Item Not Delivered, IND Scam

The “Item Not Delivered” Scam

It starts with a buyer falsely claiming that the merchandise never arrived and demands a full refund as a result. Your first thought probably is could the package have been lost or was it stolen? Then you have to ask yourself what is the most professional way of handling this situation. You can’t help think that this is a scam, but you need not jump to any conclusions. Amazon has information on “What if a buyer says they didn’t receive their order?” but it’s clear to see it leans in the buyer’s favor.

First, you’ll need to make sure whether or not it’s a delivery scam or just a simple legitimate mistake made by someone.

So, where do you start? The buyer is insistent they did not receive their merchandise, even though the shipping carrier may say the package was delivered. 

Well, an excellent place to start would be to track the package, and that’s an easy task if you use FedEx, Ups, or USPS priority mail. But in most cases, sellers will go with USPS First-Class Mail® letters, and flats are not eligible for USPS Tracking service to lower their shipping cost. In this case, most sellers have already pre-made the decision to absorb the losses.

Marketplace sellers know sometimes it’s best to absorb losses from what’s known as ‘item not received’ scams. Especially if the merchandise is a low-cost item, the Seller knows it’s not worth the trouble and will refund the low item cost. Altho the Seller may not just give up and lay down. One scenario would be to use what is called the Shanti Letter as a scare tacit. 

The fraud “it was not delivered scam” is becoming more significant and more familiar with dropshipping sellers from amazon to eBay. There is a new system developed to avoid many product return scams.