Unordered parcels arriving from eBay??

[whojamaflip]

Bit of a weird one - we keep getting parcels from eBay that we haven't ordered!

First it was a hula hoop........then a fancy electronic skipping rope.......and now we've had an indoor basket ball hoop arrive today in the post??

All addressed to dh who hasn't an eBay account and has never ordered anything from the site. I do use eBay but always in my name.

Correct address for us right down to the postcode - have checked my PayPal and dhs bank account and there's no money been taken out that we can't account for. Nothing showing on my eBay account either.

Is this some kind of scam? Should I be worried and what on earth do I do with the parcels? Currently they are sitting on a shelf in the office but they can't stay there forever. Only one parcel has any return details and quite frankly I don't want to pay out on return postage for something I didn't ask for in the first place.

Any ideas?

If you have kids, it’s a friend or relative sending you toys for them to play with during lockdown.

That was my first thought and I checked with everyone I could think of when the hula hoop arrived - first 2 parcels were age appropriate for my dc but the one today is for a toddler aged child and my youngest is 11!

This has been going on over the last 6 weeks or so.

Just how many parcels have you had ? Is there no address inside, most of the things I get have the sellers details inside

How do you know they're from eBay if you've not ordered them?

If you've opened them and they contain an invoice with the sellers details - as most eBay sellers do include an invoice when sending you products - then search the seller on eBay and message them letting them know they're sending parcels to you that you've not ordered?

I know this scam exists on Amazon, where they send people stuff in order to prove people are ordering stuff, then they can have reviews published.

Put a note through the neighbours doors?

What tectonicplates said - I think it's called a 'brushing scam'.

In itself, it just means you receive unordered goods and someone somewhere writes fake reviews in your name - but it could indicate wider identity theft so your husband should check that nothing has been set up in his name elsewhere or ordered on credit cards etc.

If they're addressed to your dh they must be from a relative?

Ok we've had 3 parcels in total - I know they are from eBay as they've all had pre printed postage labels on them. First 2 parcels had no paperwork whatsoever in them and the only thing on the label was the sellers eBay name - checked both out and were both legit. At this point assumed it was a family member sending them.

Parcel that arrived today, dh has only opened the corner slightly to see what was inside and when he realised it wasn't anything to do with us has left it so I don't know if there's any paperwork in that one. Again it's a eBay postage label.

I've looked all the items up on eBay and none of them cost more than £10.

Dh has checked his Experian account and there's nothing untoward showing up on that - no finance searches or credit applications for the last 3 years so doesn't look like it's identity fraud.

Neither of our families are that big and I've checked with everyone I can think of and they are all denying any knowledge. Likewise I've checked with any friends I can think of but no one is admitting responsibility.

hi @whojamaflip, I've just come across this after googling as I've now received 3 eBay parcels that I've not ordered. Bizarrely the first was about 6 months ago but the last 2 came just days apart and all three were delivered to my mums house where I haven't lived for 12 years.

Did it continue for you?