Andrew didn't think much about the first package. Or the second. Then they began arriving in droves.
The packages contained cheap women's clothing, scarves, kimonos, and underwear manufactured in China. Inside each was an Amazon returns slip. ⬇️
16
125
221
Replies
Andrew runs his own business on Amazon, selling high-end automotive accessories. Perhaps a customer had mixed up their return addresses.
But as the wave of packages grew, sometimes to as many as two dozen a day, he knew something else was going on.
2
20
77
Despairing at the boxes piling up on his front porch, Andrew called Amazon. It wasn't a mistake, the representative told him.
Another seller had listed his residential address as their own: He was saddled with their unhappy customers' returns.
3
51
160
He was baffled by how another seller could have used his address. Amazon put him through a rigorous security screening when he opened his business's account.
But somehow, an unscrupulous seller of women's clothing had managed to steal his home address.
5
34
95
Amazon's failure to verify the identities of many of its Marketplace sellers has allowed fraudsters to steal the information of people and businesses everywhere.
The result is a surreal ecosystem of frustrated and bewildered people.
3
86
137
But for individual sellers, Amazon Marketplace is rarely lucrative and incredibly cutthroat.
Some sellers use underhanded tactics like submitting false fraud reports targeting rivals, or bribing Amazon employees to scuttle competitors.
1
39
59
Amazon bans fraudulent sellers, along with other accounts they're suspected of owning, and blacklists their business name, physical location, and IP address.
1
21
39
After an account is sold, buyers keep the previous owner's name and address.
Amazon is unlikely to scrutinize the changes if they occur over a period of time, Max, an operator of an account-selling website called , told Insider.
1
19
31
One seller, Your Toy Mart, registered its business address to a home in a suburb of Vancouver.
When Insider visited the address, the surprised homeowner, Shelley Quarles, said she had never sold anything on Amazon, let alone counterfeit textbooks.
1
21
34
Your Toy Mart's account had been dormant since 2019, when Elizabeth had shuttered the business and dissolved the LLC.
Elizabeth leveraged the account's decade-long history of positive customer reviews to negotiate a purchase price of $3,000.
2
21
31
Meanwhile, partway through 2021, Andrew relocated his auto-parts company. After updating the address, Amazon made him go through a second round of verification.
However, the packages of women's clothing continued to pile up on his porch.
3
15
22
Several months later, a conversation with his UPS delivery driver about the packages sparked a partial solution. The driver's manager created an automated interception system to block the deliveries.
Subscribe to
@thisisinsider
to read the full story. ⬇️
10
18
59
@BITech
@stoolpresidente
@stoolsalesguy
I’m willing to bet Blodgett has a short position against Amazon
0
0
1
