Strange Happenings w/ Amazon

[kaneohe]

I ordered a printer cartridge for an old printer from Amazon. On Fri 7/21 I got an e-mail telling me it had shipped. On Tues 7/25, I got an e-mail saying the order had been cancelled and a refund granted. Amazon has a record of the refund but can't tell me who cancelled the order. Now I sit in limbo for 4 more days wondering if it will be delivered when I could have reordered from a different vendor if I knew if it was not coming.

I was under the impression that you couldn't stop shipment of something that had already been shipped?

 

[GrayHare]

Third-party seller? They probably ran out of the item but failed to update the inventory count at Amazon.

 

[exnavynuke]

A lot of "it has shipped" emails are generated when a shipping label is created, not when the product shipped. If the label was created and then the lack of inventory was discovered, the order was likely canceled without anything actually shipping.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

Third-party seller? They probably ran out of the item but failed to update the inventory count at Amazon.

If it was a "third party seller", make sure you check the feedback. There are a horde of scamster sellers out there, who have listings with below-market prices. They have no feedback (stars), but they also never ship your product. They are apparently able to take the money and run, before Amazon removes them. Amazon will eventually credit you, but seems to not care about this problem.

Never buy from an Amazon third party, unless they have plenty of (positive) feedback. It's kind of like the bad old ebay days.

 

[kaneohe]

Thanks...........the wisdom of the ages.......and so quickly. ENN....good tip that the it has shipped is generated when the shipping label is created,not when item is shipped. That would explain if the item never arrives. I had this model in my mind......vendor does not have item, does not want to admit that, so createss own solution of giving full credit for item that will not ship. OK , I guess, but it would have been nice that customer knew situation so he could order from another vendor.

Pls educate me about how to tell if item is sold by third party......I guess I never paid attention because so many of the items I get say "sold by X" where X is not Amazon
so I never paid much attention. I know Alexa says Amazon but not many items have that
in my experience.

 

[CoolRich59]

If it was a "third party seller", make sure you check the feedback. There are a horde of scamster sellers out there, who have listings with below-market prices. They have no feedback (stars), but they also never ship your product. They are apparently able to take the money and run, before Amazon removes them. Amazon will eventually credit you, but seems to not care about this problem.

Never buy from an Amazon third party, unless they have plenty of (positive) feedback. It's kind of like the bad old ebay days.

This. A big part of Amazon's growth has been the third party sellers where Amazon is the exchange and not the merchant.

The problem is that some of these merchants are terrific and some are shady fly-by-night operators. As mentioned, be sure to check their feedback before clicking on the "buy" button.

Also, I used to assume Amazon had the best prices. No more. Now, I always check prices on other sites before buying from Amazon.

 

[Gotadimple]

My preference is to order when it says "Sold by X and fulfilled by Amazon" But I have (or have not) ordered from third party sellers after looking at comments from buyers.

 

[dvalley]

Never buy from an Amazon third party, unless they have plenty of (positive) feedback. It's kind of like the bad old ebay days.

You could also be receiving counterfeit product. Especially when you order Trojans...you don't want to find out the hard way

 

[OldShooter]

A lot of "it has shipped" emails are generated when a shipping label is created, not when the product shipped. If the label was created and then the lack of inventory was discovered, the order was likely canceled without anything actually shipping.

It's not always an inventory mistake. Both Amazon and eBay rate sellers by how fast they ship and are quite tough. I have had it happen many times that I get an immediate ship notice but when I do the tracking I find that the carrier didn't actually get the shipment until a couple of days later. This allows the seller to look good on paper without busting their butts to get things shipped quickly.

Re "Sold by" I try to buy from the "Fulfilled by Amazon" sellers where Amazon is holding the inventory and does the shipment. This usually allows me to dodge the sales tax that Amazon imposes in my state but still get Amazon's prompt service.

 

[Bamaman]

Amazon has developed incredible logistics with modern robotics, etc. See the following UTube.com video to see how they are so efficient. They have large warehouses in many places, and it's nice to have Amazon 2 hours north of my home as 1 day delivery is very often seen.