Pretest Validating the Buyer's Address---Much Needed

[getitright1234]

Pretest Validating the Buyer's Address---Much Needed

I had to cancel a Sale yesterday all because when I went to print out the shipping label, the system reported the Buyer's address contained an error/ was invalid.  So why isn't it when a Buyer's enters their address, the system pretests this address; lets the Buyer immediately know, this is an invalid address. 

[pburn]

If your friend's ship-to address said "Harbour Blvd" and it was really "Harbor Blvd," it would not come up as an error when the seller went to print the label. The seller would have no idea the address was wrong.

In the OP's case, s/he tried to print the label but got an "invalid address" message. In your example, no such message would appear--even if your friend entered "Harbour" instead of "Harbor." The label would print successfully, and the seller would be none the wiser, even though the address was wrong (in this example).

The OP's dilemma, as I read it, is how to proceed if an error message pops up when s/he goes to print a label.

ETA: Hope my example/explanation is clear. It seems confusing when it's typed out--even to me.

[gracieallen01]

I understand what you wrote and agree, as far as it goes.  There could be a difference in the numbering range, especially if in the same zip - one street e/w and the other n/s (I would sure hate to live in Portland, OR, where they have NW, SE, NE, ENE, WSW, etc.) where a missed number would produce an error, or a misspelled name for the number range would mess things up, too.  Been there, done that and, being dyslexic, I don't always catch the misspelled name when comparing to the printed version.

[zktalkj_0]

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@getitright1234 wrote:

Pretest Validating the Buyer's Address---Much Needed

I had to cancel a Sale yesterday all because when I went to print out the shipping label, the system reported the Buyer's address contained an error/ was invalid.  So why isn't it when a Buyer's enters their address, the system pretests this address; lets the Buyer immediately know, this is an invalid address. 

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That's because it makes too much sense.

[pburn]

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@slippinjimmy wrote:

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 . . . only messages from the buyer of record would be accepted by eBay not a message from an unconnected third-party.

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By "unconnected third-party" [sic], are you referring to the error message the OP got when s/he tried to print the label? 

[dinpavent0]

Ughhhh. this happens to me all the time and each time I have to call customer service and have them rearrange the buyers name and address so I could print label. I refuse to pay an extra $2 or more to ship something when paying at post office and it is a $5 item with free shipping. NOT happening. They need to fix the system some how. It usually happens when the person has like 4 names or it is a forwarding company address. At least for me, that is when this happens the most.

[pburn]

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

I understand what you wrote and agree, as far as it goes.  There could be a difference in the numbering range, especially if in the same zip - one street e/w and the other n/s (I would sure hate to live in Portland, OR, where they have NW, SE, NE, ENE, WSW, etc.) where a missed number would produce an error, or a misspelled name for the number range would mess things up, too.  Been there, done that and, being dyslexic, I don't always catch the misspelled name when comparing to the printed version.

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Agreed.  If a seller receives an "invalid address" error message when printing a label, s/he cannot make any assumptions on what the correct address would/should be in any of your examples. 

The OP stated, " . . . the Buyer misspelled his street name."  I'm not clear on how the OP knew that, but unless one actually has the correct address (in this case, the correct spelling of the street), actually confirmed by the buyer, preferably via an eBay message, no seller should be correcting an address.

So, @gracieallen01, if you ran into an "invalid address" error message when printing a label that involved one of your examples (like the directional designations for the streets in Portland), would you cancel the transaction and have the buyer correct their address and purchase the item again? Or would you contact the buyer for the correct directional and make the change yourself? Those seem to be the two choices that have been suggested. I'm just wondering what other sellers would do.

[gracieallen01]

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@pburn wrote:

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

I understand what you wrote and agree, as far as it goes.  There could be a difference in the numbering range, especially if in the same zip - one street e/w and the other n/s (I would sure hate to live in Portland, OR, where they have NW, SE, NE, ENE, WSW, etc.) where a missed number would produce an error, or a misspelled name for the number range would mess things up, too.  Been there, done that and, being dyslexic, I don't always catch the misspelled name when comparing to the printed version.

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Agreed.  If a seller receives an "invalid address" error message when printing a label, s/he cannot make any assumptions on what the correct address would/should be in any of your examples. 

The OP stated, " . . . the Buyer misspelled his street name."  I'm not clear on how the OP knew that, but unless one actually has the correct address (in this case, the correct spelling of the street), actually confirmed by the buyer, preferably via an eBay message, no seller should be correcting an address.

So, @gracieallen01, if you ran into an "invalid address" message in one of your examples (like the directional designations for the streets in Portland), would you cancel the transaction and have the buyer correct their address and purchase the item again? Or would you contact the buyer for the correct directional and make the change yourself? Those seem to be the two choices that have been suggested. I'm just wondering what other sellers would do.

