Mon, 09 Jun 2025 16:54:13 -0400WeeblySun, 27 Apr 2025 17:33:08 GMThttp://www.greencornokies.org/tips-and-hacks/how-to-avoid-drop-ship-scamsBeware of drop ship scams!  (Thanks to Jaime for this one)
I just got victimized by one. It wasn't for much, being only $15. But if I didn't catch on to it now, then that figure would likely grow. Plus, the scammers know my name, address and email now, so that's a little unsettling. In other words, now that they've successfully scammed me--even if just by a little bit--I worry that they might target me for more nonsense down the road. But I reported them, so…
Okay, I'll lay this out so you can read what you are interested in, and skip the parts you're not.

HOW TO GUARD AGAINST THE SCAM
When shopping on non-Amazon sites like Wal-mart (you'll understand this if your read more), make sure that IF you're buying the item from a third-party seller, you check for the same product and price on Amazon. Doing that is arguably just a savvy shopper tactic, but you'll soon understand that you're also protecting yourself from the form of drop ship scam that I'm about to lay out.

THE STORY / BACKGROUND
I ordered several items from Wal-mart, including a motion-detecting, under sink LED light. I had actually searched all around (including Amazon), before I landed on the light I wanted, featured on the Wal-mart site. It was priced at $34.99; that seemed a bit pricey, but what the heck--it had the features I wanted, so I ordered it!

I tracked the order carefully, and it showed to have been delivered one day at 12:51 p.m. But it wasn't there! I was home that day, and actually had other deliveries, so picked them up as they came in. Plus, I have a Ring doorbell; I checked the history and confirmed that IT WAS NOT DELIVERED.
I started down the "problem with order" path on Wal-mart; they recommended waiting two biz days, so I did. Guess what?

The item arrived 2 days later, BUT...
It came from Amazon! And, it came as a "gift".
I thought I was losing my mind! I KNEW I had ordered it from Wal-mart. How the heck did it show up from Amazon?

I checked the Amazon site, and found that the exact same item I had bought through Wal-mart was cheaper: $19.99 instead of the $34.99 I had paid. I did the math, and, to wrap up…

THE DROP SHIP SCAM

The seller's biz model is this: Identify selected products on Amazon and calculate a price that is 75% higher than Amazon's. Then, advertise the item on Wal-mart for that higher price. Once someone falls for the trap and orders it (through Wal-mart), immediately order it from Amazon and have it drop shipped to the customer. The beauty of the scam is this:

1) The scammer pockets the difference in price ($15 in this case),
2) The buyer gets the product, and since it is a "gift", doesn't see the (lower) price that the scammer paid for it!
3) The scammer doesn't have to inventory any product, or mess with the shipping process; Amazon takes care of all of that stuff.
Pretty clever, I must say!
RESOLUTION
I spoke with Wal-mart about this, and they confirmed that the seller was violating their policy. They offered me a $15 "promo code" on my next order. How about that?! The exact amount the scammer scammed me for!

So in a nutshell, Wal-mart made me effectively whole--except for the time I spent investigating the mystery, and fighting through their automated system to finally get through to a live human being! (venting!)--by covering the difference between what I should have paid, and did.
Wal-mart said that they'd investigate the scammer, and profusely thanked me for reporting it, saying my actions would save a lot of other people money and hassle.

UPDATE
I decided to call Amazon to let them know how they are being used to perpetuate scams. After I laid out the scam in detail, the Amazon agent asked me for the ("gift") order number. I had that info on hand, but before providing it, I asked her if the rogue seller violated their policy.

Answer: NO. Based on that answer, I immediately realized that my alert call to Amazon was pointless, because…

As far as Amazon is concerned, somebody bought me a gift and had it sent to me. How nice! All is good with Amazon!
Intriguing!

I decided to search afresh for the seller, "Alessia Cara", on Wal-mart's site.
Wow!
A famous Canadian singer! Isn't it nice to be purchasing products from such a person!
Up until I did the quick seller search, I was thinking that the real person behind it was doing some kind of small time scam gig. But apparently, I was wrong; The seller / store features over 1000 products.
It looks like Wal-mart was serious about taking action; if you go to the seller's page, none of the items are available now. You can see them, but they all show as unavailable.
The store's name shows up as:
xiangyangshidalihuamaoyiyouxiangongsi
Interestingly, if you look up xiangyang shi, you'll find that he's a PhD cloud computing dude. Maybe he / they were using AI to boost their profits / volume? Maybe that's just another bit of fakery; in other words, the real Xiangyang Shi doesn't have anything to do with the operation.
Last comment here: The seller shows ZERO reviews. Not sure if that got reset somehow, or what. Seems weird. Either way, I'm pondering placing a review of my own--in effect warning shoppers--which you can do anonymously, I just discovered. Maybe that's not necessary now...


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