Getting scammed

[figgysfinds]

Hi Everyone 

I’m new to the selling community and I have an order to a Portland, OR address that eBay doesn’t recognize. As such I googled buyers address and an old thread from 2023 popped up about this address scamming a seller of an iPhone. My buyer has same address. Is this something to worry about and if so, what can I do to protect myself beside adding signature required/tracking with shipping? I have already reached out to buyer to confirm address. Thanks guys! 

[a_c_green]

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@figgysfinds wrote:

Hi Everyone 

I’m new to the selling community and I have an order to a Portland, OR address that eBay doesn’t recognize. 

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"Doesn't recognize" in what way? Are they telling you that it is paid and time to ship, but you are unable to buy a label for that address?

It appears that you have found a buyer who is using a Portland, OR reshipper. You would find them mentioned in scam reports simply because they serve thousands of international buyers, so it's inevitable that some scammers may use their service too, since they provide a domestic address for buyers when purchasing from sellers who do not themselves sell internationally. You will probably find only bad reports on-line, since no one who is happy with their purchase is going to go on-line just to loudly announce that everything went fine. This is not the fault of the reshipper.

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@figgysfinds wrote:

Is this something to worry about and if so, what can I do to protect myself beside adding signature required/tracking with shipping?

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This is not something to worry about. You do not need to add Signature Confirmation on a sale below $750, because standard Delivery Confirmation will give you the same seller protection against an Item Not Received claim for free. Your delivery obligation is complete as soon as the package reaches the address you received with the payment. Any return requested later would need to originate from the address to which you shipped, not from whatever country received it in the end.

[crazystuff4sale]

The first thing to know is don't ship to a different address than what's on the order.

If the customer ordered to the wrong address you would need to cancel that order and have them purchase again with their correct address.

[mam98031]

@figgysfinds 

We need you to come back and explain a few things.  What do you mean that "ebay doesn't recognize" the address.  The address on the order from the buyer is where you are suppose to be shipping to.  I simply don't know what you mean by Ebay doesn't recognize it?????

In Ebay, as a seller you are REQUIRED to ship to the address given to you on the sales order and no other address or you will not be protected by Seller Protection on the transaction.

[figgysfinds]

Hi

When I went to buy the shipping label through eBay, I got a pop up message that said “address not recognized” and to contact buyer to confirm correct shipping address. I’ll try to get a screen shot of it. Thanks for your reply. 

[figgysfinds]

Hi

Thanks for replying. So yes when I went to buy the shipping label a message popped up that said “address not recognized contact buyer to confirm address” and would not allow me to purchase a shipping label. I contacted the buyer who at 12:14AM responded that she lives in Singapore and is using the Portland address as a forwarding address since she’s in Singapore. But wouldn’t the time stamp on her message to me be the time in Singapore which would be 3:14PM? I just don’t want to get scammed and since I’m a newbie I’m trying to figure this out. Thanks 

[figgysfinds]

Ok so I tried again to buy shipping label and the error message says, “the shipping to address contains invalid or missing fields. Please amend this and buy your label”.  What do I amend? Thanks

[figgysfinds]

Thanks for your help and clarification. The error message said the buyers address has invalid or missing fields, please amend to buy a shipping label. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to amend. 

[mam98031]

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@figgysfinds wrote:

Ok so I tried again to buy shipping label and the error message says, “the shipping to address contains invalid or missing fields. Please amend this and buy your label”.  What do I amend? Thanks

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You should cancel the transaction using the reason that there is a problem with the address and refund the buyer.  Do not try to ship this item.

[dbfolks166mt]

Thanks for your help and clarification. The error message said the buyers address has invalid or missing fields, please amend to buy a shipping label. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to amend. 

     You amend nothing. Never change the address the buyer has associated with their account at the time of purchase. As mam98031 mentioned cancel this order using problem with buyers address.

     You can contact the buyer and let them know that they need to change the address of the freight forwarder they are using as you cannot currently purchase a label for that address. You may be able to help them if there is something that stands out as being incorrect in the address like a spelling error or state abbreviation. Let them know that they can repurchase the item once they have corrected the shipping address. As others mentioned generally there is nothing wrong with buyers who use FF. I have shipped a lot of items to buyers who use FF'ers and have never had a problem. 

