Things are not adding up -- possible buyer scam?

[mjh4y]

I'm not sure what to do -- I'm fairly new to selling on eBay, but transactions have gone smoothly so far; however, today I received a message asking me if I would combine multiple items I'm selling for a discounted price.  I noticed in the message on the bottom, under the Get to Know the Buyer, the location was 中國 - which from Google translate is China.  I replied that I'd be happy to combine and that I'd make a listing.  I asked where it would be shipping to so I could estimate the shipping cost, and s/he replied "Houston 77036".  So I created a new listing of the items s/he wanted and then I sent the link back in Message.  Shortly thereafter, the item was purchased, but it was from Casper (no last name), located in Gainesville, FL.  Then when I look at the order details, it's from a very Chinese sounding name (I will not post here, at least at this point).  I then messaged the original person and asked to confirm if s/he was the person who just purchased the new item I created, and then a few hours later, s/he replied that "I didn't find the listing", despite me sending him the link directly to the listing in Messages.  

It might be fine ... ?  maybe someone else randomly searched and found the listing and purchased it?  But my senses are telling me something is fishy, but I don't know what to do.  What recourse do I have?  Are the things I can do when shipping to ensure IF there is a dispute that the package never arrived, that I am protected?  I've read about buyer scams coming from China that provide US addresses in OR or FL - and I read that the seller was SOL in most scenarios I came across.  Maybe I'm being paranoid but my gut tells me something is not right here but I don't know what I can or should do... any and all advice is welcome!  

[12345jamesstamps]

Other country buyers use "freight forward"....and Florida is a state with some. And not a scam.

You are responsible getting it to the address of the person who purchased it at that address and not China.

If it is Texas maybe someone else purchased it.

Just mail it to the address of the person who paid it.

[klhmdg]

You made a listing and someone bought it.

You are on here to sell stuff.

Make sure you only ship to the address supplied.

Make sure you have tracking.

I have never "researched" a buyers address.

I have shipped many items to Freight Forwarders and had zero issues.

[femmefan1946]

Are you aware of freight forwarders?
These companies accept shipments to their overseas clients at a US address and ship them on, often dealing with customs as part of their service.

From a seller's point of view they are a Good Thing.

When you ship to a freight forwarding address your responsibility for delivery ends at the forwarder's doorstep.

And the customs scam is not possible because the forwarder is taking care of that end for the client (yours and theirs).

So.

Look at Google Maps.

Is the FL address a strip mall or industrial park , probably near the airport or the docks?

If the name over the door isn't visible, it's still probable that your customer is using a forwarder.

Good.

And eBay has told us that Not As Described disputes can be dealt with by demandingthe return of the shipment.

And that we only need supply the return shipping label to the forwarder's US address. It's up to the unhappy customer to get the goods back to the forwarder before the deadline.

A seller is only required to provide return shipping from the buyer's input address at time of checkout - that goes for any return where a seller provides shipping ('free' returns, etc).
 https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/All-Items-Are-Free/m-p/31966203#M1772511

All that being said.

There are many Chinese-Americans,even in Florida.  Some use Western pronomens, some prefer Chinese.

It's odd that you got two "Chinese" customers from different states.

But if they pay, and you ship to a forwarder, it's no more dangerous than shipping to a suburban address in Idaho.