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@pburn 

Well, were I currently selling on ebay, I would cancel and have the buyer correct the addy.  With all due respect, too many things can go wrong (in my opinion) when things don't go smoothly on ebay, it seems.  As far as my own website, or other platforms, I just give the client a call.  Since I don't print out postage, and I label by hand, then take it to the post office (dinosaur here), I seldom have any problems.  It is all together too easy to just go to the USPS site and do a zip lookup.  Oh yes, and do a google map, if necessary.

[getitright1234]

If you attempt to change the address, you get the warning;

"You may not be covered by the eBay Seller Protection Policy if you ship to a different address. Learn more."    

If you call customer service and ask their advice, they will tell you [ cancel the transaction, contact the buyer and ask them to update their address in eBay and PayPal, relist, and ask the Buyer to repurchase]; however if you the Seller were to change the address even with an eBay written message from the Buyer,  you may not be covered by the eBay Seller Protection Policy if you ship to a different address.   Yes, this is what the eBay rep told me the last 3-4 times this has happened to me.   

[Anonymous]

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@pburn wrote:

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@getitright1234 wrote:

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@pburn wrote:

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@getitright1234 wrote:

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In this climate of, the Buyer is always right,  I would not risk it, and the warning is very clear when you alter the address for any reason.  ^^^^^You no know this to be Fact?^^^^^

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Here's my solution:

You can cancel your transaction.

Everyone else can correct the invalid addresses and ship their items, thereby completing their transactions. It's a win/win!

In the end, every eBay seller has to make their own decisions and do what they think is right. Trying to scare people into complicating a process that doesn't need to be complicated doesn't do anyone any favors.

I'm not sure whether you have more selling experience than indicated by the id you're using to post, which isn't much, but you've gotten sound advice from a couple of long-time sellers. Your choice whether to take it or leave it.

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You might feel comfortable changing Street to St, Avenue, to Ave, in my situation, the Buyer misspelled his street name.    I could have asked him for the correct spelling, but eBay has made it clear to me, if I change the address I could lose my Seller protection, it is in writing and was verbally re-inforced by the eBay rep.  So, its not me who is scaring anyone, its a warning from eBay. 

This has nothing to do with how long anyone has been a Seller, it has everything to do with heeding the written and verbal warning spelled out by eBay. 

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Okay. I understand your position. With your interpretation of the "written and verbal warning spelled out by eBay," canceling the order for "problem with buyer's address," then having the buyer correct their address and repurchase the item would be your only option.

Let's see if maybe we can get one of the Blues to provide clarification on the issue. One of them might be able to suggest whether to cancel (which several other posters and I have mentioned) or whether it would be okay to correct errors in an address (which has also been suggested).

@Anonymous 

or 

doug@ebay 

Could you provide some guidance and clarification on the OP's interpretation of eBay's policy on changing addresses: "You may not be covered by the eBay Seller Protection Policy if you ship to a different address."

Would that include correcting an abbreviation or the spelling of a street name? The OP stated: 

"Did you know when you alter the Buyer's address even in the slightest way, you have voided your eBay and PayPal Seller protection."

" . . . the Buyer misspelled his street name.  I could have asked him for the correct spelling, but eBay has made it clear to me, if I change the address I could lose my Seller protection, it is in writing and was verbally re-inforced by the eBay rep.  So, its not me who is scaring anyone, its a warning from eBay. "

Thank you, gentlemen!

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Hi @pburn, we recommend cancelling and having the buyer correct their address in this situation. While minor adjustments by a seller may not void their protection depending on the changes made, the buyer will still have an incomplete or incorrect address on file that needs updating. By communicating with your customer, cancelling the order, and having them repurchase after updating the address you are helping to ensure the buyer doesn't run into any trouble in future purchases.

I wouldn't be able to give a definitive answer on if adjustments to the buyer's address would void your protection as a seller, because this would depend on the change made. We do require that the order be shipped to the buyer's address that they provided at checkout, but minor spelling or formatting changes are generally okay if needed. That being said, the buyer should be notified of the changes that need to be made and by cancelling the order and having them repurchase after making corrections they are going to be set up for success for future purchases.

[pburn]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Hi @pburn, we recommend cancelling and having the buyer correct their address in this situation. While minor adjustments by a seller may not void their protection depending on the changes made, the buyer will still have an incomplete or incorrect address on file that needs updating. By communicating with your customer, cancelling the order, and having them repurchase after updating the address you are helping to ensure the buyer doesn't run into any trouble in future purchases.

