt.

Sellers rarely have something to gain by not shipping items which were paid for and when an item truly does not arrive it's unlikely that the seller was to blame.

eBay does a very good job of protecting buyers, but when buyers don't understand the difference between handling and transit time the transaction is overwhelmingly stressful for sellers.

Contact sellers and offer to pay what it takes to have authentic tracking for your items.

Most would be more than happy to comply.

You are already protected, but your added payment will give the seller protection against claims of non arrival and slow shipping time.

[dmil8030]

Hello 'irie_chickie', 

<<Asian vendors are able to acquire tracking numbers for FREE and post item shipped on ebay, and they don't become

a legitimate tracking number till the vendor actually purchases the shipping.>>

I don't suppose you'd care to back this up with an information link we can all click on so that we, too, can see what you mean?  

Or is your assertion just poorly worded?  It sounds as if you are suggesting that Asian sellers are able to offer tracked

services without any extra cost to themselves whereupon they can forward the number to the buyer once they have

purchased the shipping label.  

Since a 'fake tracking number' is not really a tracking number at all but a shipment number, -  that cannot be what you

had in mind.  

The absence of a tracking number, particularly on cheap little items like you bought, does not mean that the items are not

in the mail, although they can take nearly 2 months to arrive.  

Many Canadian sellers ship small, inexpensive items without tracking, - CDs, DVDs, cheap video games and such.  If you

were to buy one of those it could be mailed for $3 or $4.  If you insist on tracking you will pay over $14 just so you can watch

it travel across the land.  

Asian sellers can mail things very cheaply, but full tracking is still quite expensive.  Have you at any time offered to pay 

the extra for tracking?  

That would be EMS or DHL, in case you were unfamiliar with the services.

<<of the 25 different vendors I have used in the past 3 months...only 25% of them have actually been decent vendors.>>

And this is based on...?  Either you are not choosing your sellers very carefully at all, or more likely based on the rest of

your message -- you are not willing to wait for items sent cheaply from overseas.  If you are asking everyone here who

reads these boards to believe that in the last 3 months only 7 out of 25 sellers mailed your items, . . .  well, . . .  seriously?

<< ...I will NOT wait till the arrival date or parcel to escalate a claim. >>

In ebay/paypal terms this is what is known as being a scammer.  -- Someone who does not wait for items to arrive but 

quickly files a "not received" claim as early as possible to get a refund before the item arrives.  

It is surprising how many people can comfortably do this without the slightest twinge to their conscience.  

This is mail order, and mail order is slow.  There is nothing in the ebay or paypal buyer protection pages that offer a 

"30 days or it's free" policy.  You are not offered free items to soothe your sense of inconvenience.  

Never mind that everyone reading this will have added you to their Blocked Bidder list for fear of your hasty false claims 

and negatives, but if you continue to file your fake "not received" claims as a salve for your indignation at what you 

perceive to be 'fake' tracking numbers, you will soon find your paypal account suspended and your buyer privileges revoked.

Sellers put items in the mail.  It is very rare for them not to arrive.  It is common for items to arrive late, -- and not just from

Asia.  I am waiting for 2 items, one from the UK, the other from Australia, both mailed March 7.  I know absolutely that the 

sellers mailed the items although ebay's optimistic 'delivery dates' have come and gone.  But with what is going on in the

world, mail order is slow these days.  

<<I am a small business and can not afford to have thousands of dollars tied up in purchases...>>

Then you need to buy your items closer to home, or pay the courier fees to the seller.  Running your business is your 

own responsibility.  

<< If I am not able to confirm it's a real tracking number . . . I escalate the claim immediately as vendor is breaching TOS

(terms of service) of EBAY. >>

And what "terms of service" would that be?  The one which urges sellers to use a Delivery Confirmed service to protect

them against false claims?  

By all means, keep it up.  You won't do it for long. 

There is nothing fraudulent about a seller who does not provide a tracking number.  There is something fraudulent 

about a buyer who takes advantage of that to spring a false claim on a seller the instant she can ascertain that the 

parcel will not come with proof of delivery.  

<<... I can't see how they can be any worse than what Ebay is or is NOT doing to protect the customer.>>

Now which customer would that be, the buyer or the seller?

You seem to be fully protected with your "fast, tracked, or it's free" policy, and for now you can even put this into effect 

with the help of ebay/paypal.   . . .  For now.

[xeposter]

I believe irie is saying that the sellers are putting in tracking numbers that do not exist (ex. 1234567890).

Alex

[irie_chickie]

oh yes you can provide feedback on a seller, AFTER refunded by paypal....I just posted a bunch today

[xeposter]

---

@irie_chickie wrote:

oh yes you can provide feedback on a seller, AFTER refunded by paypal....I just posted a bunch today

---

You should be careful about all of the neg a neutral feedbacks you are leaving. Seller notice this and may not let you buy from them.

Alex

[irie_chickie]

Wow, that's an interesting response/attack....I am a nail technician....where do you think they make all the products and accessories I require on a daily basis...oh that's right...CHINA.

and for the cost of an addition $1.50 you can pay for tracking number from Asian seller....and the sole purpose of doing this...is to see if the item actually makes it on to a plane....if that has not taken place within reasonable time....doesn't matter when the expected date of arrival is....if the item hasn't hit the mail system in the country of purchase, you can rest assured, it's not going to arrive at all.

