Buyer with no feedback & no real name on shipping
I’m a very new seller & already have had 1 attempted scam (which I was able to resolve thanks to reading some good suggestions I found on these boards), so I’m a bit more cautious now.
Wondering if you guys can tell me what you would do in this situation: I have a buyer who just bought a couple of books I listed. I offered a free 30day return in the listing. The buyer has paid, but he has zero feedback and has been a member since 2020. Also it’s being shipped to a username (Can 86), in Tulsa, not a real person. I see no company by that name in Tulsa, and looking up the address, it appears it’s a multi family home (duplex maybe). I’m skeptical that this could be a scam of some sort, especially bc it’s plain that I’m a very new seller (just 6 reviews so far).
Would you cancel this order? My only concern with that is that I just had to cancel someone’s order due to an error on my part. I did message that buyer with an explanation & apology & so far I don’t see that it’s impacted my rating negatively, but I’m concerned that a 2nd cancellation will reflect negatively on me. Idk how that works or if cancellations reflect negatively on you or not.
Any guidance from you guys on how to proceed would be much appreciated. Thanks.
casprrr
·2 years agoWhen a buyer has paid and have provided a valid shipping address, they have done what is necessary on their end. It's up to the seller to do the next step, that is packing and shipping the item within their shipping window. Probably a good idea to leave positive feedback if all goes well so that the buyer can begin to get some positive feedback ratings.
ashers*house
OP2 years agoGood tip on the feedback, thank you, I’ll do that.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoI google addresses from time to time.
Did it today because the (British) address did not have a street and number, and while the county sounded familiar, it was also a bit strange.
Turned out to be a gorgeous old manor house in Scotland being run as a B&B.
And the address was fine both with Google and with the Royal Mail.
So I shipped.
Then I took a virtual tour of Rothesay since I had the screen open. A nice break in the day.
BTW. Apparently it is possible to have your building blurred out on GoogleStreet View. There is a rather scruffy apartment building on our local main drag that did this for no apparent reason.
https://www.google.com/maps/@48.426485,-123.3221493,3a,75y,180h,80.65t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sskZXc7AnisHbgj5EvYEmzw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
toomuchstuffagain35
·2 years agoNever seen that before, but easily defeated by moving a couple of houses down and rotating LOL
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoYes. That's why it is odd.
I feel more suspicious of gated communities which have not allowed the Google camera car in, although that is their right. I suppose they are also able to block porch pirates, at least those who do not live in the community.
While researching for a novel, I found that this is also common on Indian reserves, and I was able to make it a bit of local colour.
gloryglorygifts
·2 years agoLOL, now that's a really deep dive.
Every day I get phone calls from someone saying I came to shop at your store and there's a house there. As a .com, Google maps is not my friend. 😀
retro_entertainment_collectibles
·2 years agoAs a new seller you as a matter of thumb should sell low ticket items that preferably are not breakable. Establish at least 50-75 positive ratings and then start looking at selling items of better $ returns. You're goal right now should be avoiding all potential problems and establishing a 100% feedback record within 50-75 (preferably 100) transactions. Be careful as well to not solicit feedback, that's a be careful what you ask for might just get it.
ashers*house
OP2 years agoAwesome tips, thanks so much! I’ll make note of this and use your advice here to get started. So far I’m at 100% and hope to keep it that way. My son-in-law is a big EBay seller but they’re traveling here for Thanksgiving and he was unavailable to ask and I needed to know right away so I could ship or not before the post office closed, so I asked here. This was my first post but I’ve been reading the forums since I began selling and I’ve seen so much good advice here. Once I was able to speak to him, he agreed with everyone here, and said he ships to unknown names and people with no feedback all the time without any issue.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoI would ship the item. There is no valid reason for you to cancel it. Not sure which item it was/is but the items you have sold are not high value and probably not high on a scammers target list unless there is something I am not seeing.
gloryglorygifts
·2 years agoThey paid, you ship to the address registered on ebay using their labels. Buyers can check out as guests on here, so a zero doesn't always mean trouble.
There's a difference between being cautious and paranoid. Don't get into doing background checks on all of your customers. You will drive yourself nuts. Just ship when ebay tells you to and follow the policies and you will be fine.
