One of the Blues Please Read This

[fabreedwar]

Last night a buyer bought one of my items. When I tried to print a shipping label, I was unable to because ebay flagged the address as invalid. The problem is that the buyer did not include her house number along with the street name (imagine an address in new york city with a street address of 14th Ave with no house number).

Fortunately, ebay does have an algorithm that prevents a seller from printing a label with this kind of error in the address. I might not have caught it otherwise and may have shipped a package that might not have even made it out of the post office of origin.

So, what is the problem? I have a package I need to ship but can't. I've messaged the buyer for a complete address and have not heard a response yet. So I'm waiting here either for her to reply to my message with a correct address, or waiting for the INR (which I'll immediately approve).

If ebay can know that an address is invalid for shipping purposes, why not use the same algorithm to flag invalid addresses during initial member registration and subsequent address changes? (This buyer has 0 feedback and may have just registered for the sole purpose of buying my item)

[escuintla]

I think you can cancel the transaction for problems with the buyer's address. Go and try to cancel, you may see what "excuses" you can put to do so. 

[femmefan1946]

Allow the buyer 48 hours from purchase to respond.  (Is she a new buyer? That's a pretty egregious error.)

Yes, this may put you behind in your handling time.

Then cancel for "problem with buyer address" which will end the transaction without Defect, and refund the customer.

[collectablesofliberty]

Use the Feature "Problem with Buyers Address" to cancel the sale.

[coffeebean832]

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@fabreedwar wrote:

(imagine an address in new york city with a street address of 14th Ave with no house number).

If ebay can know that an address is invalid for shipping purposes, why not use the same algorithm to flag invalid addresses during initial member registration and subsequent address changes? (This buyer has 0 feedback and may have just registered for the sole purpose of buying my item)

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Technically that would have to be in Brooklyn.

I do agree that eBay should be able to flag an address- not necessarily during registration, but when the buyer attempts to check out and pay.

You were presented with options- wait for the buyer to get back to you (I would give them until Sunday) or cancel the order choosing problem with buyer's address.

[dtexley3]

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@fabreedwar wrote:

Last night a buyer bought one of my items. When I tried to print a shipping label, I was unable to because ebay flagged the address as invalid. The problem is that the buyer did not include her house number along with the street name (imagine an address in new york city with a street address of 14th Ave with no house number).

Fortunately, ebay does have an algorithm that prevents a seller from printing a label with this kind of error in the address. I might not have caught it otherwise and may have shipped a package that might not have even made it out of the post office of origin.

So, what is the problem? I have a package I need to ship but can't. I've messaged the buyer for a complete address and have not heard a response yet. So I'm waiting here either for her to reply to my message with a correct address, or waiting for the INR (which I'll immediately approve).

If ebay can know that an address is invalid for shipping purposes, why not use the same algorithm to flag invalid addresses during initial member registration and subsequent address changes? (This buyer has 0 feedback and may have just registered for the sole purpose of buying my item)

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After May 7th will Paypal be keeping their fees in the event of this type of cancellation?  If so, then it really should be that eBay checks the ship to address at the time of payment, not label.

brian@ebay  Can this be reported to the appropriate teams?  If Paypal treats a cancellation the same as a refund it's not fair that the seller gets clipped for Paypal fees if eBay allows an invalid address at payment.

[a_c_green]

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@fabreedwar wrote:

Fortunately, ebay does have an algorithm that prevents a seller from printing a label with this kind of error in the address. I might not have caught it otherwise and may have shipped a package that might not have even made it out of the post office of origin.

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Technically, it was the USPS that flagged the error with the address, because when you do the label purchase, the address is validated against the USPS database. Among other things, this is how the buyer's 5-digit ZIP magically expands to 9 digits on the label. You're right that this package is going nowhere without a house number.

"Dear No-No.-Nanette: 

We are unable to ship your package as your shipping address received by us has no house number on it. We received the following address with your payment: 

No-No.-Nanette

14th Ave.

