Cancel and Refund? Buyer paid and wants her items to ship to a different address.

[co4565]

My buyer bought several items and paid immediately.   Now, she is asking me to ship them to her "summer address", lol.    I've searched and read posts about this topic but still confused about a few things:

Reporting the buyer:  Should I report the buyer in case this is something she does often, or is trying to set me up for something?  And do I this from my sell page?  or is there a formal report I need?

Then, I'm confused about the cancel and refund steps.  Some people said to go to PayPal directly and refund from there, and that it would not cancel the sale, but it would make it unpaid again.  Buyer would have to fix her address and then send payment again, or receive an unpaid item strike.

Other people say to cancel the sale on ebay first, then refund.  Others say cancel the sale on ebay, and it should refund automatically...  Not sure which is right?  I didn't pay attention to the dates on those posts, so it's possible some of the advice given were outdated.

What would you do?  I don't mind canceling the sale and issuing a refund, and taking a chance that she may not repurchase those items again.   I just want to make sure I am protected from any defects and that I get my fees back.

Thank you!

[dbmm-media]

 I have complied with similar buyer requests.  It depends on the value of the item.

Others I have not complied with the request.

You can cancel the order as problem with buyers address. 

Tell you buyer to change their ship to address and then purchase again. 

[mikeystoyz]

Is it an expensive item?  Is the buyer a seasoned buyer?  Have they given positives for the most part?  I have done it before with no issues.  My cutoff is about 20 bucks though.  I can eat that with no issue and if it is more if the buyer is more experienced I usually have no issue.  Paypal is weird sometimes and will not let people do certain things.  Try to change an international address to an american address when you go to make a label.  Doesnt work to well.

[pjcdn2005]

If you cancel through eBay the buyer is automatically refunded and they would have to purchase again.  

Some sellers have reported that they have refunded through PP without a defect and then the buyer could change their address  and pay again.  But since ebay  isnt always consistent, the ‘safest’ way to do it to use the cancellation process.

As others have mentioned, I have sent less expensive items to a different address and haven’t had any problems but everyone has a different risk tolerance.

And no, I wouldn’t report the buyer ‘just in case’ they are up to something.

[thevintagesilvershop]

Only on eBay does this happen. 

Last year, I moved from Minnesota to Colorado. Prior to the move, I ordered thousands of dollars worth of stuff with my credit card still retaining my MN address and sending to my CO address. Never, ever had anyone question that. Every vendor always complied. 

As as an eBay/Etsy/Ruby Lane seller, I always comply when a buyer asks for this and have never, ever been ripped off in my 22 year selling career.

People are so afraid. 

[citrine146]

This happened to me only twice during my Ebay selling years.

On both occasions, I had to explain that I only send to the Paypal registered address and luckily enough they understood my point.

[retrose1]

I would tell the buyer that you print your shipping and it will only print the address tt is on the paypal payment and it can not be changed because the bar code will direct the package to her old address.  It will be a huge mess.  And that you can refund the buyer and they can repay with their corrected address in paypal.  Always blame it on ebay/paypal and not to cover your but.

I would then report the buyer for making unreasonable demands and then cancel the transaction with problem with buyer's address.  AND block the buyer.

I also sell on several sites and I have ONLY had problems with shipping to a different address on ebay.  Never any other sites.  If you ship to the address they ask you to and even if you have tracking that shows delivered to the address they sent you in a ebay message - they can go to paypal and get a freebie.  If you can afford to lose the items and the shipping to do it, then go ahead and do as the buyer asks.