Buyer sent message wanting to cancel because of failure to read shipping exclusions

[cooprr]

As a new seller, I tried to cover my bases and because of my past experience as a buyer not being able to receive Paypal purchases at a PO Box, I set up my shipping exclusions to include PO Boxes, as I accept Paypal. Having no experience on how payment systems work related to shipping addresses, my settings for payment saying Paypal accepted means that I only accept Paypal. I need to be straightened out on this if I am incorrect.

A zero experience buyer (account opened one day prior to auction ending) sent a message stating she/he has attempted to pay but cannot because of my shipping exclusion to PO Boxes and cannot find it anywhere in my listing, and wants the transaction cancelled IF I will not ship to PO Box.

I replied with instructions to find See Exclusions and asked for a reply after she/he reviews the listing and ebay policies.

Should I:

Cancel the transaction per buyer request? -> contact second highest bidder for second chance?

Let the 3 day payment timeframe run out and report non-buyer?

Thank you to those who assist the newly-confused sellers!

[emerald40]

Cancel the listing due to problem with address.

Let that close first.

And then you can either offer it as a decond chance or relist it.

As far as paypal not accepting PO boxes, I found something from 2013 that no they do not.  Not sure if that ever changed.

But imo Post Office boxes are the safest way to go.  No porch pirates or curbside boxes that are so easy to steal from.

[kiraalt]

IMO -

If the buyer doesn't have/cannot furnish an alternative physical address for you to ship to, I would simply cancel per their request and move on.   

[cooprr]

I just received a reply stating this buyer has over 10 years of ebay experience with 5000+ feedbacks and created this buyer profile for collectibles.

[experienced ebayer=knows where to find shipping exclusions in listing]

And wants me to make the accommodation to ship to PO Box.

If I accept Paypal, how else is a buyer paying that the sale will be transacted and shipped to a PO, when/if I can figure out how to change my exclusions on a closed auction?

Why is my intuition screaming?

[lacemaker3]

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@cooprr wrote:

As a new seller, I tried to cover my bases and because of my past experience as a buyer not being able to receive Paypal purchases at a PO Box, I set up my shipping exclusions to include PO Boxes, as I accept Paypal. Having no experience on how payment systems work related to shipping addresses, my settings for payment saying Paypal accepted means that I only accept Paypal. I need to be straightened out on this if I am incorrect.

A zero experience buyer (account opened one day prior to auction ending) sent a message stating she/he has attempted to pay but cannot because of my shipping exclusion to PO Boxes and cannot find it anywhere in my listing, and wants the transaction cancelled IF I will not ship to PO Box.

I replied with instructions to find See Exclusions and asked for a reply after she/he reviews the listing and ebay policies.

Should I:

Cancel the transaction per buyer request? -> contact second highest bidder for second chance?

Let the 3 day payment timeframe run out and report non-buyer?

Thank you to those who assist the newly-confused sellers!

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PayPal doesn't care if the item is being shipped to a PO box or not. I have no idea where that idea came from.

I used a PO Box for both buying and selling when I was selling on ebay from the early 2000's until a few years ago. There was never any prohibition against shiping to a PO Box.

If you ship with USPS (or any post office) then there is no reason not to ship to a PO Box (ever). They are the safest possible destination for a package. No worries about rain, dogs, or porch pirates.

[labs118]

You 100% can ship to a PO box with Paypal
My sister is a buyer & seller & has only A PO box in the area of the Pocono's where she lives
They have zero mail delivery in her area. 


You should rethink PO boxes unless you ship Fedex or UPS you could be losing alot of sales by excluding PO boxes, they are safer then my carrier throwing my items on my porch

 see this thread about PO boxes going on right now

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Sellers-who-won-t-ship-to-a-PO-Box/m-p/28434656#M1198700

[a_c_green]

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@cooprr wrote:

As a new seller, I tried to cover my bases and because of my past experience as a buyer not being able to receive Paypal purchases at a PO Box, I set up my shipping exclusions to include PO Boxes, as I accept Paypal.

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I would just lift that odd restriction and see if your buyer can now pay you. 

I have several regular buyers who pay via PayPal and get their purchases shipped to a P.O. Box. No trouble whatsoever.

