Buyer's location listed as two different places - is this odd?

[desertdeals1]

After sending an offer to a Buyer, I received a message from them stating they'd buy the item today if I accepted their price. (I thought it was strange to receive a counter offer since I'd been sure to uncheck that when I sent the offer, but that's a different issue.) At the bottom of the message, it shows the buyer is listed in Florida but when I click on the "Reply With Offer" button it then shows the Buyer is in Washington DC.

The item I'm selling is quite expensive so I don't want to run into any issues with this transaction. Is there something fishy here?

[pburn]

How did they send you this "counteroffer?" Was it through the offer dialogue box? Or was it via an eBay message?

[collectfest]

It may be ok. I live in Texas and have a place in Illinois (I know weird), when on vacation in Illinois I change my location because that's where I am shipping from.

eBay requires me to post in listing the location info. I am sure there are some tax reasons too. Not sure all the reasons but eBay advised me to make sure my listing state where the item shipping location. Maybe they forgot to reset their settings, or a glitch.

I am sure there may be some scams I am not aware of but in my case, its all legit. If uncomfortable maybe just ask the seller. I wouldn't be offended if asked. If they get huffy over your question, I would move on.

[donsdetour]

Hmm: possible freight forward system..... Unknown until you have a full addy to ship to...

Is this the Louis bag you have listed???

[desertdeals1]

Yes, that's why I'm really trying to cover my bases.

[desertdeals1]

It was in my messages. It showed under the heading "xxx has sent a question about item xxx" with the option to reply or to reply with an offer.

[collectfest]

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@donsdetour wrote:

Hmm: possible freight forward system..... Unknown until you have a full addy to ship to...

Is this the Louis bag you have listed???

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I would listen to donsdetour,

Brings up good points.

I have to revise what I said in my previous comment, my comments were as a seller.

As it relates to a buyer, I'd be real careful on expensive item. I would ONLY ship where eBay tells me to. My comments I made earlier were focused as to the seller location, not the buyer.

Afraid my previous comments may not apply, sorry about any confusion.

[pburn]

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@desertdeals1 wrote:

It was in my messages. It showed under the heading "xxx has sent a question about item xxx" with the option to reply or to reply with an offer.

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Then there's no guarantee the person who messaged you is the same person who received an offer from you? Is it the same member id for both the person in Florida and the person in D.C.? Have you confirmed the messages are from the same person?

Sorry--I'm just grasping at straws, here.

[desertdeals1]

I appreciate your help!

It's really strange because when I go to the item, it doesn't show that I've sent any offers to Buyers, though I did this morning - just some expired ones.

The Florida location is what shows at the bottom of the message I received (down where it says "get to know the Buyer xxx." When I click on "reply with an offer" at the bottom of the message I received, it then shows the Buyer's location as D.C. - with the same member id.

[slippinjimmy]

The next POTUS might have an eBay account with a Florida registration location and a DC shipping address.

[soh.maryl]

And would actually be shopping on eBay?

[wastingtime101]

The location that shows in messages is the buyer's registered address.

The location that shows on the offer screen is the buyer's current primary shipping address.

I don't see anything odd. 🙂

[a_c_green]

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@desertdeals1 wrote:

The item I'm selling is quite expensive so I don't want to run into any issues with this transaction. Is there something fishy here?

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I see that you're offering Free Shipping (with Signature Confirmation, which is correct), so the location to which you're sending it doesn't matter price-wise here, as long as you are shipping to the Ship To: address received with the payment. (If you were expecting to get a Shipping payment from the buyer and not using Calculated Shipping, it might be worth clarifying where they are planning to have it shipped, in case it cost more to their location than you were expecting.)

That aside, I always have a mental alarm bell going off (a small one, at least) whenever I see a buyer message referring to "this item" or similar vague wording, instead of simply calling it "your purse" or something similarly specific. Scammers like to save time by copying-and-pasting generic messages instead of hand-drafted ones, so I'm a little curious to know what the rest of that message said, if you can copy it here without revealing any personal information.

Where I'm going with this is that if you accept an offer instead of a BuyItNow, the buyer may be able to evade an Immediate Payment Required restriction (which I assume you do have in place on your BuyItNow price), and then string you along with fake payment notifications and such. Your purse is a prime target for scammers so there is some possibility that you are hearing from one now. More detail will be helpful here.

[yuzuha]

@wastingtime101 wrote:

The location that shows in messages is the buyer's registered address.

The location that shows on the offer screen is the buyer's current primary shipping address.

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Yep. Many people have more than one address. When I was in college, for example, I would have stuff shipped to my campus address during the school year and my home address over the summer.

And, as a DC resident, I will say that I don't see anything odd primarily because that specific zipcode here in DC is for a pretty high-income area downtown (for a little perspective, that's the zipcode where the Watergate is)-- exactly the sort of people who would be buying expensive purses.

[downunder-61]

Yep, I often purchase items for gifts etc and send directly to the recipient, not seeing anything nefarious, so long as you ship to the address on the order once paid you should be fine.