Buyer wants item sent to her a different address...

[postingwiththis]

Hi. I sold an item and the Buyer wants it shipped to her sister's address in a different state, supposedly as a gift, which could be the case (it's not a phone or anything; value about $50.00).  I informed her that I would not be covered by Seller protection if I shipped to her sister's address and told her she needed to add that address so I would be covered. I haven't sold in awhile. Is this still the case? What should I do if she refuses? Thanks for the suggestions

[postingwiththis]

Well, she may not be as bad as she seems OR she's got something else up her sleeve. Her latest message was that it's ok to just ship to her address that she's already paid with and she'll have someone ship the item to her at her sister's (she's going for a visit and this was supposed to be a gift to her). She also apologized, for what that's worth. Overall, I think this may turn out well. Still saved her messages through Ebay in case anything fishy comes up, hopefully not.  If it does, I'll be back for more advice on how to proceed. Thanks for all the advice!

[couldabeenworse]

Most legit gift buyers ask for something a little extra for their gift to make it special.

I don't believe that is true.  In fact, I don't think I've ever had a gift buyer request anything other than to ship to the alternate address.

Personally I believe that there should only be one address in paypal for the item to be shipped to and it should match the address that is registered on the site that is using it.

Unfortunately for you, the entire rest of eCommerce wants to actually make it easy for buyers to purchase stuff.

[couldabeenworse]

she may not be as bad as she seems

Seriously?  Someone who wants an alternate shipping address seems bad?????

[retrose1]

My attitude as a seller is that once a buyer trys something suspicious, I will do anything to get out of the transaction because if they tried one method, they will try another once they get the item.

You do not want to ship anything to her, no matter the address.

Is the item a common one - can she get it anywhere else?   How much recent (in the past year) selling feedback do you have?  If less than the value of the item, then you have been targeted by a scammer.

The buyer is settling on the what she is suggesting as a minor inconvenience, so she can get her hands on the item.  The minute she does that she will find something wrong with it and file a Not Described dispute against you to attempt to get it for free.

Since you can not ship/get into the postal system until Monday, don't you think it's suspicious that she doesn't want to just rebuy the item today?  After all, she is in contact with you to tell you to do things.

[retrose1]

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@couldabeenworse wrote:

Most legit gift buyers ask for something a little extra for their gift to make it special.

I don't believe that is true.  In fact, I don't think I've ever had a gift buyer request anything other than to ship to the alternate address.

Personally I believe that there should only be one address in paypal for the item to be shipped to and it should match the address that is registered on the site that is using it.

Unfortunately for you, the entire rest of eCommerce wants to actually make it easy for buyers to purchase stuff.

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You have never had the buyer ask to not include price, never asked if it was possible to gift wrap the item, never asked if it could be delivered by xxx date? 

If there is only one address in paypal, buyers can still buy.

[postingwiththis]

I agree with Retrose. Even if I shipped to her sister's address, she still could file an NAD case, so it doesn't matter where it's shipped to. With that, if she wanted to rip me off, she could do it either way. The item in question is a doll (for those who want to know). It is a doll that most certainly can be found quite easily on Ebay. If she pulls something fishy, there's nothing I can do as you well know. Buyers can file NAD and send a phone book back and us Sellers are screwed because according to Ebay, they don't know what was originally sent, which truth is they don't. They will take the Buyer's side and if she is indeed a scammer, she knows this as well. I'm not attacking her character, but I have been ripped off with this particular doll once before, but mostly when I sell these all goes well. 

[couldabeenworse]

Even if I shipped to her sister's address, she still could file an NAD case, so it doesn't matter where it's shipped to.

So, if a buyer is a scammer (as retrose has, as usual, proclaimed), you save yourself nothing by not shipping to the gift address?

[retrose1]

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@couldabeenworse wrote:

Even if I shipped to her sister's address, she still could file an NAD case, so it doesn't matter where it's shipped to.

So, if a buyer is a scammer (as retrose has, as usual, proclaimed), you save yourself nothing by not shipping to the gift address?

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If the buyer is a scammer then the OP will save themselves everything by canceling the transaction.

And since I usually answer threads that deal with scammers, then of course I will proclaim the buyer a scammer.

