What is up with these weird doll listings on Etsy? Update; shady goings-on!

[MercyA]

No, I'm not talking about the haunted dolls. (Stay far, far away from those.)

I was perusing dolls on Etsy and sorted them by price. There are a strangely large number of dolls listed for under a dollar with free shipping. Also, oddly enough, all of them are in different shops, and all of them are the only item in that shop. Additionally, all the shops have similar names, like: TheAncientCarrot, TheHauntingMountain, TheAdaptNote, TheGrumpyWriter, TheHonestCow, etc.. Most of the dolls look to be vintage handmade ones from the 70's. There are also a fair amount of stuffed 80's style rabbits and some newer crocheted dolls.

Start here: https://www.etsy.com/c/toys-and-games/toys/dolls-and-action-figures/dolls?explicit=1&order=price_asc and scroll down to the bottom half of the page, and you'll see what I mean.

I don't understand. What would be the point of someone doing this? It would actually take a lot of work to make all those shops. Does someone just want to make a tiny bit of money and figure people won't bother trying to get such a small amount back when the item isn't shipped?

UPDATE: My husband was curious as well and told me I should try ordering one of dolls. Here's what happened. I was charged $0.49 (checked my Paypal account to verify). Then, I received this message: 

"Hi [my name]
We So sorry. due to a technical issue in listing step, the items we listed are the digital products, not physical one. We are really sorry for this inconvenience we may cause for you.
We will refund full amount of this order to you.
Again, thank you so much and we do hope to have your sympathy.
Have a good day."

But it gets weirder! I received a notice that the item had been shipped, with a real UPS tracking number attached. However, when I checked the tracking number at the UPS site, it said the item was shipped and received in the middle of December 2020! It says it was delivered to my home town, but my street address is not listed. I did place some Etsy orders in December, but none of them shipped via UPS. 

But wait, there is more! The item is listed under my orders with a new price tag of $308! 

Shady, shady, shady. 

ETA: New 2nd update! I went back to the shop and the doll listed at $308 says "low stock," with 2 remaining. It says one of them is in someone's cart. (The doll in the photo is nice, but worth nowhere near $300.)

Edited January 25, 2021 by MercyA

[gardenmom5]

It sounds like someone is trying to get around rules.

[MercyA]

The plot thickens. I looked in a couple other categories (baby and toddler toys, stuffed animals) and found exactly the same type of thing. I assume they get a few payments and then close up shop without shipping anything. It just seems like a lot of work for a tiny payoff. 🤷‍♀️

[Tap]

It could be a known scam that is used to generate tracking numbers. One store uses another store as a dropship seller. Replacing an expensive item, with a cheap one. 

ABC Store...sells a $300 purse to customer named Joe using Paypal. 

Same seller has XYZ Store...they sell dolls for $1. 

Seller sends a $1 doll to Joe from XYZ, instead of the purse from ABC. 

Buyer Joe, gets wrong gift and files a complaint with Paypal. Seller tells Paypal they sent the purse but gives Paypal the fraudulent tracking number from the doll, to prove they sent the gift and that it arrived. Since it is ordered as a dropship, the stores do not have to match the original purchase. Paypal closes the claim, saying the seller has proof they delivered the product. Paypal doesn't know what was in the package.  Any complaints go to XYZ store, because they are the store that packed and shipped in the 'wrong' item. 

---

It could also be a way for people to purchase illegal things on the internet. It may not actually be a doll for sale. Or it can be a way to communicate with each other in code. 

---

When selling used books first became popular, I knew a few people who sold from thier home. They would end up with excess inventory and selling the excess books for super cheap was a way not only to move inventory, but also to take a financial loss for taxes and to increase ratings. Since it is a single item in a store, it could tax fraud via starting fake businesses. 

[MercyA]

That was super insightful, @Tap, thank you!!! 

[BeachGal]

How can a buyer avoid these scams? Buy from someone with a lot of good ratings?

[MercyA]

38 minutes ago, BeachGal said:

How can a buyer avoid these scams? Buy from someone with a lot of good ratings?

I've had good luck even with new sellers on Etsy. As long as the shop looks legit, has fair prices, and has had a few sales and a few good ratings, I'm usually happy to buy from them.

There are a lot of red flags in these listings: 1. the price--no one is really going to sell a doll for $0.50 with free shipping when it would cost $8 or $9 just to ship it; 2. every one of these shops only has one item listed; 3. every one of these shops has no sales and no ratings; 4. there is little to no information about the seller or shop policies. 

