29 July 2023, Mumbai: In a strange turn of events, a woman named Cindy Smith from Virginia, USA, found herself at the center of a peculiar situation when she began receiving an overwhelming number of Amazon packages she never ordered. The unexpected deliveries, reportedly part of a Chinese vendor’s money-saving scheme, included an astonishing assortment of items, such as 1,000 headlamps, 800 glue guns, and several children’s binoculars, as revealed by Insider citing CBS affiliate station WUSA.
Mysterious Deliveries: Cindy Smith’s Puzzling Predicament
Smith was taken aback by the avalanche of packages flooding her doorstep, expressing her confusion and bewilderment to WUSA, stating that she had no knowledge of ordering these items from Amazon. Faced with the influx of packages from unknown senders, she decided to take matters into her own hands.
Donating the Unexpected: Cindy Smith’s Charitable Endeavors
Rather than keeping the unwanted merchandise, Smith took an unusual approach. She drove around her town, distributing the headlamps and glue guns to anyone willing to take them. Her generosity didn’t stop there; she also donated the surplus items to various places, including dog shelters and veterinary clinics, aiming to put the unintentional gifts to good use. All the packages were addressed to a person named Lixiao Zhang, further adding to the mystery of the situation.
Unraveling the Vendor Scheme: Chinese Sellers’ Unconventional Tactic
Investigations into the bizarre incident revealed that this vendor scheme has connections to a different tactic used by sellers to dispose of unsold products from Amazon fulfillment centers. WUSA traced the return labels on the packages to 15 fulfillment centers across nine different states in the US. Apparently, Chinese sellers trying to clear their excess inventory from Amazon’s warehouses resort to sending these items to random addresses to cut costs.
Amazon’s Response: Seller Account Closed for Abusive Activity
Amazon, in response to the incident, issued a statement stating that the seller’s account was in violation of the company’s policies due to their engagement in “abusive activity.” As a consequence, the seller’s account has been closed.In summary, what initially appeared as a puzzling case of unsolicited Amazon deliveries turned out to be a part of a peculiar vendor scheme originating from China. Cindy Smith’s unexpected receipt of numerous packages highlighted the unconventional methods some sellers employ to rid themselves of unsold products from Amazon’s inventory. With Amazon taking action against the seller’s account, this bizarre chapter has come to a close, leaving Smith’s town with an unusual tale to remember.