[postingwiththis]

I don't want to anger her and have her go after any future auctions (even if blocked, she can use another ID--good luck trying to connect the two). Overall, I think this sounds ok and I am the type that well, what's meant to be will be. As far as WHY she negged those other seller for non-delivery, there were only 3 negs and who know what happened with those sellers? These were all over a year ago. After further checking into the positives she's left for other sellers, there are TONS. My reasoning here is IF she were a scammer, I'd think there would be many, many more negs about items not delivered. Looking on the "other side of the fence", how do we know those  sellers really DIDN'T take her money and not send her anything? The positives way outweigh the negatives in this case. You have to take all that into consideration. Maybe I should have mentioned the pages and pages of positives she's left sellers recently (I went through 6 pages). Fault probably lies with those 3 sellers. We shall see...

[postingwiththis]

Couldabeenworse, upon further inspection into a minimum of 6 pages of quick scanning of her Feedback Left for Others, I have to admit the fault might just lie with the ONLY 3 sellers she's ever negged. She has over 700 feedback and pages, upon pages, upon pages of positives she's left for other sellers. In the end, what's meant to be will be. Who's to say those sellers really didn't scam her and send her nothing? I'd think her negatives left for sellers would be a lot worse if she was a scammer. These 3 negs may be warranted. There are samming sellers out there ya know. For whomever asked the question earlier, I have well over 1,300 feedback, all 100% at the moment.

[emerald40]

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@vintagethings2000 wrote:

For me it depends on what the item is!  if it is under $50 and only has value to a specific person or specific installation, than i go ahead and ship to there desired address, anything that can be re-sold easily i would ask the customer to change the address.

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Cost should not make a difference if doing it encourages her to try it on someone else.  It is how some scammers start.

I always preface - per ebay's rules, I am only allowed to ship to address on your paypal account.  This way it cuts them off from asking you to try and send it a different way.

[couldabeenworse]

I'd think her negatives left for sellers would be a lot worse if she was a scammer.

I suppose somebody will be along shortly to explain that few negs means they're "trying to stay under the radar".  If they think hard enough, everything a buyer does is a sign of a scam: leaves negs, doesn't leave negs, asks for refund, doesn't ask, emails too late, emails too soon.

Anyway, as you already know, very few transactions turn out to be scams for most sellers, and since your buyer's request is not out of the ordinary, there's no good reason to treat it like one.  You are entitled to choose not to ship to an alternate address if it makes you uncomfortable, but failing to ship to the original address is inappropriate at this point.

[postingwiththis]

I have already said I am shipping to the original address. That was one of two options I gave her. Anyhow, I'll let you all know how this turns out. I think the fault lies with the ONLY 3 sellers she's ever negged. If she wanted to "stay under the radar", why after all her the feedback she has, would she start now? There are scamming sellers out there as well.

[couldabeenworse]

I have already said I am shipping to the original address.

Yes, sorry if it seemed like I was saying otherwise.  I think you handled this well, and hope things go smoothly for you.

[retrose1]

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@postingwiththis wrote:

I have already said I am shipping to the original address. That was one of two options I gave her. Anyhow, I'll let you all know how this turns out. I think the fault lies with the ONLY 3 sellers she's ever negged. If she wanted to "stay under the radar", why after all her the feedback she has, would she start now? There are scamming sellers out there as well.

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Good luck with that.

There are loads of posters that tell OPs that come here that buyers are honest and they should ship or refund every buyer complaint because they are incapable of seeing a scam.  But it isn't their money they will be losing and it is easy to spend someone elses money.

In the interm waiting period you might want to brush up on your options when you get a snad dispute.  While most transactions have no problems, when the buyer makes a request that doubles as a scam a large number of times, that is not a normal transaction and everything that buyer does after the request should be analyzed for the sellers safety.  My bet is that if the doll is breakable, they will claim it arrived broke.

If they have that much feedback, they know how to enter the correct ship address in paypal. 

Report the buyer for unreasonable demands now so if there are problems later, you already have groundwork laid that the buyer was a problem.

There is a local guy that hung around one of the auctions that I go to and he bragged all the time about how he gets at least half the items he buys on ebay refunded - and he buys a lot.  He mostly makes snad complaints, but wasn't above using other methods because his goal was to get the item for free.  His feedback looked great and he had lots of ids.  There are lots of professional scammers operating on ebay and they know how to keep their id looking good in order to get the seller to do what they want.