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Chinese Buyer, Portland area address.
I sold an item recently and the winning bidder was an account with low feedback (13) and all of it was over 12 months old so it shows as 0% positive feedback. When I click on their account it has a Chinese name and "China" as the location. On the completed payment, the shipping address is a different (and semi-nonsensical) American name and a Portland-area address. It appears the payment has cleared and ebay has not flagged the buyer's account. I am skeptical because I had a similar situation for the same item (clothing article) 6 months ago and thankfully I was delayed in shipping it out because ebay contacted me 5 days after the auction stating not to send the item and buyer's account had been closed.
I am tempted to just cancel the order and block the buyer. I am not confident in the protection I have as a seller if the buyer were to A) claim they didn't receive it or B) claim something was wrong with it and return some alternate item.
What would you do? Also, are there any extra steps I can take to ensure I'm protected if they attempt fraud?
member0852
OP2 years agoI've asked them to confirm the shipping address and they've said:
"This is my friend's address, I'll have my friend forward it to me, as I'm away from home right now.
I could potentially see this being an easier explanation in a foreign language than trying to explain that they are using a freight forwarder. If this IS a forwarder, do they usually have odd names such as "billgenius GHLMEF"?
inceptions
Mentor2 years agoNot sure why you are asking your buyer to confirm his address. If I were the buyer, that would make ME very suspicious.
It's possible it's a friend, it's possible it's a relative, it's possible it's a freight forwarder...it doesn't matter. The buyer does not need to provide an explanation. Your job is to ship to the address the buyer provided on his payment.
member0852
OP2 years agoBecause I read on here that it may be beneficial in the event of a claim. Also, when their ebay ID name is "Zuhui" they sign messages as "Rick" and the ship-to address is "Billgenius" I'd like to at least ask if they can repeat where the item is going. There are dozens of community posts about getting scammed by buyers and much of the feedback is basically "there's not a lot of seller protection, sorry".
As a seller with 100% feedback selling to a suspect account, why WOULDN'T I ask as a modicum of insurance when I'm the one at risk here?
inceptions
Mentor2 years agoI guess my question in return would be, if you ask the question of a scammer, what makes you think he is going to tell you the truth? It doesn't change what you are contractually bound to do and that is to ship to your buyer.
Your member ID doesn't match your real name. And if you are shipping to someone other than yourself, that would be a different name too. It just seems like you are looking for problems.
Almost every community post is going to be about a problem. Few people come here to post about how well everything is going.
member0852
OP2 years agoI would expect them to lie but it would be telling if they messed up part of the address or provided something different. At a minimum it would be nice to have them reiterate that yes, XYZ Rd in Anytown, USA was correct OR that they're using a reshipper.
I am not talking about their member ID. When you look at your "sold items list" the actual name tied to the member ID is shown. I'm also not looking for problems, would you not be at least a little concerned if there were 3+ names associated with an overseas account, no recent feedback, and correspondence that adds ambiguity?
It doesn't matter now, the item is in the mail and I'll report back how it goes. If this works out then I'll happily admit that my skepticism was misplaced but I given the context I don't think raising some concern was erroneous. I'm curious what would get you to reconsider your "contractual bound" to a buyer...
inceptions
Mentor2 years agoI might find it curious, but I wouldn't consider not shipping to my buyer unless there were actual red flags and the item was very expensive (in the hundreds or thousands of dollars). I would not seek to earn a defect on my account for something like this. Remember that your communicating with someone who make not even speak English.
Since there are no guarantees that a transaction will not go south, sellers shouldn't sell anything they cannot afford to lose if it does.
You'll of course make your own decision. I can only advise you based on 19 years of selling and shipping 72,000+ items (including items shipped through package forwarders and to alternate recipients on a regular basis).
jacbarcollectibles
Mentor2 years agoAlthough all reshippers operate differently that is most likely the address format that they use to identify the actual buyer. The code in capitals probably identifies the buyer to the system so the package is consolidated correctly.
inceptions
Mentor2 years agoInternational buyers use freight forwarders all the time. It's very common. I'd much rather ship to a freight forwarder than directly to the buyer in another country. Your responsibility ends when the package is scanned at delivery in Portland.
disneyshopper
Mentor2 years agoYour seller in China is using a reshipper/freight forwarder. Your obligation is to send the package to the SHIP TO address attached to the payment. Once tracking shows DELIVERED to the reshipper, your obligation is over. The buyer loses buyer protection if the item is forwarded. If they want to return the item, they will have to get it to the reshipper and have the reshipper send it back, because when the buyer files the Returns Request, what they will get is a shipping label addressed from the reshipper, so the buyer needs to get the item and label to the reshipper to send back to you. I think the buyer may find it too troublesome and time consuming and change their mind.