No it's not going to make your package arrive any quicker, but will give you an idea if it's NEVER going to arrive, giving you opportunity to make other arrangements.

And once I do find that link from CHINA POSTAL OUTLET that confirms exactly what I stated about acquiring a tracking number for free that remains inactive till it is actually paid for.

[irie_chickie]

I'm a purchaser, not a seller...if they don't want my money...there's another 250000 in line that do want it...I pay prompt, and have only one expectation....to receive what I paid for...if there is no accountability or repercussions for these bad vendors...an accurate negative review is the only thing that can be done...if vendors don't like it and choose not to do business with me...then they likely have a history of doing the same, so I'm just as happy if they do refuse me as a customer....it saves us both a lot of wasted time and effort. 

[sylviebee]

chickie:  What exactly are you saying?

It sounds like you're saying that you pay an extra $1.50 / shipment to get an item scanned when it's dropped at the P.O. in China?

So it's not a tracking number you're after.  It's an acceptance scan?

Is the problem you're having that you pay that extra money and your sellers aren't getting the acceptance scans you paid for?

Not following you.

[xeposter]

---

@irie_chickie wrote:

Wow, that's an interesting response/attack....I am a nail technician....where do you think they make all the products and accessories I require on a daily basis...oh that's right...CHINA.

and for the cost of an addition $1.50 you can pay for tracking number from Asian seller....and the sole purpose of doing this...is to see if the item actually makes it on to a plane....if that has not taken place within reasonable time....doesn't matter when the expected date of arrival is....if the item hasn't hit the mail system in the country of purchase, you can rest assured, it's not going to arrive at all.

No it's not going to make your package arrive any quicker, but will give you an idea if it's NEVER going to arrive, giving you opportunity to make other arrangements.

And once I do find that link from CHINA POSTAL OUTLET that confirms exactly what I stated about acquiring a tracking number for free that remains inactive till it is actually paid for.

---

Do you expect everyone to be all happy and only give positive replies to anything you post? Don't expect everyone to give you "happy" comments.

Alex

[irie_chickie]

I'll provide an example....was given tracking number and told date parcel was shipped out was Feb 26

Estimated delivery Tue, Mar 22 - Thu, Apr 28

 Tracking number RI904495377CN

Now then, feel free to look up that tracking number yourself, and see that it leads no where....after communicating with the vendor back and forth over a 5 day period....I finally got an apology and parcel was magically shipped out with a new DHL tracking number, that I have verified, and is in transit.

Next example : SYLGZ02440470 this item was paid for and supposed to have been put in the mail system in FEBRUARY......

I've attached screen shot as proof of PAID shipping, and the date they claimed it was posted.  Yet the tracking number will verify exactly what I've stated to be true.

I find this happens often when you win an auction at ridiculously low prices too...vendor would sooner not even bother shipping the item at a loss...and wait for you to file a claim of non receipt and will immediately refund you on the spot. No questions asked, as they know they never sent the parcel.

[irie_chickie]

What I'm saying...is for an additional $1.50 the vendor will purchase a real tracking number...so you can see the parcel move from the warehouse, to the plane and be handed off to the local Postal service...in my case, that is Canada Post...that type of tracking number will show all movement till it gets in the hands of Canada Customs...at that point tho...you are stuck with the hope that Canada post can do their job of delivery, lol.

Without this type of tracking number...you have no clue if your parcel is ever going to be shipped...you just sit and have to wait on a hope and a prayer...and that doesn't suit my purchasing habits.

[xeposter]

I don't see why you are worrying about these fake tracking numbers. Tracking doesn't do anything except tell you where the item is.

Alex

[sylviebee]

It's still confusing.

You are paying and extra $1.50 for tracking.

That means that the seller will have an acceptance scan for the item, right?

If you can see that the seller as shipped the item, why are you blaming the sellers when items don't arrive?

[irie_chickie]

I fully understand the process, and the time it takes for parcels to arrive from various points in Asia...the problem is...they are NOT actually putting the items in the post in a timely fashion...if at all.

This isn't my first time on EBAY, I have 3 different ebay accounts, one for each of my businesses...I have been purchasing on EBAY for over 8 years.

My frustration is with vendors tying up my money for 2 months, by providing fake tracking number and having to go through the song and dance of filing a dispute in PP.

The sooner the item is actually posted in the mail, it goes to reason, the sooner it will arrive. 

One particular vendor I placed a $100 + order...was for a piece of equipment and various bits and bobs. This vendor got under my skin when he sent me an attachment in an email...the subject of email was pic of packing label....but guess what was in the email when I opened it?  VIRUS!!!! thank goodness I'm tech savy and was able to catch it immediately....but that shows perfect example of the types of vendors that I have issue with. This same vendor claimed to have proof that parcel was delivered to another person in my home...I live alone...vendor also claimed to have refunded my money.... I checked paypal and no refund....so I called Paypal....and through paypal dispute, they were able to read all the messages back and forth, on the ebay system, they were also able to verify that I was provided a fake tracking number.  I rec'd my money back.

And I spent 45 mins on phone to speak to top of food chain for Ebay complaints...because this vendor lied, AND sent me a computer virus....this type of behaviour should not be tolerated....and if it happens again...I will still spend another 45 mins on the phone to report the vendor as other customers should NOT have to deal with this sort of thing.