I wouldn't be able to give a definitive answer on if adjustments to the buyer's address would void your protection as a seller, because this would depend on the change made. We do require that the order be shipped to the buyer's address that they provided at checkout, but minor spelling or formatting changes are generally okay if needed. That being said, the buyer should be notified of the changes that need to be made and by cancelling the order and having them repurchase after making corrections they are going to be set up for success for future purchases.

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Thank you very much for your response, @Anonymous!

[bigdeals.etc]

I run into this problem (if you even want to call it a problem) a TON!

95% of them are all small changes. St to Drive, address number moved to the front vs the back, city name change (but zip code remains the same), etc. I've never had an issue with buyers in these cases and as far as I know the package arrives to them safely.

But there are small instances that the address is totally off the wall. It's pretty clear the address is invalid among ALL shipping parties. Those are the ones I feel ebay/paypal should "pre-check" and not allow the buyer to leave such an address. Examples 1) one guy once left their email address as shipping address. Like johnsmith@email.com, Los Angeles, CA (zipcode). 2) I remember another time a buyer used the address "Ask my mother", Los Angeles, CA (zipcdoe). Both instances I was obviously unable to create postage and the buyer never responded to my messages. Ebay/Paypal can at least fix these issues.

[pburn]

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@bigdeals.etc wrote:

But there are small instances that the address is totally off the wall. It's pretty clear the address is invalid among ALL shipping parties. Those are the ones I feel ebay/paypal should "pre-check" and not allow the buyer to leave such an address. Examples 1) one guy once left their email address as shipping address. Like johnsmith@email.com, Los Angeles, CA (zipcode). 2) I remember another time a buyer used the address "Ask my mother", Los Angeles, CA (zipcdoe). Both instances I was obviously unable to create postage and the buyer never responded to my messages. Ebay/Paypal can at least fix these issues.

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I completely agree eBay/PayPal should use address verification software when a buyer enters their ship-to address. It makes more sense to reject an invalid address at that stage than when a seller goes to print a label. If their software can identify an invalid address at the label-making step, why in the world can't it identify an invalid address when the buyer enters it? 

[bigdeals.etc]

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@pburn wrote:

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@bigdeals.etc wrote:

But there are small instances that the address is totally off the wall. It's pretty clear the address is invalid among ALL shipping parties. Those are the ones I feel ebay/paypal should "pre-check" and not allow the buyer to leave such an address. Examples 1) one guy once left their email address as shipping address. Like johnsmith@email.com, Los Angeles, CA (zipcode). 2) I remember another time a buyer used the address "Ask my mother", Los Angeles, CA (zipcdoe). Both instances I was obviously unable to create postage and the buyer never responded to my messages. Ebay/Paypal can at least fix these issues.

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I completely agree eBay/PayPal should use address verification software when a buyer enters their ship-to address. It makes more sense to reject an invalid address at that stage than when a seller goes to print a label. If their software can identify an invalid address at the label-making step, why in the world can't it identify an invalid address when the buyer enters it? 

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Right. I've mentioned this to my concierge years ago. Isn't it better to catch an issue at the source than to have sellers do damage control? And the functionality/filter ALREADY EXISTS! Otherwise we wouldn't be stopped to create postage. So many issues can happen the way it currently is: buyer never responds then leaves negative for item not sent, buyer gets mad because it wasn't sent quick enough (once rectified), buyer insists that their incorrect address is actually correct, etc. I ran into all of these before. All of which can result in ebay buyers leaving the site because of it's urine-poor implementations.

[1tuna]

I change addresses as I see fit...........what is the big deal

all my  problems involve edelcon service

I like to take out an entire line if I have to,move it around and make it work

I then put on an extra address below the label

that contains email and the required phone number

format issues have been with me for years

basically pitney bowes runs everything

the post office/paypal shippig and ebay shipping

are all PB

if you can not get a label to work with ebay then try paypal

paypal is a different system

look at the paypal address than look at the ebay address,it is rarely the same exact way on both sites

it just displays differently

the shipping center is weak on tech............its been that way for 4 years.same exact issues

[bigdeals.etc]

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@1tuna wrote:

I change addresses as I see fit...........what is the big deal

all my  problems involve edelcon service

I like to take out an entire line if I have to,move it around and make it work

I then put on an extra address below the label

that contains email and the required phone number

format issues have been with me for years

basically pitney bowes runs everything

the post office/paypal shippig and ebay shipping

are all PB

if you can not get a label to work with ebay then try paypal

paypal is a different system

look at the paypal address than look at the ebay address,it is rarely the same exact way on both sites

it just displays differently

the shipping center is weak on tech............its been that way for 4 years.same exact issues

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The big deal (namedrop 🙂 ) is how would you move around the words around to make ones similar to my examples work (the buyer who had only an email in the address section and the buyer who just said "Ask my mother")?

Not every address can be Tetrised around to work.