There are "lost" Royal Mail parcels for sale on eBay

[davthepunk]

Look at the results for this search. I know this isn't an official forum, but maybe someone at Royal Mail needs to be aware this is going on.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from ... 3843367478

This seems concerning. How are items entrusted to Royal Mail ending up on eBay?

Maybe it's a scam all the way though and these sellers are lying about the origin, I honestly have no idea. But still, I saw that and I was like 'WTF?'.

Edit:

I made archives of some of the listings so you can see what I'm on about, in case eBay deletes them.

https://archive.vn/xMqTr

https://archive.vn/PcW0S

https://archive.vn/Cmwk6

https://archive.vn/nVvr7

https://archive.vn/F7IYZ

https://archive.vn/4AYXp

https://archive.vn/SuudY

Some of this stuff clearly has people's addresses on it too. What on earth is going on?

[Snaggletooth]

If Royal Mail has an undeliverable parcel, they should either send it to the return address on the parcel or open it at the National Returns Centre to look for a return address on the inside.

One of those sellers claims that they are selling parcels that they originally sent or prepared for sending, which is fair enough, if a bit weird.

Personally, I wouldn't touch any of these. Apart from the obvious concerns, I don't think that the average parcel in the RM network is worth more than about £10 to the intended sender / recipient, and even less to a random third party (because clothes will likely be the wrong size, etc).

[davthepunk]

If these listings are legit what they say they are, somehow multiple people on eBay are getting access to boxes full of lost/undeliverable RM (and other couriers') parcels to sell on.

This doesn't seem right.

Look at the description on this one.

https://archive.vn/Cmwk6

> These are parcels that have been sent by Amazon /Royal Mail / Hermes / FedEx etc. and have been either lost in the network return/lost or left unclaimed at the sorting office with no return to the sender address.

> We have removed all personal information from all packets which may mean some items get repackaged or have no packaging at all to stay GDPR Compliant.

> Opened and sent by staff workers - straight from breaking down the pallet and removing data to delivering it to customer.

Edit:

The sketchiness increases.

https://archive.vn/xMqTr

> These are parcels that have been sent with Royal Mail / Hermes / Fed Ex / etc. and have been either lost in the network or left unclaimed at the sorting office with no return to sender address.

https://archive.vn/F7IYZ

> These are parcels that have been sent with Royal Mail / Hermes / Fed Ex / etc. and have been either lost in the network or left unclaimed at the sorting office with no return to sender address

Three different accounts all using the same wording. What's betting this is the same person behind all of them?

[Snaggletooth]

Apart from the Royal Mail perspective on this, it looks to me like these are a violation of eBay's selling policies. Basically, you have to say what is in the box when you sell something: https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/pr ... cy?id=4311

Also, if the seller doesn't know what is in the box then they could commit a crime under the Dangerous Goods act when posting on, by not packaging the contents in accordance with the rules, or sending something prohibited.

It could also be breaking other laws. For instance, if there is personal information inside the box, sending it on could be a breach of GDPR.

[2yearpostie]

How do you get in touch with RM security?

[davthepunk]

How do you get in touch with RM security?

Yeah, that's why I posted about this here. Someone needs to let Royal Mail know about this - that people's parcels are potentially being misappropriated.

[davthepunk]

And more...

https://archive.vn/bT2NA

> ever wondered where the lost post ends up?

> what we have here is parcels that have been through the mail network with carriers such as Royal mail, Hermes, DPD etc and for whatever reason they never made their final destination.

> I get these in bulk from a auction house which deals exclusively with these items.

Pull the other one, mate.

I know RM does sell off undeliverable stuff sometimes that can't be returned to the sender because they don't know who the sender is, but they don't sell it at auction as unopened parcels containing unknown items. Why would they? That makes zero sense.

[yellowbelly]

It might just be a selling tactic - we have no proof that they're RM parcels, apart from some crappy photos that could
come from any website. Junk remnants that they box up up from any old bankrupt website/warehouse and hope
that someone buys it with the 'hook' that they've sent through RM and so were 'obviously' worth something to somebody.

We have removed all personal information from all packets which may mean some items get repackaged or have no packaging at all to stay GDPR Compliant.

In other words they've opened them all to see what's in it and if it's tat they've packaged it up again to sell on to somebody gullible.

[davthepunk]

It might just be a selling tactic - we have no proof that they're RM parcels, apart from some crappy photos that could
come from any website. Junk remnants that they box up up from any old bankrupt website/warehouse and hope
that someone buys it with the 'hook' that they've sent through RM and so were 'obviously' worth something to somebody.

We have removed all personal information from all packets which may mean some items get repackaged or have no packaging at all to stay GDPR Compliant.

In other words they've opened them all to see what's in it and if it's tat they've packaged it up again to sell on to somebody gullible.

This stuff is against eBay rules anyway. The people bidding on it won't be covered by the money back guarantee.

Fools and their money.

Variation on ripping someone off on a deal for stolen goods knowing that they can't go to the police.