Welcome and good luck to you!
soh.maryl
·2 years agoNot only don't get into doing background checks on customers, but please do not come here and tell us you googled their address and looked at it via street view. There is nothing to be gained by either of those two activities.
gloryglorygifts
·2 years agoExactly right.
ashers*house
OP2 years agoNo I didn’t use street view. I’m not THAT paranoid. I put in the address and the first search page said it was a multi family dwelling. I shared that I’m the post in case it stood out to anyone as a red flag. I appreciate all the replies and it seems most are saying not to be concerned. Thank you for your help!
Why would a multi family dwelling bring up red flags? It’s probably an apartment building or complex.
ashers*house
OP2 years agoI don’t know, all I could think was how would they be able to get their item if the package didn’t have a real name and it was being sent to a multi dwelling and did that mean there was a scam involved somehow, so I shared that detail in case it was important. I still have a lot to learn about shipping and selling and what is and isn’t something to be concerned about, and it’s a challenge when you’re on the spectrum and complicate and way overanalyze everything, but it looks like everyone is saying there’s nothing to worry about so I went ahead and shipped it.
a_c_green
·2 years agoThe post office is generally not concerned with the name on the first line, unless (1) that person has requested to have their mail held, but not anyone else's at that address, or (2) the package is being shipping as Restricted Delivery Signature Confirmation, in which case the person named in the address is the only one who can sign for it. Neither applies in this case.
This would not indicate a scam, as your only delivery obligation is to show a Delivered tracking status to the City and ZIP of the address you received with the payment. Name of the addressee doesn't matter.
ashers*house
OP2 years agoGot it, thank you for the info.
skatefool
·2 years agoThere is if you ship FedEx~ commercial -vs- residential rate...
ashers*house
OP2 years agoThanks, I appreciate your advice. And for the welcome. Glad to be here!
bonjourami
·2 years agoYou probably got a defect for canceling that first order, cancelations are the kiss of death for any seller. You can find it in your seller dashboard.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoHe may still have been buying and selling since 2020 , but has not left or received any feedback. Or he may have joined to bid unsuccessfully in an auction, so no completed transactions.
If you cancel a second sale so soon, you may have enough Defects for eBay to close your selling account forever.
This is why we discourage newbies from selling high value/high fraud products. It's not the possible loss of the item, it's the possible Defects.
Even that first cancellation may mean it takes longer than usual for you to move out of the Hold Funds category that all new seller are in, and it will be harder to have your restrictions on the number and value of your listings dropped.
ashers*house
OP2 years agoGreat tips, thanks! This is very helpful.
heckofagame
·2 years agoThe tracking is based on location, not the buyer's name.
toomuchstuffagain35
·2 years agoIf the user is only a buyer and not a seller, they can have their purchases sent to Mickey Mouse if they want to.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoAnd I bet Mickey is waiting eagerly for exactly that to happen.
ashers*house
OP2 years agoYour sarcasm isn’t necessary. Maybe it’s a dumb question to you but it’s not to me. I’m still learning.
inhawaii
·2 years agoI don't think it was sarcasm. more like light-hearted humor.
We could use a little more of here in my opinion.
@soh.maryl is a very helpful member of the community, especially with newbies.
I'm glad you found the answers you are looking for.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoThank you for your support. It WAS meant as a joke, but maybe too subtle?
Was just picturing in my mind, Mickey at Walt Disney World suddenly deluged with packages because the USPS recognized the famous name and paid no attention to the actual address.
Did apologize to the OP, however.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoThank you for your support. It WAS meant as a joke, but maybe too subtle?
Was just picturing in my mind, Mickey at Walt Disney World suddenly deluged with packages because the USPS recognized the famous name and paid no attention to the actual address.
Did apologize to the OP, however.
I have lived in the same house for 20 years. You cannot believe the amount of mail I get that has the correct address but the wrong name. I have also had the same mail person delivering my mail for at least the last 5 years.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoI've been here since 1998 and had the same mail carrier until he retired this year.
I still get mail for people that lived here years before I did.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoWhich post did you find sarcastic? The one where I said, "Don't get into the habit of googling addresses or looking up street view" or the one where I said that Mickey was probably waiting for his package after someone mentioned that a package can be addressed to Mickey Mouse?
Whichever it was that offended you, I am sorry.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoNot exactly sure that I suggested you asked a dumb question.
There are NO dumb questions here.
yuzuha
·2 years agoI once shipped a sale to a "Fat Pikachu." They left me positive feedback, too.