The misspelled address. Cannot ship.

[tianna74]

I cannot purchase  a shipping label. “Your Ship to address contains some errors that need to be fixed before purchasing the label. Please note that you may not be covered by the eBay Seller Protection Policy if the changes you make are substantially different from what the buyer intended.”

By the address line, there’s a message “please only use 40 characters”.

The address looks like the system put something extra in it.

The customer service told me to cancel order. 
Later, he gave me the buyer address and told to edit it myself.  Read a first warning ^ So I could be left without Seller Protection if I do it myself.

He said he cannot change anything in my account. I asked to talk with a higher ranked  representative. And he disconnected me.

My shipping now is being late. 
The buyer didn’t answer yet, but she did many purchases here before so the problem is probably not with her address, but with the system.

[threelittlelambs]

I've had the same issue a number of times. If they seemed like a legitimate buyer with good feedback, I would just make minor adjustments to make it 40 characters or less on each line without changing the actual address and it was always fine. That's just my experience.

[lamber9347]

You were told correctly. You are not allowed to make any changes to a buyer's address, only the buyer can do that. If you do edit the address- for whatever reason at all, you are forfeiting what few and little protections you get as a seller. Your best bet is to cancel using the reason, problem with buyer's address. that's exactly what the problem is. Buyer can then make any adjustments to their address and repurchase if still interested. You will be refunded for your fees, minus the .30 cents fee. Continuing to wait just makes the situation worse. Best of luck to you.... 

[femmefan1946]

A possible workaround.

The address you got was:

Henry Hinklebottham

Apt2239, 12970 West Worchestershire Boulevard, Marlin County

East Wowweehwow, New Jersey

90210-1234

Which is too long.

But you have more than four boxes to fill, so move some of the information to a different box.

Henry Hinklebottham

 12970 West Worchestershire Boulevard,

Apt2239,

Marlin County

East Wowweehwow

New Jersey

90210-1234

How does that work in terms of the address boxes you can fill?

[albertabrightalberta]

Re: "Please note that you may not be covered by the eBay Seller Protection Policy if the changes you make are substantially different from what the buyer intended."

I notice that they've revised the warning to include "substantially different" if correcting the address. 

I've had a few instances in the past (but from when my payments came through Paypal) that small revisions had to be made and once those changes were done, I could make the label. 

For example, instead of 

123 Main St. the address came though as 123 Main Street St.  I was able to fix it and the label worked. 

Another time, they'd changed zip codes in a particular city but the buyer's address had the previously valid zip and the label wanted the correct one. (Address was the same and city, state were fine.) It told me the recommended zip and once changed, I could generate a label. 

I've never had an issue with a dispute on one of the changed addresses so I don't know for sure that it would work in my favor but I did let the buyers know they needed to correct their shipping addresses for future purchases. 

In this case, I think the address not being "substantially different from what the buyer intended" implies that ebay policy recognizes occasional p.o. changes.

[tianna74]

I’m not sure if it’s a minor adjustment. The address has a lot of numbers in the end what aren’t supposed to be here. Looks like a coding mistake. “Street name ABN#646520#### Code:PAID” (a little altered) - that’s what I see in the address line.

I don’t know if I can safely remove “ABN#646520#### Code:PAID”. It’s obviously not supposed to be here.

[tianna74]

Why waiting would make the  situation worse? What can happen? I wanted to get an answer from buyer first.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@tianna74 wrote:

I’m not sure if it’s a minor adjustment. The address has a lot of numbers in the end what aren’t supposed to be here. Looks like a coding mistake. “Street name ABN#646520#### Code:PAID” (a little altered) - that’s what I see in the address line.

I don’t know if I can safely remove “ABN#646520#### Code:PAID”. It’s obviously not supposed to be here.

---

Ugh! That doesn't look like a mistake that's an easy fix. 

I'd contact the buyer, let her/him know you can't ship because of an invalid address and that you have to cancel the transaction. Let the buyer know you'll relist and they can rebuy it but they need to be sure to look at the address before allowing the payment to go through.

For cancellation, choose problem with the address. (Refund will automatically be done.)

[supercharger-parts]

This is an international order, maybe to Australia?  Put it as the third line in the address assuming you have an actual address to ship to.  It is their proof that they paid the customs/duties required, if you don't include it, they may get billed again.

So an example would be when you click on "edit" for the address

customer's name

**company name** you can put the code here

address line 1 ....their address

address line 2 ....you can put the code here if you don't need it for the address

city

state or province 

zip code

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@tianna74 wrote: .... The address has a lot of numbers in the end what aren’t supposed to be here. Looks like a coding mistake. “Street name ABN#646520#### Code:PAID” ...

---

The ABN... number could be used by a forwarding service or other intermediary. 

If you purchase postage anywhere else other than through eBay, you can change the address however you want, then enter the tracking number into the eBay transaction. For confirmation of delivery eBay will only look at the ZIP Code. One place you can purchase postage online at the same rates as through eBay is at www.PayPal.com/shipnow .

If the section beginning with ABN still won't fit, I would not delete it, but I'd move it into the second line of the address. As a last resort, you could delete it, print the label, then write it on with a pen.

[bashort]

What I never understood is why ebay does not verify buyer addresses before they make a purchase rather than make sellers try to fix the mess after the sale.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Indeed, especially something as straightforward as the number of characters. If they're going to limit it in one part of the process, then the same limit should apply everywhere including the initial registration of that address.

[duffy4444]

   Your only option at this point is to cancel the order because of a problem with the buyer's address. Who the heck wants to use eBay's joke of standard Customer No-Service and get hung up on, leaving the seller with more problems and frustrations than they started out with?

   This is one of the reasons why I do not use eBay's labeling and shipping system. Instead, I use Stamps.com, and I do not run into address and shipping problems.

  If it is a domestic address, Stamps.com automatically and instantaneously compares it against the USPS database and corrects the errors before printing the label. I have also had only a couple international address problems since I began using Stamps.com for all my shipping... and those were crazy long addresses in India and Italy, caused by the buyer being sloppy.

   I have never had an addressing problem or had to contact eBay's Customer No-Service in the 14 years I've been using Stamps.com. And I've never had a domestic eBay INR case over the tens of thousands of addresses that Stamps.com has printed.

   Fingers crossed, but it's just another work-around that I use, as eBay's "services" become more cumbersome and untrustworthy.

Cheers, Duffy 

[tianna74]

I thought about distributing the address between lines. They also put a company name in the address lines.

However, I saw many FB as the buyer didn’t receive items and waiting too long. Also, she doesn’t answer. So canceling looked like the safer solution.

Thank you everybody. You’re much more helpful and knowledgeable than the customer service!

[sextons-sweet-deals]

my concerns / questions / practice

1. how did buyer join eBay, provide information, and now the address is not good for seller?

2. buyer responded with seller needs to adjust address. NO WAY!

3. I personally don't do international due to so much fraud.

4. I always review buyer's status. That can include feedback, how long they have been a member, & how recent they have done business on eBay. If still in question, I will also Google map their address. 

I recently had a new buyer. I Googled the address. It shows a convenient / deli store.  I contacted the buyer and they never responded, so I cancelled order base on issue with buyer's address.