Concerned with shipping product to buyer with PO Box address 0 feedback

Question

I'm long time buyer/seller with eBay, 20+ years. This is a first for me as I have concerns with the shipping address for an item that I sold.

The buyer has zero feedback and the account was created the same day of the sale. My concern is the buyers address is a PO Box at McKenzie Dock in Alaska. I'm assuming it is shipping to the dock location to be combined with additional freight to go overseas.

It all smells fishy to me, and i'm seriously contemplating canceling the auction with refund.

Thoughts?

rock.star · Answer

Alaska is full of fishing fleets with their crews having a PO Box at the Dock to receive their mail.

inceptions · Answer

Hi @wundermutt

I'm not seeing anything in what you wrote as being suspicious. You ship to the address the buyer provided with tracking as usual, and when tracking shows delivery, you're done, freight forwarder or not.

I've personally not seen a freight forwarder use a PO Box (and I've shipped to freight forwarders hundreds of times), but shipping to a PO Box is about the safest place you can ship. (People also might live near docks or work on/near docks wherever there are docks...) Since Alaska has some pretty remote locations, the buyer may not have home delivery.

Personally, I wouldn't cancel a transaction, earn a defect on my record, and give a brand new customer to eBay a bad experience just because the buyer's address is a PO Box and he's new. Old buyers have PO Boxes too.

disneyshopper · Answer

I'm not familiar with any reshippers located in Alaska, but if ebay states OK to ship after the buyer has paid, I'd ship. If the item is more than $750, make sure you have Signature Required on the package.