Online Shoppers Allege Holiday Shopping Scam

The Seattle Times has a sobering story today about a seller operating as part of Amazon's independent marketplace that charged as many as 3,500 customers for holiday gift purchases that the customers never received. The third-party seller, which used the name "mygreatchoice", was said to be a tool company in California. Oddly, the seller had a high customer satisfaction rating as an Amazon seller, prior to this holiday season. But many customers who said they ordered DVDs from mygreatchoice late last year said that their credit cards were charged for orders that never arrived in the mail. Amazon is trying to make good on the unfilled orders on behalf of the delinquent seller.

The news comes as an unpleasant footnote to an otherwise cheerful holiday sales season for online retailers like Amazon. According to CNET, Amazon sold 108 million items during the holiday period, the most expensive of which was a pair of diamond earring worth $94,000.

Mike Hofman was previously editor of Inc.com and a deputy editor at Inc. magazine, which he joined in 1996. The site was nominated for a National Magazine Award for Digital Media in 2010, and was named the best business website by Folio Magazine. In 2006, Hofman was part of a team of writers nominated for a Webby Award for best business blog. He lives in New York City. @mikehofman