Shipping high priced items to forwarding address - high risk?

[aliseexpress]

I have an order for two high-priced subwoofers, with the buyer's shipping address listed as a forwarding address (Buyer Name: #XXXXX). The forwarding company ships exclusively to the Philippines, so I’m assuming the buyer is from there.

However, the buyer has zero reviews, and I’m unsure if this is a guest account or a new buyer. Given the circumstances, I'm concerned about the potential risks of shipping this order.

Has anyone else encountered a similar situation? Is this considered a high-risk transaction? Should I take extra precautions before shipping, or is there something specific I should look out for in cases like this?

[kenneth686321]

Buyer paid, you ship. Simple

Shipping expensive items to freight forwarders or 0 feedback buyers has the same amount of risk as shipping expensive items to regular buyers with 1000s of feedback. 

Ship with signature confirmation if the item is $750+

You need to consider your risk tolerance. Never sell anything you are afraid to loose.   

[dbfolks166mt]

     A lot of sellers raise concerns about freight forwarders and low/no feedback buyers. As long as you have been selling I am surprised you have not encountered this before. As far as freight forwarders the buyer looses their MBG coverage once the item arrives at the FF, or so eBay's policy states. However, fighting buyer claims or return requests has become a pain based on some postings on this forum. However, you have no protection against a CC chargeback if the buyer goes that route. With regards to the individual being a new buyer with no feedback that comes up all the time also. Frankly I have had more issues with established buyers than I have had with new ones. 

     Selling anything on eBay carries a risk and you have to establish your own thresholds. There are some things I would never list on eBay due to their value or the fact that they are known high targets for scammers. Cell phones or computers for example. 

     As kenneth686321 stated you listed the item, buyer purchased and I assume paid, you ship it. Even if you did not want to complete the transaction what valid reason could you use to cancel the transaction? 

[fbusoni]

@aliseexpress 

Unless you are participating in the eIS program, shipping items overseas is fraught with risk regardless of who the buyer is, their choice of carrier, their feedback level, or or how long they've been on eBay.   

The more expensive the item, the greater the risk.

You have the option to cancel the order if your metrics can take the hit.

The best worst case scenario perhaps is that the buyer wants to return the items and you have to pay for return shipping.   And even then you may get a stack of magazines back instead of the speakers.

[dbfolks166mt]

@aliseexpress 

Unless you are participating in the eIS program, shipping items overseas is fraught with risk regardless of who the buyer is, their choice of carrier, their feedback level, or or how long they've been on eBay.   

     I would tend to agree the risk is higher if you are shipping directly but in this case the item is going through a freight forwarder which while not as safe as going through EIS does provide a bit more protection that the seller directly shipping to the international buyer. 

The more expensive the item, the greater the risk.

You have the option to cancel the order if your metrics can take the hit.

The best worst case scenario perhaps is that the buyer wants to return the items and you have to pay for return shipping.   And even then you may get a stack of magazines back instead of the speakers.

     You do not have to accept returns when an item has gone through a freight forwarder the buyer looses their MBG coverage once the item is delivered to the FF. However, based on some recent postings it takes working directly with eBay to annotate that the item went through a freight forwarder since the AI and bots are not that smart. Even if you elect to accept the return you are only responsible for the shipping label from the ff back to you, the shipping from the buyer back to the FF is their responsibility and expense. 

[fbusoni]

@dbfolks166mt 

---

     You do not have to accept returns when an item has gone through a freight forwarder the buyer looses their MBG coverage once the item is delivered to the FF. However, based on some recent postings it takes working directly with eBay to annotate that the item went through a freight forwarder since the AI and bots are not that smart. Even if you elect to accept the return you are only responsible for the shipping label from the ff back to you, the shipping from the buyer back to the FF is their responsibility and expense. 

---

I had no idea... thank you for the correction.   I'm amazed quite frankly that eBay does that much to protect a seller.  regards