Buyer changed address amidst sale

[denbar65]

I sold an item and have made out a shipping label to the address Ebay was given. Do I need to cancel this sale and label or what do I do.

[divadeals215]

when did you print the label, If today or recently you can just reprint another label free of charge and change the address

[soh.maryl]

When you say the address was changed amidst sale, exactly at what point was that?

Has he already paid? If so, unless you cancel, you're required to send to the address shown on the invoice since, by paying, he signified that was the correct address.

I assume you and your buyer have communicated about this.  It may wind up that you'll need to cancel, citing problem with address, then relist and let him buy it again, making sure he uses the correct delivery address.  

[ittybitnot · Accepted solution]

what do I do.

@denbar65 

First thing you do is look at the message you received to change the address to see if the ID is he same as your buyer of record.   Sometimes "imposters/crooks" will send that sort of communication in hopes you don't notice and ship to them instead of the paying buyer.  If this is the case you can report the person on the message itself under the Action tab at the top. 

If the person messaging you IS YOUR BUYER, tell them that you will have to refund and have them purchase again with the address they wish to use.  The address you were given by eBay with the purchase will not change simply because the buyer changes it after the fact. You should not simply change the shipping label because the buyer asks.   

[denbar65]

Thank you so much, this was very helpful.

[cypress.grove]

Cancel the sale, cancel the label, and have the buyer repurchase with the proper address.   You lose your seller protections if you ship to an address other than what is provided to you by eBay on the order.

[ittybitnot]

Cancel the sale, cancel the label, and have the buyer repurchase with the proper address.

@cypress.grove 

Though your advice is often repeated here over and over, I still think it would be a good idea to compare IDs and determine if the "change of address" request is even coming from the buyer and not some "scammer/imposter" which is common here.  If cancelling is the first reaction, then there is a chance the seller is cancelling the sale on the REAL buyer for no reason if those IDs are indeed not the same. 

[eb_in_co]

Hi all! I've been researching this for hours. My auction winner paid & then an hour later sent a message saying he forgot to update his address & would I send to a different address clear across the country. Buyer IDs appear to be identical but I'm still suspicious. Should I just send the item to the original address? I messaged saying I thought that's what I needed to do but would confirm. The advice here seems to be that I should cancel the order & relist after the buyer updates his address but it was an auction with a lot of bids so how could I guarantee someone else wouldn't beat him to the purchase and he'd miss out through no fault of his own. I could list as BIN but that still doesn't mean he's get to it first. Not sure what to do. Please help and thank you!

[a_c_green]

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@eb_in_co wrote:

Hi all! I've been researching this for hours. My auction winner paid & then an hour later sent a message saying he forgot to update his address & would I send to a different address clear across the country. Buyer IDs appear to be identical but I'm still suspicious. Should I just send the item to the original address?

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No. You run the risk of an Item Not Received (at the Ship-To: address) dispute that you would lose. Assuming that the message did come from the ID of your buyer, you will need to cancel and refund, then relist your camera. You could make it a BuyItNow fixed price listing (check the Immediate Payment Required box) for him to come back and re-pay with the corrected address.

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@eb_in_co wrote:

 how could I guarantee someone else wouldn't beat him to the purchase and he'd miss out through no fault of his own.

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Well, that would be his problem, not yours. It would indeed be his fault that he messed up on the win, right?

If for some reason you really want to choose him over any other bidder (e.g. if he was a regular buyer of yours), relist with a sky-high price and Make Offer enabled, wait for his offer at the agreed-upon price, and accept it. Given this guy's lack of planning ability, though, I would maybe list it at the chosen price, tell him when the listing starts or send him a link to it, but otherwise let it go First Come First Served in case he ghosts you.

[eb_in_co]

Let me add to the above post that I heard back from the requestor and he is the son of the buyer and he is in college, hence the change of address. This rings true to me so I guess I could take a chance. If it's a scam I'm out some money but I'd rather not anger the buyer and the shipping charged should more than cover getting it to the new address. Just want to do the right thing without being naive.

[a_c_green]

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@eb_in_co wrote:

Let me add to the above post that I heard back from the requestor and he is the son of the buyer and he is in college, hence the change of address. This rings true to me so I guess I could take a chance.

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If the "son of the buyer" is not writing to you from the ID of the buyer, he is not your buyer. Address-change scams are sent out in bulk from throwaway accounts to the sellers of as many recently-sold items as possible before eBay discovers the scam messages and deletes the account.

If the message is coming to you from any eBay ID other than the actual account that bought the item, do not respond and do not act on that request. Deal only with the buyer himself through messages to his ID.

[dbfolks166mt]

‎01-04-2024 05:52 PM

Hi all! I've been researching this for hours. My auction winner paid & then an hour later sent a message saying he forgot to update his address & would I send to a different address clear across the country. Buyer IDs appear to be identical but I'm still suspicious. Should I just send the item to the original address? I messaged saying I thought that's what I needed to do but would confirm. The advice here seems to be that I should cancel the order & relist after the buyer updates his address but it was an auction with a lot of bids so how could I guarantee someone else wouldn't beat him to the purchase and he'd miss out through no fault of his own. I could list as BIN but that still doesn't mean he's get to it first. Not sure what to do. Please help and thank you!

     Tell the buyer you are unable to change the ship to address for the item. Work with the buyer to cancel the order at their request. Relist the item with some unusual title, provide the buyer with the item number once it is listed and use BIN/IPR. Tell them to make sure they update the shipping address before they repurchase. 

[mam98031]

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@denbar65 wrote:

I sold an item and have made out a shipping label to the address Ebay was given. Do I need to cancel this sale and label or what do I do.

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What do you mean by "...the address Ebay was given."?  Do you mean the ship to address that appeared on the payment notification?  If it is on the Payment notification, that is the address you NEED to ship to or you will lose your Seller Protection on the transaction.  

You always ONLY ship to the address on the Payment notification.  Just let your buyer know that you are required by Ebay to ship to that address.  If they absolutely don't want it to go there, then you do need to cancel the order for problem with the address.  Then set up the listing again and the buyer can purchase it again, remind them to use the correct ship to address on the payment.