[kristin0713]

18 hours ago, Tap said:

 

It could also be a way for people to purchase illegal things on the internet. It may not actually be a doll for sale. Or it can be a way to communicate with each other in code. 

This. Have you read the Pearl the Mermaid Doll story on Facebook? I’m sure you could find it, it went viral. It was quite hilarious and enlightening.  

[MercyA]

24 minutes ago, kristin0713 said:

This. Have you read the Pearl the Mermaid Doll story on Facebook? I’m sure you could find it, it went viral. It was quite hilarious and enlightening.  

I hadn't! Here it is, for anyone else who is interested.

Wow. I don't want to give any spoilers here, but I hoped for a slightly different ending. 🙂 

Edited January 22, 2021 by MercyA

[MercyA]

I just noticed something else weird about these shops. Some of them have odd messages on their main shop pages, like "You're welcome" and "We love you." Huh.

[TravelingChris]

On 1/21/2021 at 9:18 PM, happysmileylady said:

I suspect that purchasing things illegally is the most likely thing.  Drugs, human trafficking, firearms, etc.  There's probably some code built into the listing or the shops that those who are interested in such things know about.  

I am getting so frustrated with everything becomiing some secret code- or not even so secret code.  For example, I don't think I have ever used the word Boogaloo by itself but do really like the song- Back of Boogaloo by Ringo Starr.  I guess if I said that on Facebook now, I would be banned since apparently weirdo anti=govt, anti-woman, anti- a whole lot of things people have taken over that word.  Now today I saw an article that the same is hapening with Hawaii or Florida type shirts too.  Now no one in my family wears that kind of shirt in January here, but in summer?????  Its all nuts.

But yes, both on Etsy and on Amazon, I never buy anything with a weirdly low price.

And then there was all that QANON stuff about Wayfair and I don't know who else with outrageously high priced items.  Like a chair that may go for up to a hundred being sold for multiple hundred thousands.  I saw that garbage on Facebook from a person I know who tends to pass along crazy stuff some time and never researched it myself but it was supposedly some kind of human trafficking thing.  I thought it was most likely a typo.

[Jenny in Florida]

11 hours ago, TravelingChris said:

And then there was all that QANON stuff about Wayfair and I don't know who else with outrageously high priced items.  Like a chair that may go for up to a hundred being sold for multiple hundred thousands.  I saw that garbage on Facebook from a person I know who tends to pass along crazy stuff some time and never researched it myself but it was supposedly some kind of human trafficking thing.  I thought it was most likely a typo.

https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/6nhw5w/165-the-mold-and-the-beautiful

The Wayfair thing had nothing to do with human trafficking. 

[J-rap]

Different topic, but I've suddenly been getting weird doll-listing emails from eBay!  Even though I've never searched dolls...  It's so strange!!

[MercyA]

16 minutes ago, J-rap said:

Different topic, but I've suddenly been getting weird doll-listing emails from eBay!  Even though I've never searched dolls...  It's so strange!!

That is bizarre and slightly scary. 😬 

[I talk to the trees]

On 1/21/2021 at 3:04 AM, Tap said:

It could be a known scam that is used to generate tracking numbers. One store uses another store as a dropship seller. Replacing an expensive item, with a cheap one. 

ABC Store...sells a $300 purse to customer named Joe using Paypal. 

Same seller has XYZ Store...they sell dolls for $1. 

Seller sends a $1 doll to Joe from XYZ, instead of the purse from ABC. 

Buyer Joe, gets wrong gift and files a complaint with Paypal. Seller tells Paypal they sent the purse but gives Paypal the fraudulent tracking number from the doll, to prove they sent the gift and that it arrived. Since it is ordered as a dropship, the stores do not have to match the original purchase. Paypal closes the claim, saying the seller has proof they delivered the product. Paypal doesn't know what was in the package.  Any complaints go to XYZ store, because they are the store that packed and shipped in the 'wrong' item. 

---

It could also be a way for people to purchase illegal things on the internet. It may not actually be a doll for sale. Or it can be a way to communicate with each other in code. 

---

When selling used books first became popular, I knew a few people who sold from thier home. They would end up with excess inventory and selling the excess books for super cheap was a way not only to move inventory, but also to take a financial loss for taxes and to increase ratings. Since it is a single item in a store, it could tax fraud via starting fake businesses. 

My head is spinning just from reading all that. It seems to me that criminal behavior like that is just as difficult and time consuming as running a legit craft store! 

[MercyA]

My husband said I should try buying one. So I did, for curiosity's sake. 🙂 

If I disappear, you'll know why. 😉 

p.s. DH said these shops are definitely being created by a bot. Hence, the randomly generated names: "TheInvincibleCafe," "TheLuckyBull," etc.

