Question about problem buyer I just didn't want to deal with

[jnybuysell]

     Recently had a potential buyer ask me repeatedly if I would reduce a $60+ship(10 lb.) item to $50 with free shipping(and asked me to ship next day) from CA to NY. I said no thank you, reviewed persons feedback left, and meant to put her on the blocked list later that day but forgot. Her attitude in the emails just didn't sit well with me and if I can avoid interacting with demanding people who have zero concept of real world costs I do that.

                  This buyer bought the item before I got home full price and paid shipping. I crossed my fingers and intended to ship next day, when I received an email asking me to please ship to a different address in a different state with a different recipient name. I understood this to be a violation of Ebay policy and cancelled the sale. Refunded and blocked the buyer. Ebay informed me that yes I had every right to cancel the sale, but buyer would be able to leave feedback regardless of their policy violation. They acknowledged that address changes is a huge red flag for fraud and they acknowledged I had every right to protect my money. They acknowledged that although they would protect me due to the emails that the credit card companies would not take those into account in a chargeback or that Paypal would not consider the emails as well if an INR claim was filed. Just a bit aggravating when Ebay acknowledges the gaps in security, but still leave to be trashed by a buyer, who floats around sending unsolicited offers and requesting address changes after purchase.  

[jda07121]

EBay can not protect against Paypal or credit card company policies. It has always been that way. You should never ship to an alternate address but I am not sure it that is an actual policy violation. You may well have made the correct decision but since you didn't ship to their Paypal address either, you may well get negged.

[pburn]

Is this the private-listing transaction that took place over a month ago (in the "Past 6 months")?

If so, you've left reciprocal feedback to her negative comment, so, as a buyer, I wouldn't pay any attention to that particular comment. You response was pretty good--I may have suggested leaving off the part about blocking her, if you'd have asked. Since you didn't, though, it's a generally professional response.

There's nothing you can do about it now. Just keep selling and upping your feedback percentage. That negative will drop off soon enough.

P.S. If you cancelled the transaction and have already refunded the customer in full, that would be your proof in a PayPal case or a credit card chargeback. It would have nothing to do with the person's address and where you would or would not ship. A person (in theory) cannot receive two refunds for the same transaction. Keep all the records of the cancellation and the refund in case you need them later, but I frankly doubt you will.

[janet9988]

You can try to report the buyer here for demanding something not offered in the listing.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/report-issue-buyer?id=4084&st=12&pos=1&quer...

[jnybuysell]

I was referring to "if I mailed to new address per request through Ebay mail system." Ebay would review emails, but Paypal or a CC would not take customer request into account when deciding a claim. Ebay acknowledged my vulnerability and still allow feedback to be left. Pretty bad spot to put us in.

[jnybuysell]

Pretty sad when we are within our rights to cancel due to customer behavior, but still left to the offending persons vengeance. In the past if customer violated policy(ebay acknowledged they did and gave me the OK to cancel) any feedback left was removed from both parties.