Different/Change address scam

[t.tsubouchi]

I recently sold a camera for $500. Buyer requested to change location from a house in Hawaii to an industrial park in Delaware, saying her sister was sick. I don't buy it a bit, but she has paid fully and I have bought the shipping label to the buyer's eBay address. I need the money, is it fine if I just ship to her original address, since I also have no returns accepted? Thanks

[pargran3]

Changing the address at checkout is easy IF the buyer has more than one address already on file with eBay. If not the buyer cannot change the address at the time of purchase.

A seller that changes an address after purchase for the buyer is asking for trouble so most of us simply do not do that.

[djvp53]

It's inconvenient for the purchaser to have to go through the purchase process again and get a delay on the shipment. In the interim, they might just change their mind about the purchase altogether. I would probably lower the price a bit too as a sweetener to get the buyer to go through with the transaction a second time and to make up for causing the problem in the first place.

[a_c_green]

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@djvp53 wrote:

It's inconvenient for the purchaser to have to go through the purchase process again and get a delay on the shipment. In the interim, they might just change their mind about the purchase altogether. I would probably lower the price a bit too as a sweetener to get the buyer to go through with the transaction a second time and to make up for causing the problem in the first place.

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The seller did not cause the problem in the first place. The buyer cannot make the payment for shipping to one address and then change the Ship-To: destination afterward. (Aside from the seller voiding his protection  of shipping to the Ship-To: address accompanying the payment by changing it, buyers of an item charging Calculated Shipping will have paid the postage costs to the address accompanying the payment. That may not be enough to cover shipping to an alternate address even if the seller agreed to do so.)

@t.tsubouchi: I think one key point is not getting recognized here: is it actually the buyer requesting that address change, or some third-party eBay user ID that had nothing to do with the original sale? There are multiple bots out there which send these change-of-address messages in bulk to any recent sellers of big-ticket or scam-worthy items. Any seller who is fooled into thinking that he is hearing from the original buyer may agree to the redirect, and end up losing both the item and the payment for it, as the original buyer will of course file an Item Not Received dispute later, and recover a full refund.

If the change-of-address request does come from the actual buyer, explain to them about refunding and re-purchasing with the correct address. If the change-of-address request does not come from the actual buyer ID but some other ID instead, that can be ignored, as the original buyer probably knows nothing about it. That should be the first point of examination, before anything else.

[albertabrightalberta]

I think many of the responses are still assuming it was the buyer who wanted to change the address. What I've gathered from @t.tsubouchi 's post  10  is that it wasn't the actual buyer who sent the message to change the address but was a scammer. 

So in order to compensate the buyer's inconvenience at having to repurchase and repay for the camera, the seller is offering a slightly lower price. 

Is this correct, @t.tsubouchi ? 

[a_c_green]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

I think many of the responses are still assuming it was the buyer who wanted to change the address. What I've gathered from @t.tsubouchi 's post  10  is that it wasn't the actual buyer who sent the message to change the address but was a scammer.

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Thanks; I somehow missed that later post. In reading it now, I can't tell from the wording whether the buyer was or was not the sender of that change-of-address message. I see someone else has asked that of the seller in a later reply (here), but so far the OP has not responded further.

[soh.maryl]

Actually, to the best of my knowledge, the buyer CAN change the address when he is making payment.  It does not need to be an address already on file with eBay.

For instance, if I am buying you a gift, when I see the invoice where I make payment, I can simply substitute your name and address for mine.  

[soh.maryl]

Why is the buyer having to repurchase and pay again? If the seller did not do anything involving the scammer, then isn't the original transaction still in place? Did I miss something?  

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

Why is the buyer having to repurchase and pay again? If the seller did not do anything involving the scammer, then isn't the original transaction still in place? Did I miss something?  

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In post #10, the OP reported, "I accidentally cancelled before checking the message source but messaged the original seller about what happened and offered her a lower price on a new listing."  So it sounds like they canceled the listing but then realized that the message was from a scammer.

[soh.maryl]

Thank you.  I must have missed that message somewhere.  Still uncertain why the OP wants to send the real buyer something other than what he ordered.  

[toomuchstuffagain35]

I think the OP meant he was going to make a 'new listing' for the original item he canceled.

[soh.maryl]

Thank you.  Evidently I found this whole situation more confusing than it should have been.  

[soh.maryl]

Since it's clearly possible that the message about shipping to a different address was NOT sent by the actual original buyer, why would the OP put the buyer on their BBL? He should not be punishing someone who is totally innocent in this matter, they just wanted to buy a camera.  Think about it. 

[kenly-electronic]

Hello everyone, what should if find that the buyer's address is the freight forwarder's address.

Kind Regards,

[nobody*s_perfect]

Ship the item to the name and address that are attached to the payment. Most transactions via freight fowarders are problem-free.

[chriscotex]

That’s interesting. Someone just attempted the same scam with me, also a camera and also asking me to send it to an address in Delaware. Maybe it’s the same person/people. Would it be that hard to track them down and arrest the scumbags?