Edited January 25, 2021 by MercyA

[TravelingChris]

4 hours ago, MercyA said:

My husband said I should try buying one. So I did, for the sake of science. 🙂 

If I disappear, you'll know why.

p.s. DH said these shops are definitely being created by a bot. Hence, the randomly generated names: "TheInvincibleCafe," "TheLuckyBull," etc.

How did you pay for it?   Because I would think it is a way to get your credit card or paypal info.

[MercyA]

1 hour ago, TravelingChris said:

How did you pay for it?   Because I would think it is a way to get your credit card or paypal info.

No, only Etsy sees my credit card info. The seller will have my name, address, and email. I'm not worried about it. DH thinks it is likely tax fraud of some kind. 

Edited January 25, 2021 by MercyA

[BeachGal]

Here is another situation that was discussed on a reddit forum for etsy:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Etsy/comments/knop52/someone_keeps_opening_dozens_of_ghost_shops_with/

Quote

There are people selling shop registration.....for IP banned or high banned area like China. Someone open a shop and keep it for a while (make sure it’s open) then sell the registration to someone else so they start selling something else.

Maybe these are shops that eventually will be sold by the person creating them to banned ip addresses? Like @gardenmom5 said as a way to skirt etsy’s rules?

[MercyA]

Bumpity bump for update. 🙂 

[Ausmumof3]

Wow that’s pretty weird ... a “digital doll”?  Seems to me like it’s a cover for selling something else

[Tap]

On 1/20/2021 at 10:23 PM, MercyA said:

No, I'm not talking about the haunted dolls. (Stay far, far away from those.)

I was perusing dolls on Etsy and sorted them by price. There are a strangely large number of dolls listed for under a dollar with free shipping. Also, oddly enough, all of them are in different shops, and all of them are the only item in that shop. Additionally, all the shops have similar names, like: TheAncientCarrot, TheHauntingMountain, TheAdaptNote, TheGrumpyWriter, TheHonestCow, etc.. Most of the dolls look to be vintage handmade ones from the 70's. There are also a fair amount of stuffed 80's style rabbits and some newer crocheted dolls.

Start here: https://www.etsy.com/c/toys-and-games/toys/dolls-and-action-figures/dolls?explicit=1&order=price_asc and scroll down to the bottom half of the page, and you'll see what I mean.

I don't understand. What would be the point of someone doing this? It would actually take a lot of work to make all those shops. Does someone just want to make a tiny bit of money and figure people won't bother trying to get such a small amount back when the item isn't shipped?

UPDATE: My husband was curious as well and told me I should try ordering one of dolls. Here's what happened. I was charged $0.49 (checked my Paypal account to verify). Then, I received this message: 

"Hi [my name]
We So sorry. due to a technical issue in listing step, the items we listed are the digital products, not physical one. We are really sorry for this inconvenience we may cause for you.
We will refund full amount of this order to you.
Again, thank you so much and we do hope to have your sympathy.
Have a good day."

But it gets weirder! I received a notice that the item had been shipped, with a real UPS tracking number attached. However, when I checked the tracking number at the UPS site, it said the item was shipped and received in the middle of December 2020! It says it was delivered to my home town, but my street address is not listed. I did place some Etsy orders in December, but none of them shipped via UPS. 

But wait, there is more! The item is listed under my orders with a new price tag of $308! 

Shady, shady, shady. 

ETA: New 2nd update! I went back to the shop and the doll listed at $308 says "low stock," with 2 remaining. It says one of them is in someone's cart. (The doll in the photo is nice, but worth nowhere near $300.)

 Tracking number scam. Contact the carrier and report it!

[MercyA]

18 minutes ago, Tap said:

 Tracking number scam. Contact the carrier and report it!

Yes, I should! To be using an authentic UPS tracking number, it has to be either someone inside UPS or someone who's hacked into their computers. 

[MercyA]

My DH thinks it's a way of laundering money. 

[Danae]

Report it to your state Attorney General.  Their website should have info about fraud reporting.  
 

Unfortunately reporting it to Etsy (same with eBay, PayPal, etc) is unlikely to do any good because they still get their money from the transaction.  They have little incentive to investigate unless law enforcement gets involved.

[BeachGal]

I’ve been reading more about these crazy scams.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Etsy/comments/em395a/scams_involving_cheap_items_with_tracking/

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Managing-Your-Shop/Possible-New-Scam/m-p/129036187#M1087605

https://www.bbb.org/article/scams/21097-scam-alert-tracking-code-trick-costs-online-shoppers