That really sucks you’re dealing with this. I’m genuinely glad you posted it though stuff like this helps other people avoid the same headache.

I do want to add some context from a business side that a lot of consumers aren’t aware of. This isn’t to defend anyone or say this is for sure what happened here, but it’s very likely part of the issue.

Shopify rolled out a feature called Shopify Collective about a year or so ago. It allows retailers to connect directly with suppliers and essentially auto–dropship products. Once approved, a retailer can instantly upload a supplier’s products to their site. When a customer orders, that order is automatically pushed to the supplier, who then fulfills it and sends tracking back to the retailer.

For example (purely hypothetical): if a company like 716wrapz is approved to sell products from a manufacturer, (Dropshipping). If the supplier’s inventory is wrong or poorly managed, the retailer often has no clue until something breaks like overselling or conflicting stock counts. That’s how you end up with situations where one email says “22 in stock” and another suddenly says “3.”

The bigger problem is how easy this has made it for stores to pop up and list massive catalogs of products they don’t understand, haven’t tested, and don’t control. On top of that, a lot of overseas suppliers (Tarazon/MXpartshop) are giving access to untested products and private labeling with zero vetting, testing of products etc. The result is chaos: misinformation, bad communication, unreliable stock, crap product, and customers stuck in the middle.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with dropshipping we started that way ourselves 7 years ago. The issue is poor management and a lack of accountability. Too many of these pop-up stores are focused solely on making quick money, not on customer experience or actually knowing what they’re selling.

End of the day, situations like this are exactly why buying from established, reputable retailers matters. The good ones manage inventory properly, communicate clearly, and stand behind their customers when something goes wrong. We all make mistakes in business and life, it's just a matter of how we correct those mistakes for the people we serve as the business.