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@figgysfinds wrote:

Hi Everyone 

I’m new to the selling community and I have an order to a Portland, OR address that eBay doesn’t recognize. As such I googled buyers address and an old thread from 2023 popped up about this address scamming a seller of an iPhone. My buyer has same address. Is this something to worry about and if so, what can I do to protect myself beside adding signature required/tracking with shipping? I have already reached out to buyer to confirm address. Thanks guys! 

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Have had some issues with some drop shippers in the Portland area in the past. Same thing with some in Florida. As others have stated, just cancel (Choose address issue). It would be a good idea to reach out to the buyer and let them know the issue. It may be an honest mistake or glitch. If they still want it, just have them correct their address, relist the item and have the re purchase.

-Good luck

[luckythewinner]

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@figgysfinds wrote:

Hi

Thanks for replying. So yes when I went to buy the shipping label a message popped up that said “address not recognized contact buyer to confirm address” and would not allow me to purchase a shipping label. I contacted the buyer who at 12:14AM responded that she lives in Singapore and is using the Portland address as a forwarding address since she’s in Singapore. But wouldn’t the time stamp on her message to me be the time in Singapore which would be 3:14PM? I just don’t want to get scammed and since I’m a newbie I’m trying to figure this out. Thanks 

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A few thoughts:

I would not amend the address, because doing so could affect your eBay seller protection because eBay may not accept delivery confirmation to a different address.

People outside the USA use freight forwarders all the time, and scams that involve a freight forwarder may have nothing to do with the freight forwarder itself. After all, people use the USPS for scams all the time but that does not mean that every buyer who uses the USPS is a scammer.

Timestamps on messages are not necessarily an indication of anything.

IMHO the safest thing is to cancel the transaction citing "problem with the address", and tell the buyer to verify their shipping address through the USPS or UPU website.

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/International-addressing-requirements

https://www.upu.int/UPU/media/upu/PostalEntitiesFiles/addressingUnit/sgpEn.pdf

[figgysfinds]

This is helpful thank you! I’ll check out the websites you mentioned. Appreciate it. 

[mam98031 · Accepted solution]

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@chevymontecarlo88 wrote:

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@figgysfinds wrote:

Hi Everyone 

I’m new to the selling community and I have an order to a Portland, OR address that eBay doesn’t recognize. As such I googled buyers address and an old thread from 2023 popped up about this address scamming a seller of an iPhone. My buyer has same address. Is this something to worry about and if so, what can I do to protect myself beside adding signature required/tracking with shipping? I have already reached out to buyer to confirm address. Thanks guys! 

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Have had some issues with some drop shippers in the Portland area in the past. Same thing with some in Florida. As others have stated, just cancel (Choose address issue). It would be a good idea to reach out to the buyer and let them know the issue. It may be an honest mistake or glitch. If they still want it, just have them correct their address, relist the item and have the re purchase.

-Good luck

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This isn't a problem with a Freight Forwarder, it is a problem with the ship to address the buyer gave.  The seller should not get the address corrected, they simply should cancel the sale with the reason there is a problem with the ship to address, refund the buyer and email the buyer why they cancelled the transaction.

Then the seller can repost the item on Ebay if they want.  The buyer can repurchase if they desire and hopefully they will have their ship to address corrected.

Most transactions going to a Freight Forwarder are not issues.  Most of the transactions go off just fine just like most transactions overall on Ebay process just fine.  There of course is an issue from time to time.  Sometimes a legit one and sometimes it is someone trying to take advantage of another.

[mam98031]

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@figgysfinds wrote:

This is helpful thank you! I’ll check out the websites you mentioned. Appreciate it. 

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@figgysfinds 

Are you saying you still have not done anything with this transaction?  You need to make a decision and move on.  You need to handle this within your stated handling time on the purchase.  What I shared with you last night is your safest way to handle the transaction and it will not harm the health of your selling account.  Please let us know what you decide to do.

Back in post #9 [last night] I posted this:

‎05-06-2024 12:45 AM

@figgysfinds wrote:

Ok so I tried again to buy shipping label and the error message says, “the shipping to address contains invalid or missing fields. Please amend this and buy your label”.  What do I amend? Thanks

You should cancel the transaction using the reason that there is a problem with the address and refund the buyer.  Do not try to ship this item.