Philly woman agrees to a Coach purse trade on Depop. She ends up making 35 calls and it only gets worse: ‘my hopes were so high’

A Philadelphia content creator who posts under the name Eva said in a TikTok video that a routine handbag trade on the resale app Depop turned into a weeks-long dispute involving USPS, a police report, and dozens of phone calls. Eva said the other party in the trade, a user she identified as Esme, allegedly failed to ship her end of the deal and later deleted her Depop account.

Eva said she was trying to trade her Coach Soho Baguette bag for the same style in a different color. According to Eva, this type of exchange is common in the Coach resale community and is known as a “trade,” where each person lists their item for one dollar so the two sides can complete a direct swap through Depop’s shipping system.

Eva said she and Esme agreed to the trade and both shipped their labels the next day. However, Eva said Depop later notified her that Esme’s package had not been shipped, and when she checked their messages, she found that Esme had deleted her account.

Woman describes days of calls to USPS trying to stop the package

Eva said she first tried to file a package intercept request with USPS but was told the package did not qualify because it had been shipped through Depop. She said she then contacted Shippo, the shipping label provider Depop uses, and was told an intercept request had been submitted on her behalf. Depop disputes over undelivered items are not uncommon – an NYC woman canceled an order after a week of no shipping only for the seller to claim no returns. 

The next morning, Eva said she called USPS corporate and was told the request would depend on the local post office reaching the package before delivery. She said she then obtained the number for the Mesa, Arizona post office, where the package was headed, and called it 35 times without anyone answering.

By Monday evening, Eva said she had accepted that the package would likely not be delivered. She described her mindset at the time in her video, saying, “Okay, you know what? A loss is a loss. Like, this is a lesson learned for me. I just won’t do this again. I can’t trust everyone on the internet.”

The following Tuesday, Eva said her local postmaster called to tell her the package had been marked for an intercept and would be returned. She said she was thrilled by the update, but the excitement did not last. By that afternoon, Eva said the tracking information had not changed, and she called USPS corporate again to confirm the intercept, only to be told they could not verify it on their end.

While traveling to Florida, Eva said she checked the tracking again after landing and found that the package had, in fact, been delivered to Esme’s address. Describing the letdown, Eva said in her video, “My hopes were so high just for it to be let down again.” Such delivery disputes can leave buyers empty-handed, as a Chicago woman’s Goodwill find of a Coach purse was later marred by a shopper pointing out a flaw. 

The next day, while in line for a ride at Disney, Eva said she received another call from her postmaster, who told her a carrier had gone back to the delivery address to attempt to recover the package. According to Eva, a woman answered the door and said she did not have a package but would ask her daughter, whom Eva believed to be Esme.

Eva said Esme later messaged her from a new Depop account, claiming she had shipped her bag and offering to pay half its value instead. Eva said she contacted Depop, which told her the tracking number on Esme’s package showed no shipping activity.

In a second video, Eva said she gave Esme three options: complete the trade, return the bag, or pay $180, which she said was below the bag’s resale value of up to $300. Eva said Esme responded by saying she would no longer send the bag because she felt threatened, a claim Eva pushed back on in her video, saying, “You can’t use my bag as leverage against me.”

Eva said she eventually repurchased her own bag on Depop for one dollar using a free shipping promotion after Esme said she would ship it again. When the item still had not shipped after several more days, Eva said she opened a formal complaint with USPS.

According to Eva, a stationmaster from the Arizona post office called her about 20 minutes after the complaint was filed and arranged a second recovery attempt. Eva said the carrier was told by a Spanish-speaking woman at the residence that she would look for the package but did not return. On a follow-up attempt, Eva said an English-speaking woman at the same address denied having any package.

Eva said the postmaster confirmed to her that intercepted packages should be flagged in the system both when scanned at the post office and upon delivery. She said she then filed a police report and was later notified that police had spoken with those involved in the case.

Eva said Esme agreed to ship the bag shortly after the police report was filed. In her video, she said the bag was on its way back to her, though she noted she had not yet confirmed its condition.

The video drew a range of reactions in the comments section. One commenter wrote, “It literally flashes on the screen obnoxiously when it’s scanned arrival at the post office,” referring to how an intercepted package is marked in the system. Eva replied, “oh! great to know LMAOO.” Another commenter echoed a similar point, writing, “Literally screams package intercept.”

A separate commenter described a similar experience with a package intercept, writing, “I’ve had a package that was supposed to be intercepted and I never got notified at all and then had to go to the house and get it back. Thankfully she complied and did give the package back and followed me down to talk with the pm but I don’t think the carrier was at fault bc I’ve been there.”

Other commenters praised Eva’s handling of the situation. One wrote, “This level of tenacity, pettiness and follow through makes my heart sing!! Kudos to you for standing your ground and holding all those who are accountable!!” Eva responded, “HEHEHE THANK YOUU proof that i will literally go to the ends of the earth for justice.. i would’ve been a good lawyer in another life.”

Another commenter shared a separate negative experience with Depop, writing, “This is why I don’t like Depop. I bought a camera and I saw it was sent but I never got it. Depop ended up giving me all money back. I never trust that website anymore.”