Buyer name is different than the ship to name
Hello,
I sold a jacket today and the buyer's name is different than the recipient's name on the "ship to" form. Both from the same town/city. I guess they are buying it for a friend or a family...
Is it safe for me to ship it out?
Just wanted to make sure that it's not a scam. The buyer has 12 feedbacks and are all positive.
TIA!
33 comments
sextons-sweet-deals
·2 years agoit's all good folks.
Sometimes you have to think outside the box. How could this go bad without at least confirming with the buyer and have a record of communication on file.
1. Buyer lost their cell phone, or it was stolen, and it was not locked and / or the eBay screen was open. Someone started buying and knows the system.
2. Buyer leaves their computer screen open on eBay. Could a bad roommate or relative start to buy items and changing shipping address. Buyer could have had a recent party with guests that they may not know very well or at all.
What are the odds of these happening? Maybe 50/50, 20/80, or 40/60. Not sure there are any real stats, but you sometimes read a post here that shows what scammer will do just to get something free.
I know eBay states they have the seller back these days, but you have to wonder to what extent and what are the complete rules based on what type of open case the buyer may open because they did not get the item or did not approve purchase.
I recently had an issue with a buyer. They had low feedback. Bought what I would call an expensive item. Checked Google Map. Kind of a wooded area / circle court. The homes around it all had vehicles except the address I was shipping to and the landscape did not look maintained.
I decided to pay the $3.50 for signature required. After the first attempt to deliver, the USPS had to leave notice. Buyer immediately rescheduled. Second attempt was the same result. USPS left what I think is the second and final notice and if the recipient wants it, they will have to come to the post office to pick up. After almost 6 weeks has passed from time of shipment, the package is now on its way back to me.
I'm sure we can all come up with a good 3 to 5 theories on what was possibly going on in this case.
Note: the buyer has never tried to contact me during all this.
simply-the-best-for-you
·2 years agoIf it helps you feel any better, I get these quite literally every other day! Like ALL the time, probably half of my sales if I had to guess. Most of my buyers are older women & so it's super common for the account to be in the husband's name & the ship to to be in the woman's name. Ancient as that custom is, apparently a lot of people still do it. I also have a fair number of dad's accounts where the daughter is the buyer, very obvious by the user names.
You don't have to give it a second thought, just ship to where eBay tells you to ship. If the are different names it doesn't matter. If they are different addresses, it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is if eBay is telling you to ship & that you ship it within your required handling times.
robbie31415
·2 years agoI buy my family stuff all the time and have it shipped directly to them.
Or I have purchased things on road trips and had them delivered to my hotel.
All you have to do is make sure you ship to the address eBay tells you.
stuffygrotto
·2 years agoOnly ship to the EXACT ADDRESS and NAME on the shipping label that ebay provides. Do not alter it. Make sure your method has tracking.
gloryglorygifts
·2 years agoI had this happen just this week. It was Great Grandma and Great Grandpa sending a gift to their grandson for an occasion. Ship it to where ebay tells you to and don't sweat the small stuff.
Welcome and good luck to you!
fern*wood
·2 years agoI must be having a blonde moment, but I don't recall ever seeing a name/address until I'm paid, so where do you see two different names? I even looked at my recent email for a sold item that hadn't paid yet, but it didn't show me any name/address--only their ebay ID. I didn't get a name/address until I got the paid one later on.
pjcdn2005
·2 years agoI think that on sellers hub it shows the account holder's name. On order details it will show the 'ship to' name and address.
johnrj1226
·2 years agoWe buyer stuff in our name and have them shipped to remote family members frequently. As long as the ship to address is stated on the purchase - do that for eBay and other cites.
Never ship to another address at the request of a seller after the item has been paid for - may be a scam.
BTW:: FYI Buyers only can receive Positive Feedback
redmodelt
·2 years agoI have 4 different names and 3 different ship too address in my saved list which is allowed. As long as it is the address/name that shows when you go to ship using what is shown on eBay ok to ship page, you are fine.
legalbeagle52
·2 years agoI've had this happen fairly often. If you're not familiar, at first glance, it does seem worrisome. But as @brightlightbookseller said, it is really simple! Always ship to the shipping address, not to the buyer, if different. No other steps are needed.
Here's a recent scenario, to see how it happens. My daughter lives in another state & just bought me a birthday gift. Since I live across the county, I told her to change the ship to address, while you are making your purchase, at that is what the seller requires. So as you can see the seller in this case received 2 different names & 2 different addresses, not even in the same state.
My seller might have been a bit confused himself , as he put on the thank-you note "my name & my daughters name ???. So he didn't know what the deal was either. I am often overly cautious myself, looking up a seller's address on Google if there's a concern, but NEVER for this reason.
It's always good to check with this board for answers. I still do after 20 yrs. of selling! Good luck with your sales. 😀
soh.maryl
·2 years agoYou have been given excellent advice. You have to ship to the address you are given.
