Questionable buyer address.

[lagarto_electronico]

For the first time in 2021 I decided to try eBay again.

One sale. Buyer wins item. Pays. Address ends with "last house on the left".  LOL.

I looked up the address. It appears to be a condemned and abandoned house.

Tried to contact eBay customer support. Says they are not available.

So am I just supposed to give the item away knowing it will likely be intercepted with the "buyer" requesting a refund for non-received merchandise?

How does eBay allow these fake addresses?

[lagarto_electronico]

To be clear, it is a fake address in that there is enough on the address to make it uncoverable for any type or protection. There is a real address with additional verbiage that would confuse the USPS system, resulting in non-delivery.

[Anonymous]

I would cancel the order due to "wrong address", refund the money and move on.  Cancelling for that reason won't get you a defect and sounds like it's going to save you a lot of headaches with this one.

[soh.maryl]

(1) Did you contact the buyer?

(2) It would be impossible for eBay personnel to check every single buyer address every time a purchase is made, wouldn't it?

(3) As someone else suggested, you can cancel using "problem with buyer's address" as the reason.

[downunder-61]

Could be rural, and no numbers allocated, happens here on our Outback stations and our delivery services are aware of this type of indicator.

There was a horror move called "last house on the left". Just some useless trivia for you LOL

[lagarto_electronico]

Obviously, I never said "check every single buyer address every time a purchase is made" as that would be absurd.  Straw-men do not help shed light on these problems.

I'm stating that before these addresses can even be added to eBay they should be confirmed. If the USPS can do it, it does not require alchemy or black magic.

[postingid7659]

If it has a street and a number, USPS is going to take it there, regardless of other verbiage. 

[katzrul15]

E-Bay is not available 24/7.  Wait a few hours and you can try again.

You can cancel the order, citing problem with Buyers address.  Are you certain this is a condemned building?  If yes, no idea what contacting e-Bay adds to this order.

Your Buyer can and may leave FB for a cancelled transaction.  Good luck.

[toysaver]

I'd be comfortable canceling citing something is wrong with the buyer's address.  What's the buyer's feedback, any recent purchases?  I'd google the buyers name with the city and see if another address comes up and question him if it does.  If he does not even have an address he may be a dead beat, only may be...  it could that location has a brand new house just built on it or the house is no longer condemmed.    Good Luck on this one.

[m60driver]

If an address is not valid then most services will not generate a shipping label.  I have had a few buyers over the past several years make a data entry error relative to their address and each time the label failed to print until I received a corrected address from the buyer.  Usually the error was only a single digit off.

[a_c_green]

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@lagarto_electronico wrote:

To be clear, it is a fake address in that there is enough on the address to make it uncoverable for any type or protection. There is a real address with additional verbiage that would confuse the USPS system, resulting in non-delivery.

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It's acceptable to have a directive in the mailing address in addition to the official street address if it helps in delivery. One of #2 daughter's BFFs has a mailing address that basically reads "123 Main St., Side Entrance," as it's an unnumbered apartment over a store at 123 Main, and has its own mailbox on the side of the building.

I would just ship it as received. If it's not deliverable, you will probably not get past the label-purchase stage, as it will fail validation in the USPS ZIP+4 database, and you can rightly cancel due to "Problem with address." If it is deliverable, it will be scanned as Delivered once the carrier gets to the last house on the left. (Item Not Received disputes are resolved on the basis of City Name and ZIP only, so exactly which house it's delivered to does not matter.)

[inhawaii]

I ship it to the address on the label. I don't even LOOK at the address let alone investigate it. 

But if it bothers you that much, cancel the transaction like others have suggested.

[lagarto_electronico]

"If it has a street and a number, USPS is going to take it there, regardless of other verbiage. "

We are aware of this. That isn't the problem.

Two eBay customer support representatives  stated that the way the address was worded it would not be covered by buyer or seller protection.

Additionally, the address in question is a dilapidated trap house with a board nailed over the front door.

Doesn't pass the smell test.  We all get scammed on here sometime, but I am in no rush to make it that easy.

[lagarto_electronico]

"What's the buyer's feedback, any recent purchases"

Around 2020 I found that doesn't matter.

Due to many data breaches, there are eBay profiles in good standing being marketed for mere dollars on the dark-web.  Often the original users are deceased.

What the fraudsters do is buy one of those profiles, have a few successful transactions, then they change the address to a nearby landfill or condemned building and the games begin.

All they have to do is watch and have someone intercept the item and claim it was never received. They aren't even who they say they are on eBay, so they can't be held accountable. 

In 2020 I had three different deceased grandmothers (from the USA) buy items from me. What saved me is the scammer was really in South America using a VPN and slipped up and was detected.

[cstpos]

@lagarto_electronico  I would cancel the sale as Problem with Buyer's address, then message the buyer and let them know  that you cancelled the order. Tell them they can repurchase, but they need to  update the address to a regular street address. If they are legit, they won't have a problem doing that. Best of Luck!