A Buyer with two address's. A previous that popped up. I sent the item before it was paid for

[armyvett]

by mistake along with the tracking number. A few days later I get a message that the item was delivered. I went back to the Invoice address and discovered a different address in the same state and same town same name. The buyer filed a claim for not receiving the item. I messaged them about this. They claimed they did not live there and continued the claim. eBay went ahead and sent them 200.00 with shipping and taxes. They did not hear me out about this. You talk to a dummy chat that keeps on repeating the same old thing. No human contact what so ever. I am out the money and the item. If you call the eBay support number you get another dummy chat on phone. I have a 100% feedback and using eBay since 1997. So sad!

[armyvett]

Almost immediately after auction I go send invoice. I write down the name and address. I prepare for packaging and use my own label then to the PO. What did I do wrong besides not buying ebay label and shipping to soon. The shipping address ebay furnished me was wrong and  now I am out the total cost and the item. I have been doing this since many of the ebayers were still in diapers. 

[jerseyboymusic]

@armyvett 

Ebay does not provide the shipping address... the buyer does

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@armyvett wrote: .... I write down the name and address. I prepare for packaging and use my own label then to the PO. What did I do wrong besides not buying ebay label and shipping to soon. The shipping address ebay furnished me was wrong ...

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As noted earlier, your mistake was in shipping too soon.  When a buyer pays for their purchase, they can change the name and/or address.  There's a "Change" link right there on the payment page.  If the buyer changes the address, then the newly revised address becomes the one that is covered through the seller protection policy.  

You shipped to an obsolete address because you did not wait to see what address was attached to the payment.  You cannot shift the blame onto eBay or the buyer, because the buyer followed eBay policies.

[pjcdn2005]

As others have mentioned buyers have been allowed to change their address at payment for a long time so the address you saw on the invoice was not the address that the buyer entered when they paid. We are responsible for sending to the payment address, not the invoice address.  eBay isn't responsible in this case if you did not send the item to the payment address. I'm sorry that it is such an expensive lesson. Hopefully the people at the address that the item was sent to do write return to sender on the package.

Normally we don't see any address for the buyer until they pay. Since ebay sends an invoice, I don't normally send an invoice unless it is for combined shipping.  But even then, there is no guarantee that invoice address will stay the same.

[wastingtime101]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

Hopefully the people at the address that the item was sent to do write return to sender on the package.

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Which leads me to a suggestion for @armyvett :

Snail mail a letter to the address where you shipped explaining what happened, and ask the person at that address to return the item. Include a printed pre-paid shipping label.

Certainly won't hurt. And if you buy the label from pirateship.com you have 30 days (28 days?) to void it if it's not used.

Include your phone and email on the letter and let the person know they can contact you with any questions.

[wastingtime101]

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@armyvett wrote:

As far as I see EBay failed me by not updating the buyers address. It's okay. 

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eBay has no way to know what address the buyer is going to enter when they pay until the buyer actually pays.

If you went by your order details page, no address appears until the buyer pays for this very reason.

The old "send an invoice" method has problems, as you've discovered. Another pitfall to that method: when a seller proactively sends an invoice, and the listing is set up with calculated shipping, then the buyer enters a different address when they pay - if the address is cross-country that could mean you're now out of pocket a bundle on the difference in shipping cost.

When a buyer requests an invoice they can change address before submitting the invoice request.

A process that worked 20 years ago is not necessarily a good option today. Things change around here on a constant basis. If you have done this for years without any problems, then you've been lucky up until now. Sorry it didn't work out this time - but now you know not to do that again. Not only to not ship before payment, but to not pull the buyer's address through invoicing before payment.

[12345jamesstamps]

My understanding if maybe it changed...but you don't get an address to ship until it is paid...I can't even see the address before they pay...maybe I'm missing how to do it.

So eBay has their incorrect address which is the one you are suppose to ship it to.

I usually confirm my inbox of emails: buyer's address plus eBay Web site.

There's a notification that states I have to wait until buyer has paid before shipping.

It probably will never happen again...

[robbie31415]

I'm not sure how others do it, but I have all orders, pending or complete migrate to my hub software so it can adjust my onhands.

Via the api, eBay does provide the buyers default address, and the address may change once it's paid.

I also do all fulfillment from my hub so if I ship before paid I might be shipping to the wrong address. I have to make sure to leave it unfulfilled until status changes to 'Paid'.

[luckythewinner]

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@armyvett wrote:

EBay messed it up by posting the wrong address.

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eBay did not "post the wrong address". 

They gave you the buyer's registered address, like they always do.

The shipping address does not exist because there was no payment yet. 

This is exactly why the eBay seller hub has an Awaiting Shipment tab. 

[luckythewinner]

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@armyvett wrote:

I do not do that very often. This one I was going on vacation the day I shipped it and would not have seen the second address. As far as I see EBay failed me by not updating the buyers address. It's okay. 

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The buyer does not provide the shipping address until he pays. The buyer can choose any shipping address he wants at payment time.  

You shipped before payment, which is your fault. eBay is not going to change a system that has been in place and worked for years just because you made a mistake. 

[campanaelia]

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@luckythewinner wrote:
eBay Seller Protection clearly states that in order to be protected, you must have delivery confirmation to address provided by eBay with the payment.

Since you did not send it to the address provided by eBay with the payment, you are not covered.

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I understand your point but it seems ebay only goes only by the tracking showing delivered based on the fake tracking number scam results. So unless the buyer in the OP's case appealed their INR claim and went to the P.O. and got a letter stating that the address was different, how did they get refunded so easily?

[luckythewinner]

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@campanaelia wrote:
I understand your point but it seems ebay only goes only by the tracking showing delivered based on the fake tracking number scam results. So unless the buyer in the OP's case appealed their INR claim and went to the P.O. and got a letter stating that the address was different, how did they get refunded so easily?

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What you say that eBay "seems" to do may not be accurate. 

If all it took to scam a buyer was shipping a package to your mom instead of the buyer, they eBay would be overrun with scam sellers offering $100 XBox units and would cease to exist. 

[wastingtime101]

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@campanaelia wrote:

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it seems ebay only goes only by the tracking showing delivered based on the fake tracking number scam results. So unless the buyer in the OP's case appealed their INR claim and went to the P.O. and got a letter stating that the address was different, how did they get refunded so easily?

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When an item ships, eBay sends the buyer an email and it includes the shipping address. If the seller uploaded tracking to the transaction before the buyer paid, the buyer may have had a copy of that email showing shipping to a different address - which did not match the address entered when they paid. In theory, buyer could have sent a screenshot of that email to eBay CS as proof it was shipped to the wrong address.

Also, seller said this was all done through a claim so maybe the buyer did get a letter from the PO - we don't know it was done "so easily" as you're suggesting. Buyer may have put in legwork to get those documents.

OP said address was same city, state, so it's possible buyer was able to retrieve the item and is taking advantage of the seller's error. It's also possible the buyer did not get the item at all. No way to know without hearing from the buyer.

The seller lost the item and ship cost, and because eBay found the claim against them, they also forfeit all eBay fees. It always stinks to hear about this happening. I'm sure by now the seller realizes it's preventable and they won't make the same mistake again.

[ha-341995]

Have you solve this?

[aproudparent2010]

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@armyvett wrote:

I do not do that very often. This one I was going on vacation the day I shipped it and would not have seen the second address. As far as I see EBay failed me by not updating the buyers address. It's okay. 

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This is not eBay's fault. The address I live at and the address I have items shipped to can differ. I live in one town but sometimes have gifts sent to family members so the address shown before I pay is totally different.

Never ship before a payment is made