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I am pretty sure I bought from a seller using this (or something similar) on eBay. It sent me down a rabbit hole of reading about this type of scam that exploded earlier this year: https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2026-04/... Here's how it went down: https://www.ebay.com/fdbk/feedback_profile/theperfectpart Note that they’ve sold so much that even 1k neutral ratings are barely registering - they have “100% positive feedback” I bought a cheap tool from this seller on ebay. Tracking number was provided showing my town as the destination. About four days later, I get an unprompted ebay message from the seller: “I monitor all my shipments and sometimes there are problems so I’m proactively sending you a new one, here’s a new tracking number.” The original tracking number showed a message I’d never seen before “Item seized - counterfeit postage”. The new tracking number showed postage that had been bought back in January, but never entered the mailstream. Huh. I suspect that buys them time while they re-ship. I did eventually get the item after another tracking number was provided. My suspicion is that the seller uses counterfit USPS postage on 'x' number of packages to juice their margins. If you look at the neutral reviews, you can see a pattern — slow postage, lost package, had to replace, blah blah. Look at the positives — rave reviews at how fast things are arriving. Probably because the seller is “paying” for higher end postage via scamming the USPS. And only when they get caught by USPS do they need to re-ship an item. They must get away with it enough to make it worthwhile
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Related: Not US postage labels, but suspicious US postage stamps, seemed to also be used as a crude currency. A third-party seller on Amazon or eBay was including sheets of suspicious US postage stamps in product shipments, unsolicited, with full-color glossy notes offering more stamps in exchange for positive reviews. (I took the stamps and note I received to a post office, where a manager agreed they looked suspicious, and I asked them forward it up the chain. I like the USPS as a trustworthy service and institution, and I hate counterfeiting.)
I saw a bunch of denim jackets (with size options on the listings, usually indicating significant stock on hand, not just someone selling a couple used items) in four or five styles from a manufacturer I'm interested in show up on eBay at a bit under half retail price a couple months back. Big discount, but not suspiciously low for overstock or maybe someone selling seconds and lying about them not having defects. From what I can tell, some of these brands that rarely have sales at all and never steep ones either sell would-be steep-sale material directly on ebay (without publicizing it) or wholesale it in lots to people who turn around and put it on ebay, so a bunch of new stock for one brand showing up from a single seller all at once isn't that weird. So I bought one. About a week and a half passes, and no update on ebay regarding the shipping. I've had this happen once or twice before and the thing just eventually shows up, so I'm not too worried, but I am approaching the point of being worried. Around that time, the seller sends me a message that their... warehouse burned down. So I should cancel the order because they can't fulfill it. WTF. I am like 95% sure this was some kind of scam or hustle from the beginning, but I haven't been able to figure out how. I got my money back. What gives? Maybe... some kind of drop-shipping thing that fell through, or they got a line on some counterfeits or "fell off a truck" stock but with limited info on what was actually in the batch, and weren't able to fulfill all the orders they took? I remain puzzled.
Thanks for the links. I'm confused how this works and the USPS report seems to be heavily redacted around details. I would assume that the tracking number has the address details tied to it (I mean, based on support claims with USPS it definitely does), but maybe there's some obscure package type where destination is not distinct and they abuse that in a pool with other sellers, then at the last mile it gets sorted appropriately? Seems wild that this market even exists considering how USPS flat rate postage exists. Was your package something heavy or extremely light which makes weight-based shipping more economical?
Remember this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPC3mLNL3B0 It seems like all the people bought his book ended up just creating fraud enterprises and it just probably expanded from there.
> Note that they’ve sold so much that even 1k neutral ratings are barely registering - they have “100% positive feedback” I'm pretty sure eBay's neutral ratings never impact the positive feedback rate regardless of how many you get.