[dtexley3]

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@cooprr wrote:

As a new seller, I tried to cover my bases and because of my past experience as a buyer not being able to receive Paypal purchases at a PO Box, I set up my shipping exclusions to include PO Boxes, as I accept Paypal. Having no experience on how payment systems work related to shipping addresses, my settings for payment saying Paypal accepted means that I only accept Paypal. I need to be straightened out on this if I am incorrect.

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Paypal doesn't care about PO boxes as stated.  You either have selected (or had selected for you by ebay) to exclude shipping to PO boxes on your listing.  Edit the listing, and check the "Excluded Shipping Locations" at the bottom.  If you don't see "Excluded Shipping Locations" look at the top of the form and select "Advanced Listing Tool".

Also, if you are shipping FexEx (including SmartPost) or UPS as your primary shipping method that will cause the PO Box exclusion at purchase as well.  FedEx and UPS do not deliver to PO Boxes and eBay has a long standing bug that won't allow PO Boxes on SmartPost and SurePost even though those can be sent to a PO box.

[feefoo72]

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@cooprr wrote:

As a new seller, I tried to cover my bases and because of my past experience as a buyer not being able to receive Paypal purchases at a PO Box, I set up my shipping exclusions to include PO Boxes, as I accept Paypal. Having no experience on how payment systems work related to shipping addresses, my settings for payment saying Paypal accepted means that I only accept Paypal. I need to be straightened out on this if I am incorrect.

A zero experience buyer (account opened one day prior to auction ending) sent a message stating she/he has attempted to pay but cannot because of my shipping exclusion to PO Boxes and cannot find it anywhere in my listing, and wants the transaction cancelled IF I will not ship to PO Box.

I replied with instructions to find See Exclusions and asked for a reply after she/he reviews the listing and ebay policies.

Should I:

Cancel the transaction per buyer request? -> contact second highest bidder for second chance?

Let the 3 day payment timeframe run out and report non-buyer?

Thank you to those who assist the newly-confused sellers!

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I have read where others say that it may not be good to force a buyer to buy after they want to cancel. No matter what the reason. That makes sense to me. I think I would do as they requested and cancel, reason: buyer requested. Or maybe as problem with address, however it works so you are free of feedback retribution and fees, if that's possible. Otherwise, the buyer sounds like trouble already. Just my opinion.

[emerald40]

I have to look up again if something changed with paypal accepting Post Office Boxes.

But if you do not accept them simply cancel problem with address and block him.

Listen to your gut, it will never steer you wrong.

[fern*wood]

I can't figure out what you are talking about that paypal doesn't accept payments to post office boxes.  That's just plain wrong.  Paypal doesn't care, but if you only ship via UPS or FedEx, they might not deliver to post office boxes.  If you use USPS, then they are great.

I looked at your exclusions and did finally see PO Box at the end of your countries you don't ship to.  I would never have seen that if I wasn't looking specifically for it. 

[lacemaker3]

Too late to edit my first post ...

I found a post where someone said they couldn't register a PO address as their primary address for PayPal, from 2013, but that was from eBay Australia and may not apply to PayPal USA.

Also, the PayPal registered address has nothing to do with an eBay purchase. The shipping address for an eBay purchase paid with PayPal always comes from the shipipng address on the eBay Checkout page -- it may not have anything to do with any address on the buyer's PayPal account. 

[emerald40]

PayPal doesn't care if the item is being shipped to a PO box or not. I have no idea where that idea came from.

___________________________________

I found old posts from 2013 stating that paypal did not accept Post Office boxes.https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Selling/No-shipping-to-PO-Box/td-p/2762122

Cannot make heads or tails on this thread if it is allowed or not.

I would suggest calling paypal and asking if use can use a Postal box.

I know you cannot if it is going UPS or Fed Ex.

[cooprr]

As the listing is closed, I am at a loss as to where to edit the listing after the fact. I looked in the SOLD section for the listing, but see nowhere to edit the shipping restrictions. Assist?

[tev4all]

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@cooprr wrote:

As the listing is closed, I am at a loss as to where to edit the listing after the fact. I looked in the SOLD section for the listing, but see nowhere to edit the shipping restrictions. Assist?

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You can't edit after a listing has ended with a (potential) buyer.

The simplest thing to do is cancel the sale with "Buyer Requested"