Buyer requests different shipping address in message

[akcustoms]

I have a buyer that sent me a different shipping address in a ebay message requesting I send their package to it rather than the one on their account.  Is it safe to do that? And if so, what’s the best way to do it?

[gosimus]

@akcustoms 

< Is it safe to do that? >    

Absolutely not.  I can't tell if the buyer is deliberately trying to rip you off, or if he's just ignorant.  Either way, if you ship to an address different from the address you received with the payment, you will lose your seller protection.  The buyer can fraudulently claim he never received the item, and eBay will force a refund out of your account.   

< And if so, what’s the best way to do it? >    

There's only one way.  And that's to cancel the transaction, using problem with address as the reason.  Then, you can create a new listing for the item, and have the buyer buy it again.  This time when the buyer goes to pay, he uses the option on the Checkout page to add the new address and select it. 

[inceptions]

And to add to the excellent advice from @gosimus ...

Before you take action, check to be sure the message is coming from the same buyer ID that purchased the item.

If it is, proceed as advised.

If it's not, the member requesting the change is a scammer who is trying to get the package redirected to himself, hoping you won't notice. Use the report option located in the Action dropdown on the message and don't respond.