Noo Yawk, En Why, 12345

If you can please provide the missing house number for your street address, we can try again to ship your package. 

Regards, 

Your Name Here"

There's one gotcha here, if we're talking about a high-value/high-risk item: the buyer's address will need to be within the ZIP code already provided, as any Item Not Received dispute that might be filed in future can only be defended by showing a Delivered scan in the buyer's City and ZIP code. Things may get sticky if your buyer's ZIP changes once you add in their specific house number on 14th Ave.

If this is a pretty low-value item then the above may not be important, and you can just ship as soon as you have a complete address to work with. If no reply is received within a couple of days or so, cancel the transaction, selecting the Problem with Address reason for cancelling (which is entirely appropriate here). Do not wait until the clueless buyer files an Item Not Received dispute to refund their payment, as I have some idea that it sticks on your record even when you win it. (I may be wrong on that; hopefully someone else can clarify.)

[fabreedwar]

After May 7th will Paypal be keeping their fees in the event of this type of cancellation? If so, then it really should be that eBay checks the ship to address at the time of payment, not label.

Good point.

[fabreedwar]

Technically, it was the USPS that flagged the error with the address, because when you do the label purchase, the address is validated against the USPS database. Among other things, this is how the buyer's 5-digit ZIP magically expands to 9 digits on the label. You're right that this package is going nowhere without a house number.

The main issue here for me is that ebay does have a means of validating the shipping addresses. There may be a reason to register on ebay for purposes other than buying/selling, but I think we can discount those. Ebay is a ecommerce site, and since it has the means to validate adresses (unless the usps forfids ebay access unless a label is being purchased), then use that means at the point of registration.

I would like to a blue's viewpoint on this.

[jeannicho22]

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@dtexley3 wrote:

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@fabreedwar wrote:

Last night a buyer bought one of my items. When I tried to print a shipping label, I was unable to because ebay flagged the address as invalid. The problem is that the buyer did not include her house number along with the street name (imagine an address in new york city with a street address of 14th Ave with no house number).

Fortunately, ebay does have an algorithm that prevents a seller from printing a label with this kind of error in the address. I might not have caught it otherwise and may have shipped a package that might not have even made it out of the post office of origin.

So, what is the problem? I have a package I need to ship but can't. I've messaged the buyer for a complete address and have not heard a response yet. So I'm waiting here either for her to reply to my message with a correct address, or waiting for the INR (which I'll immediately approve).

If ebay can know that an address is invalid for shipping purposes, why not use the same algorithm to flag invalid addresses during initial member registration and subsequent address changes? (This buyer has 0 feedback and may have just registered for the sole purpose of buying my item)

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After May 7th will Paypal be keeping their fees in the event of this type of cancellation?  If so, then it really should be that eBay checks the ship to address at the time of payment, not label.

brian@ebay  Can this be reported to the appropriate teams?  If Paypal treats a cancellation the same as a refund it's not fair that the seller gets clipped for Paypal fees if eBay allows an invalid address at payment.

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Was hoping someone would touch on this.

After May 7th you will be between a rock and a hard place.  If you hold it over until you get contact from a buyer, you will miss the shipping window.  If your seller standards slip due to this sort of situation, your FVF will go up 40% from 10% to 14%.  Also though eBay may cover you for INR for an address change, PayPal will not.  So on the PayPal side of it, your choices are to open yourself to an INR and lose the product, shipping and money, OR to refund and lose the 2.9%

Ain't life grand.... What a racket.

[dtexley3]

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@fabreedwar wrote:

The main issue here for me is that ebay does have a means of validating the shipping addresses. There may be a reason to register on ebay for purposes other than buying/selling, but I think we can discount those. Ebay is a ecommerce site, and since it has the means to validate adresses (unless the usps forfids ebay access unless a label is being purchased), then use that means at the point of registration.

I would like to a blue's viewpoint on this.

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The USPS address API would be readily available for eBay to do such a validation.  USPS encourages the use of the address validation process and places little or no barriers.  It saves USPS millions if not billions of dollars when addresses are validated in advance.