Don't Get Scammed

[@andymanaus1077]

You fell foul of a drop shipping company. The company you dealt with is merely an intermediary who takes your money, sends it off to China less a small fee for themselves, and allows the Chinese company to send you the goods. The drop shipping company never sees the goods which is why they wanted you to send the goods back to China. It's questionable whether the Australian address they gave you is even genuine. The "Australian" company took a huge loss this time but they count on most people not bothering to pursue a claim for the shoddy goods. Like most crooked activity, their income is far less than the cost of harm to their victims. You didn't mention how much you paid but generally the drop shipping company gets no more than 10%. When the company name they use gets too many bad reviews and complaints, they simply shut that name down and establish another one, doing the same thing again. It is indeed a scam but because you actually get the goods and they offer compensation for the minority of customers who complain long enough, it's not technically illegal and they are free to keep ripping people off for years on end. One way to reduce the risk of dealing with drop shipping companies, most of which are dodgy, is to look up their trading address on Google Maps and Streetview. If it isn't a warehouse or at least a property with a decent sized shed or garage, chances are they are drop shipping.

[@theoldmanandthebus]

It wasn't a huge cost, a total of around $170 and you are dead right; at that cost and given the back and forth with offer and counter-offer (not to mention that Paypal were not that easy to wake up) it would have been easier to accept the loss, or take one of the offers of a discount. But I am tenacious and eventually got the $170 back, plus $45 for postage and finally the goods themselves when they were returned with no delivery possible in China. I guess even that address was fake. And that is undoubtedly part of the scam. People are told by the scammer they can return the goods for a refund only to find the refund is never issued, the goods eventually find their way back to the poor buyer and they are still out of pocket and now disheartened and take it no further. Thanks for the comment and the information. I am more cautious now and I hope any viewer is too . . . Regards, Alan

[@andymanaus1077]

@@theoldmanandthebus The worst case would be to use their internal refund process and then have them claim they never got the goods. Using Paypal, as you did, to pursue the claim is the much better option because then you have Paypal's records of the complaint, the company can't say they "never got" the returned goods and Paypal will enforce the refund if necessary.