@chapeau-noir wrote:
OP apparently has not run into this before and so asked a good question, and got good advice.
Cheerleading...or experience? **You decide!**
The advice given of just ship it without concern is fine for sellers who ship 10 to 50 items a day and can absorb a fraudulent sale in the profit from additional sales. This seller had 3 items listed and the sale of regard was the most expensive of the 3.
I think it to be irresponsible to tell this person to just ship it without concern when they can take 5 minutes of due diligence to cover themselves in the case there is maliciousness involved.
Surely there is a high chance the sale will go on without a hitch, but when you have 3 items listed, you should, and likely have the time to take care to cover your bases, especially in cases of this nature that have a higher chance of fraud - a case where there is a moderate to high likelihood that a foreign buyer may be using a freight forwarder.
Sending the buyer a quick email to ask them to validate the shipping address to ensure their current address on file is correct, and, in the event you find the address to be a known freight forwarder, to ask them if they are in fact utilizing a freight forwarder service is the right thing to do for low volume sellers - If the buyer replies back saying yes it is a freight forwarder, then you have it in writing and have all the information you need to win a case if things go bad. If they reply no, well that would give greater pause for concern. A 5 minute email will give you everything you need to know of how this sale will likely turn out. That is my advise and I believe it to be correct in this situation.
