Scam?

[ftb.direct]

Okay, so I've been buying things on ebay over the years, but just recently started selling items.  Things have seemingly gone smoothly so far, however I have one buyer that seems a little fishy.  Could I get a 2nd or 3rd opinion on this?

They purchased three of my items totaling roughly $90.  We have messaged back and forth a couple times regarding the items and at no time did they tell me they were overseas, however, the shipping address is 13822 NE Airport Way, Portland, OR, which appears to be a reshipping service to ship items overseas.  

The name of the person I am to address the package to is different than the name on the Paypal account of the buyer, but I'm thinking maybe that is the name of their shipping agent in Portland.

I googled the phone number provided in the ebay account of the buyer and it comes up under yet a different name, so now there are 3 different names associated with this order.

The buyer has a 100% positive feedback rating but only has 5 ratings total and they are all within the last 6 months.  Paypal says the sender is Non-US Unverified. 

Would you cancel the order and refund the payment?  If I cancel the order, will I get penalized by ebay?

**Also, right before typing this out, I sent another message to the buyer asking if this was going overseas and they just responded with "Nope. Pls check the address that I used, pls use exact info. Paid already."**

[moparfan2010]

I only ever shipped to the buyers address listed by ebay/paypal.  It protects (?) you in case of an item not received claim.  Once you begin to not follow the shipping rules by ebay you leave yourself open to more headaches and losses.  Also be careful of buyers wanting to communicate with you off ebay.  Once a purchase has been made the buyers' listed address should be available to you.  That is the only address to ship to.  BUT...go with your gut, the very fact you are questioning these sales is cause for concern.

[kensgiftshop]

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@ftb.direct 

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As long as the buyer has paid and Pay Pal says it's ok to ship, I would ship.

As far as different names, you'll run into that pretty often.

[pburn]

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@moparfan2010 wrote:

I only ever shipped to the buyers address listed by ebay/paypal. 

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I'm not quite sure what you mean by "buyers [sic] address listed by ebay/paypal [sic]." Just to clarify, sellers are obligated to send items to the "ship to" address the buyer uses when completing eBay's checkout process. 

I often send my eBay purchases to other friends or family, and I enter their address at checkout. It's a perfectly legitimate procedure; i.e., it does not affect seller protection.

[caldreamer]

If you cancel order...you will get a defect (remains on your record for one year).

I have sent item to freight forwarders with no problem.   As long as you ship to name & address shown on shipping label you will be fine.  Do NOT change name or address (that would void EBAY Seller protection).

[coolections]

As long as that Portland address is showing in paypal and it says to ship then just ship.

[femmefan1946]

I've been married for 52 years and my name is not the same as my husband's. And when we had a shop, his Paypal was in the name of the business.

A freight forwarder is the second safest* address you can ship to, since most of the Money Back Guarantee  and your responsibilities under it  end at the forwarder's doorstep.

The one problem that might arise, you don't seem to be aware of. If your buyer has a non-US Paypal account, or backs his account with a non-US credit card, you will pay a 4.4% PP fee rather than the 2.9% you pay on fully domestic transactions. So you make less money than you would otherwise.

*The safest is a Post Office box. Least safe is a home address because of porch piracy.

[gracieallen01]

Two things to keep in mind, 1) all buyers have 100% positive feedback (they can't get a negative) and, 2) always check, by logging in to your account, not from some 'link' or because of some email that you might get, to make sure that you have actually been paid.

[1tuna]

............general reply..........

Portland buyers are great,I also like Milwaukie Oregon,its my favorite state for reshippers.I was a a frquent seller to many California reshippers but they all dried up since they started charging taxes.My asian customers were surprised at the high taxes in California,it was screwing up the shipping rates so it moved to Oregon.

People in southeast PA are very protective of the state of Deleware. Shipping to Delware is dirt cheap since its right down 95.the reshippers in Deleware are also the very best.my buisness depends on them

keep on selling

[gracieallen01]

Reshippers fulfill a need and provide a service.  Unfortunately, just like in any other part of society, there are people involved.  If one person uses a reshipper to scam someone, it can be bad news for all reshippers.  If one buyer scams a seller on ebay, it can be bad news for all buyers on ebay - or any place else.  What's the old saying?  One bad apple can spoil the barrel? 

People need to be more informed and aware of the problems and pitfalls of interacting with other people.  A vast majority of transactions on ebay go forth without any problem, what-so-ever.  However, there are billions of people out there, with millions of them online - but, it only takes a handful to cause distrust and problems. As well, there are too many with vested interests that profit from those handfuls of people to initiate proactive initiatives and cause remedies to the problems. 

'It's just a cost of doing business' - so it has been said.  An Industry Standard.

(personal opinion - your mileage may vary)

[ftb.direct]

Thank you to everyone who responded.  I'm still learning and I appreciate all of your input.  

[wesk_36]

Normally, I wouldn't have a problem shipping to a re-shipper.

The fact that the buyer denies that the package is not being sent overseas despite the obvious, is not normal and would be disconcerting to me. Either they are lying or the re-shipper is sending it to a USA address (do they do that?) or the buyer works for the shipping company that forwards packages to other countries and they are using their work address. If that were the case, they could tell you.

If they are lying, you would have to wonder why?
-They could think that it is not allowed to use a re-shipper and that you wouldn't ship it to them.
-They could be a scammer.

Since the buyer answers your questions vaguely or ambiguously I would say imo they are lying for whatever reason they choose to and because dealing with liars rarely leads to anything good, I would not sell to them.

Adhering to the rules of ebay and paypal will protect you more than changing the rules because a buyer demands it. Changing the shipping information can lead to negative consequences for you, so don't.

If you are going to ship to them, then at least only use the exact name and address provided by paypal and do not change it because the buyer demands it. It is your $90 at risk, but no risk to those telling you to break the rules because it's no problem.
just my opinion.

[femmefan1946]

Reshippers also ship to Canada sometimes. Not common but available.

And many Canadian sellers use chitchatexpress or other forwarders to carry our parcels across the border, deal with import fees (low) and use cheap cheap cheap USPS tracked shipping.

And of course, not exactly the same but similar, eBay has the Global Shipping Program , a Seller Protection program.

[genecath-0]

A buyer with this address just made 3 unauthorised ebay transactions using my PayPal account. I'm in Melbourne, Australia and know nobody in Oregon. I've submitted a dispute with PayPal and anticipate I'll get my money back. Do not trust this address or buyers using it - you'll lose your money and product.

[vinterest1]

I just sold an item to a guy with this address. He openly said he is an antiques re-seller and going to re-ship them abroad. I think there are at least several different buyers/re-sellers using this address. Shouldn't be a problem for me since I'm mailing to the address on the ebay label and it's in the U.S.