There's a move in online selling that looks exactly like shipping your order without actually shipping your order.
You create a USPS label. The tracking number goes live. eBay sees "label created" and marks the order as shipped. The seller's on-time shipping metric stays clean. And the buyer sits watching a tracking page that never updates past "USPS Awaiting Item" — wondering if their package is lost, delayed, or whether it ever left the building at all.
The community has a name for it: ghost shipping. And a buyer on r/PokemonTCG says that's exactly what happened when they ordered from luckyvaultus on eBay.
What Happened
Ordered May 26th — In Stock, US Seller, No Pre-Order
On May 26th, a buyer placed an order for one box of Pokémon TCG Abyss Eye through luckyvaultus on eBay. The listing checked every reassuring box: in stock, US-based seller, not a pre-order.
Nothing about the purchase felt risky. This wasn't a fly-by-night operation — luckyvaultus had 99.2% positive feedback, 10K followers, and 81K items sold. The kind of profile that makes you feel like you're buying from someone who has their act together.
June 2nd — "Good News, Your Order Has Shipped 📦"
The buyer followed up on June 2nd to ask about the status of their order. The seller responded quickly — always a good sign — with a cheerful message and a USPS tracking number:
"Hi Will! Good news — your order has shipped 📦 USPS tracking 9400108106245224460338. Thanks so much for your patience!"
Reasonable response. Tracking number provided. Case closed, right?
By June 9th, the buyer checked the tracking. The status hadn't moved:
"My tracking information still shows label created, USPS awaiting item."
Seven days after being told the order shipped, USPS still hadn't received the package. The label existed. The item, apparently, did not.
The Left Hand Doesn't Know What the Right Hand Is Doing
The buyer escalated — this time through a separate messaging channel — and got a different person entirely. The "back end person," as they identified themselves, had a different story:
"Hi back end person here so we just got the new shipment in, so we will be packing the orders today and will be picked up on Monday morning."
Let that land for a second. The seller's first representative told the buyer their order had already shipped — with a tracking number — on June 2nd. A week later, a second representative from the same seller was explaining that the shipment had just arrived and they'd be packing orders today.
The buyer caught it immediately:
"Your shipment manager and whoever I've been talking to said it shipped on Monday. Is that not the case?"
No resolution is shown after that message. The contradiction sits there, unanswered.
June 15th — Still Not Received by the Post Office
By June 15th — nearly three weeks after the original purchase — the package had still not been received by USPS. The original Reddit poster summarized it plainly:
"It is June 15 and it STILL has not been received by the post office. Buyers please beware they are not being honest with their current stock or their shipping times. Really disappointed and there's plenty of reviews saying the same thing."
That last line — plenty of reviews saying the same thing — is worth noting.
The Pattern the Community Recognizes Instantly
Ghost shipping isn't a new concept, but it's one that's particularly easy to pull off on eBay because of how the platform tracks fulfillment.
How Ghost Shipping Works — And Why It's So Effective
When a seller creates a shipping label, eBay's system registers the order as "shipped." The seller's on-time shipping rate is protected. Any countdown clocks tied to buyer protection start running. From eBay's perspective, the transaction is moving along normally.
The problem is that creating a label and handing a package to USPS are two entirely different things. A label can sit on a desk — or in a queue — indefinitely while the tracking page shows nothing but "label created, USPS awaiting item." The buyer has no visibility into whether the item is packed, whether it's at the door, or whether the seller is still waiting on inventory they listed as available.
In this case, the "back end person's" message strongly implies the latter: the inventory wasn't there when the label was created. The shipment arrived later. The label was a placeholder — and the buyer was left watching a number that wasn't going anywhere.
"Plenty of Reviews Saying the Same Thing"
The original poster flagged this, and it's not an isolated observation. A pattern of delayed shipments, stalled tracking, and conflicting communication from a seller with 81K items sold suggests this isn't an isolated fulfillment mistake — it's a workflow issue at scale.
