Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Fraudulent buyer on Amazon?

An item was returned recently and was very suspicious.  The envelope was basically empty, only the crayola box was inside.


We send a pack of colored pencils by Crayola to a correctional facility as request on the order.  Upon return was saw the envelope was opened and re-taped, the pencils removed.  Reviewing the tracking information, the postal service shows that the item was delivered and 5 days later they took it back and marked it refused.

There are a few issues here.


1. The postal service accepting a package that was clearly delivered 5 days before, opened and re taped and marked refused and damaged. It all seems strange to me.
2. The fact partial contents were removed.

3. Amazon does not have a way to report buyer fraud only seller fraud.

We took pictures of the envelope inside and outside.  If you examine the images you can see that there are colored pencil markings inside the envelope. The Crayola boxes are not normally sealed so it was easy enough to just open the box and pull out the pencils.

I spoke with my local post office and they said the post office should not have accepted the package that was re taped the way it was.

Now I have a few more potential issues.

I reported it to Amazon thru the seller fraud link.  I couldn not upload images but I have them on my computer just incase. We are expecting a case to be opened from the buyer any day now and we even expect Amazon to side with the buyer since the package was returned to us.   We have proof there was something in the package by showing the receipt from the post office showing the ounces as 9. An empty envelope wouldn't weigh more then 2.


In all the years we have been selling online we have never seen anything like this before. Be warned - in recent weeks we have been wrapping all our items in paper and all to try and deter this, we are also placing labels along the opening of the envelopes so tracking numbers have to be ripped to be opened. I am hoping it helps stop people from opening a package, remove the contents and return the package.  We may have to return to using poly bags, not sure if that would be better then padded envelopes.  I also thought of using special marking tape.

Its a shame it has come to this.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Crazy Holiday Season

Its been a while and so much has happened I think I will have blog content for weeks!

That should be great!

Shortly after my last post the holiday season officially kicked in for me. My online sales went thru the roof!  I did exceed my last year sales but I think I shot my self in the foot because of fear and not having faith in myself.

I constantly purchase a low quantity of products. Mainly because Im afraid they will not sell, I am sure you know what I am talking about. That product that has been sitting in your store for months and has not moved. The clearance table that seems to just be growing bigger and bigger and the same stuff is in there! I cringe when a minimum order is in the thousands or the quantity minimum is in the dozens. Is that me thinking small? Fear of success? Costly to advertise and show others what you sell?

I am so tired of putting everything on sale to draw people in!  So how did I shoot myself in the foot?  Well I purchased these beautiful items in 3s and 6s cause of course what if they didnt sell and I would be stuck with these items! Well imagine my surprise at the speed I was selling them in! The worst part, this company was closed for the holiday! There are many companies I know that close for the last three weeks of December so nothing gets shipped.  Imagine how frustrating it is when these items sell out within a week and you cant get more!  Its even more frustrating when you do get a replenishment of a popular product and they dont move!

In any event we shipped well over 1000 orders this holiday season, its not a whole lot compared to many other companies but for a single person operation I think it was fantastic! It was very overwhelming for me but I managed.