…I tell myself. I recently ordered a number of items from retailers on Ebay, all small, couple of pound items some from the UK some from China. I haven’t ordered anything from Amazon though – this is important. I received confirmation emails, then despatch confirmations for all items, from Ebay.
Then I received an email from Amazon saying my order had been despatched. WHAT ORDER!
Before opening the email I googled the company listed in the email header, it was real, a well-known marketplace seller. I tentatively opened the email, knowing that in spam or phishing emails the “from” address (amazon.co.uk) can be spoofed. It was a normal Amazon despatch message containing my home address and sent to my usual email address. The thing was that there was no products listed at all but there was a link to parcel tracking that I didn’t click of course.
When I eventually checked my real-world mailbox this morning I found a large flat cardboard envelope with Amazon.co.uk emblazoned across it. Uh, huh?
I opened it and immediately understood. Inside was a despatch note from the company listed in the email, on Amazon stationery so to speak, and the item I’d ordered from the UK Ebay seller. I finally realised – the email had said it was from the Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) section – I’d bought from a seller under one name on Ebay but the item was despatched from their stock held in Amazon’s warehouse under a different name. I hadn’t realised that FBA extended beyond purchases from Amazon Marketplace to Ebay and elsewhere too.
If the product had been listed on the emailI would have realised sooner but as it was I spent yesterday morning changing my Ebay, Paypal and Amazon log-ins and passwords to be on the safe side.
The strange, confusing world of online shopping logistics.
Longfellow's 21st Century Lunch 