That doesn't automatically make it malicious. But it does make it a problem worth documenting.
Is There Any Innocent Explanation?
Fair question, and it deserves a real answer.
The case for a legitimate fulfillment delay:
- Abyss Eye is a new and highly anticipated set — supply chain delays are genuinely common on hot releases
- The seller communicated at every stage rather than going silent
- The "back end person" response suggests a real staffing and communication breakdown, not necessarily bad faith
- A refund or resolution may have been reached after the Reddit post — we don't have visibility into the full outcome
- luckyvaultus has 99.2% positive feedback across tens of thousands of transactions — one documented complaint doesn't define the whole operation
The case for a more serious problem:
- The listing explicitly stated in stock, US seller, not a pre-order — if inventory wasn't available, that listing was inaccurate at the time of purchase
- Creating a shipping label without actually shipping the item satisfies eBay's metrics while deceiving the buyer
- Two separate representatives gave directly contradictory information about the order status
- Nearly three weeks elapsed with no package received by USPS despite a tracking number being provided
- The buyer noted other reviews reflecting the same experience — this isn't the first time this pattern has surfaced
The community's read on this leans toward a seller listing products they don't yet have, using label creation to buy time, and communicating through multiple channels in ways that don't line up. Whether that's policy or accident is something only luckyvaultus can answer.
Who Is luckyvaultus?
This is not a small seller testing the waters. Based on the eBay profile documented in the Reddit post, luckyvaultus operates at significant scale:
- 99.2% positive feedback
- 10K followers
- 81K items sold
- Based in Los Angeles, California
- Joined eBay in October 2023
That's a seller who has processed enough orders to understand exactly how eBay's shipping metrics work — and exactly what a created label does to those metrics. The scale of the operation also makes the "we just got our shipment in" explanation harder to square with a listing that said in stock at the time of purchase.
A seller moving 81K items doesn't accidentally list something as available when it isn't. Or if they do, that's a systems problem serious enough to warrant the same level of scrutiny.
What Collectors Should Know Before Buying
If you shop for new Pokémon TCG releases from eBay sellers — especially on hot sets — here's what's worth keeping in mind:
- "In stock, US seller, not a pre-order" doesn't guarantee immediate shipment. Sellers can list products they don't yet have in hand, particularly on anticipated releases.
- A tracking number is not confirmation of shipment. "Label created, USPS awaiting item" means the label exists — not that USPS has the package.
- Watch the tracking status window. If tracking doesn't update past "label created" within 2–3 business days, follow up immediately.
- Document everything. Screenshots of your order confirmation, tracking status, and any seller communication are your evidence if a dispute is needed.
- File eBay buyer protection claims before the window closes. Don't wait indefinitely on a seller's promise that it's on its way.
Have You Bought from luckyvaultus?
If you've ordered from luckyvaultus — whether your experience was smooth or you've run into the same tracking limbo — the community wants to know.
Leave your review on GradedVendors.com →
One documented experience is a data point. Multiple experiences from multiple buyers is a pattern. Reviews on GradedVendors are how the TCG community builds that record and protects the next buyer before they find out the hard way.
A Note on Fairness
luckyvaultus has not publicly responded to the Reddit thread, and we're reporting what the community documented — not rendering a verdict on intent. The seller has a substantial feedback history, and one documented complaint doesn't define an entire operation.
What we can say is that the sequence here — an in-stock listing, a label created without the item reaching USPS, contradictory communication from two different representatives, and nearly three weeks without a delivered package — is worth putting on the record. If luckyvaultus has a response or if this situation was resolved, we'll update this post accordingly.
Sources
- Reddit — r/PokemonTCG: "Don't buy from LuckyVaultUS"
- Instagram DM screenshots — shipped confirmation and stalled tracking (submitted by original poster)
- Instagram DM screenshots — "back end person" response contradicting shipped status (submitted by original poster)
- eBay store profile screenshot — luckyvaultus, 99.2% positive, 81K items sold
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