Amazon vendor sells electronics and ships sunglasses

[Mass_Shyster]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA

I ordered a car radio through Amazon. The going price for this item is between $200 and $250. One seller had it listed for $21.99, so I placed the order. Seller had no feedback and was shown as being a new vendor.

I placed the order on April 14. On April 15, the seller removed all items from his/her store. On April 20, I received a notification that the item was shipped from China.

Since that time, numerous people have reported receiving dollar-store sunglasses from this vendor when some electronic item was purchased.

The USPS tracking site says to expect delivery on Monday. I suspect I'll receive a pair of sunglasses.

I know that I'm protected my the Amazon guarantee, and if that fails, my credit card should also protect me. Worst case I'm out $20.

My question is "Is this person getting away with something?" How does this scam work? Did Amazon already give the scammer my $20? Did he collect a few hundred $20 deposits, and will now vanish with his $2000? Is he hoping that some percentage of the "victims" won't bother complaining?

I assume that Amazon protects themselves from this type of scammer, so I'm just wondering what's going on.

Anyone have any guesses?

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA

I ordered a car radio through Amazon. The going price for this item is between $200 and $250. One seller had it listed for $21.99, so I placed the order. Seller had no feedback and was shown as being a new vendor.

I placed the order on April 14. On April 15, the seller removed all items from his/her store. On April 20, I received a notification that the item was shipped from China.

Since that time, numerous people have reported receiving dollar-store sunglasses from this vendor when some electronic item was purchased.

The USPS tracking site says to expect delivery on Monday. I suspect I'll receive a pair of sunglasses.

I know that I'm protected my the Amazon guarantee, and if that fails, my credit card should also protect me. Worst case I'm out $20.

My question is "Is this person getting away with something?" How does this scam work? Did Amazon already give the scammer my $20? Did he collect a few hundred $20 deposits, and will now vanish with his $2000? Is he hoping that some percentage of the "victims" won't bother complaining?

I assume that Amazon protects themselves from this type of scammer, so I'm just wondering what's going on.

Anyone have any guesses?

Sorry. I don't really know how Amazon works their payments but I wanted to say that it sounds very much like what was being sold to you was counterfeit goods (or a scam). A $200 item for $20 should have been a red flag.

At any rate, the seller is unlikely to be found (except perhaps on other sites under different names) so with luck your $20 and your account information has been protected in another way.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

Sorry. I don't really know how Amazon works their payments but I wanted to say that it sounds very much like what was being sold to you was counterfeit goods (or a scam). A $200 item for $20 should have been a red flag.

At any rate, the seller is unlikely to be found (except perhaps on other sites under different names) so with luck your $20 and your account information has been protected in another way.

Thanks for the reply. After a little more research, it appears that there is a new rash of scammers using amazon. Unfortunately, amazon turns out to be the victim. From what I've read, amazon will release funds to a seller two weeks after the item is shipped. My item showed as having shipped on 4/20, so the two week window closes on 5/4. It's supposed to arrive on 5/3.

The $200 item for $20 was a "yuge" red flag. I just ordered it to see what would happen. This is my first run-in with an amazon scammer. I thought amazon weeded them out. I was hoping that they would offer me the item for a reduced price, or if they were dumb enough, ship the item and swallow their loss.

In any event, I haven't been directly harmed, but since amazon may face some exposure, their prices will have to increase to cover the losses. Probably not a noticeable amount, but I don't like to see anyone caught by a scammer.