BTW, buyer's FBs will ALWAYS be all positive. Buyers can only be given positive feedback.
ride2livegirl
·2 years agoIf you go through eBay's shipping information for this buyer, all is good. Couples frequently use their partner's accounts. That being said, I've had my share of scammers - the biggest is when someone will message me to contact them outside of eBay (phone #, email, etc.) and I even had someone send me credit card information so that they didn't have to pay via eBay. These are BIG NO-NO's. Once you get a few sales under your belt, the scams will decrease. By the way, not everyone who has zero feedback is a scammer - I had a gal who had never purchased anything via eBay before, but she saw something in my 'store' that she liked so she created an account just to purchase it from me.
Good luck!
sextons-sweet-deals
·2 years agoA new seller is always a target for scammers. Have you reviewed your buyer's profile and all feedback?
Have you tried asking them about the issue? Thay way, you have an e-mail record and eBay can view if needed. If they don't respond, you have your answer.
Have you Google Map the shipping address? What does it look like? Possibly suspicious? Maybe entertain shipping with signature required.
Buyers should not be able to change name & shipping address on any purchase. Just my opinion.
I see you stated: Both from the same town/city. I guess they are buying it for a friend or a family...
That just raises another red flag for me.
Is the jacket high value? Can you afford the risk to ship?
Hope everything works out.
brightlightbookseller
·2 years agoAll those steps are entirely unnecessary. Buyer pays, you ship, to the address provided in the order (never change it, even one character). There are no red flags here. Please don't freak out the new seller unnecessarily.
sextons-sweet-deals
·2 years agoI'm trying help while you and few others are just telling the O.P. to ship.
The O.P. already has their guard up. They are just asking for comments / feedback. They stated the buyer's name is different from the shipping address name.
A new question to O.P.: Are we talking first name, last name, or a completely different name?
What does it hurt to view the buyer's profile, feedback, Google map shipping address, or ask the buyer questions before shipping?
There are so many scams out there and they are constantly changing.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't of any policy where eBay allows name cha
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoNext time you pay for an eBay purchase, take note of the "Change" link right there on the payment form.
inhawaii
·2 years agoName/address change is allowed as long as it is done by the buyer BEFORE the purchase.
legalbeagle52
·2 years agobrightlightbookseller
·2 years agoYou're doing the opposite of helping. You're harming the OP by causing them to worry without cause. There's not a single red flag on this order, nor should they do all that research you're suggesting. They'll only get needlessly worried. If they ship to the address on the order, they're good. Period.
redmodelt
·2 years ago"A new question to O.P.: Are we talking first name, last name, or a completely different name? "
The ship to address/name does not have to be the buyers home account or even same name. As I said, I have several ship to address's that can I use when buying, 3 of which do not have my name or address on them. Two of them are family members at different addresses and sent to them by their name the 3rd is to the shop I use to work at. As long as the address was put in place before paying, it can be used.
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoYikes, way to feed the newbie's paranoia! None of that is necessary or even recommended. There is no "issue" to ask them about. The seller should ship to the name and address that are attached to the payment.
coolections
·2 years ago@sextons-sweet-deals There was no issue so not sure why needed to make a list of endless possibilities that will most likely never happen.
sextons-sweet-deals
·2 years agoHow do you know there is no issue or there won't be an issue after the O.P. ships?
Why do you hide under this I.D. to make comments / posts?
brightlightbookseller
·2 years agoBecause there's literally no issue. As explained repeatedly, this is a normal thing on every platform in existence.
And you should be aware of posting IDs by now. Not everyone is as unconcerned as I am about someone messing with their account.
monster-deals
·2 years agoSo?
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoOn the buyer's payment page, there's a "Change" link where the buyer can easily change the name and/or address, so clearly eBay thinks this sort of alteration is OK.
stainlessenginecovers
·2 years agoHappens all the time; brother, father, wife is using husbands, sisters, aunts or friends account. As stated by others, ship to the address provided and you will be fine.
buyselljack2016
·2 years agoHad one of those back just a bit. Wife bought for husband, or other way around. Not even the same town/city.
As others posted............................ ship to where it is addressed, and life should be good.
Problems are when you get a message to send it someplace else. Then there is something afoul
inhawaii
·2 years agoI disagree.
I always ship to the address on the shipping label.
My life is not all that good. 😉
coolections
·2 years agoI assume they paid. Whatever address and name is on the label when you ship is where you send it. You should not have a problem. I have never even compared the buyer's name with the name on the label.
tomato_potato2
OP2 years agoThanks and yes they have paid for it already! I'm a new seller, just stared this summer and I have been extremely cautious. I think I read too many scammer stories online lol
duffy4444
·2 years ago@tomato_potato2:
Go ahead and ship the item by following eBay procedures for a measure of protection.
Being a new seller, it's good that you're extremely cautions and have been reading a lot of scammer stories. Keep doing that, as you'll have a much better chance of sailing thru all the scams without falling prey to one of them.
Very intelligent and creative scammers and opportunists are everywhere online, whether here at eBay, Amazon, Etsy, or wherever. And it's for both buying AND selling scams. We're mostly concerned about buyer scams, as eBay has the MBG to protect buyers, as opposed to seller protections with holes in it like a leaky sieve that gives scam buyers nearly free reign to get items for free.
Keep vigilant, and feel free to come back here if you have any questions. We're mostly seasoned sellers that are happy to help you.
Cheers, Duffy
inhawaii
·2 years agoIt is "safe" to ship it to the address on the ebay shipping label.