Will I get negative feedback?

[kirakirashina]

There's a brand new account that just purchased an item the same day the account was created. No reviews, no history on his feedback. I have no problem with that but when this person tells me to add to his address, that's a red flag for me. I would like to know if I'm in the right here. I told the buyer that I can cancel the order due to invalid address, refund him in full, and I'll relist the item for him to purchase with his corrected his address.

I wanted to know that if this person is INDEED a scammer, will I get negative feedback for canceling the order? Now the address looked fine to me, but he wanted me to add to the address. He said he was unable to which is why he posted a note for me to add to his address.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the suspected scammers' account name here.

[mr_lincoln · Accepted solution]

Hi @kirakirashina 

-If a Buyer purchases as a Guest they will have (0) Feedback AND they CANNOT leave ANY Feedback as a Guest Buyer.

-Your message back to them is correct, you can cancel for them if they request it or cancel due to problem with address if they do not respond.  Let them know that eBay expects Sellers to ship to THE address at the time of purchase and not to modified ones or the Seller loses their protection.  Add that it is better for both parties to have the address correct at the time of order.

-No to posting the Buyer's ID here, it would be considered Naming and Shaming per the posting guidelines explained here:  Community Guidelines - The eBay Community

[rosszonebricks]

I wouldn't necessarily assume someone who wants to change their address a scammer.   Plenty of innocent reasons why they may have entered an incorrect address.

You are 100% correct that you should always only ship to the address on the order, and cancelling the order as 'buyer requested' or 'problem with address' and relisting, and telling them to repurchase with the correct address.

Another consideration:  I have heard of an item selling, and another ebayer that is NOT the buyer messages pretending to be the buyer, requesting 'oh ship it to this address instead...' hoping you won't notice and ship them the item instead of the real buyer.    However, having the stance of 'only can ship to the address on the order' already saves a seller from this scam.

[caldreamer]

You did the right thing by telling customer EBAY does not allow Sellers to change shipping address.   Unfortunately, buyer can still leave negative feedback after sale was cancelled.   

Scammers will try to get to ship to "different address" and then file a claim "did not receive item".    EBAY requires that you have tracking# proving that item shipped to ORIGINAL ADDRESS on file.

[ckimodog]

@kirakirashina 

I don't believe guest accounts can leave feedback.  I know that's true on etsy.  However you were correct in asking this person to update their address on their account.  If you feel uneasy with this transaction I would cancel citing problems with the buyers address.  List it again and when the buyer updates their address, tell them to purchase it.  Good eye. 

Happy Selling.

[brightlightbookseller]

There's no reason for the new account to be an issue, but you're right, never edit the address.  Tell him you can cancel and relist and he can purchase again with the new address.  If they leave negative feedback, which no one can predict, you can probably have it removed, but don't let that scare you from doing the right thing and risking your product and money instead of just a negative feedback.

[kirakirashina]

How do I know if its a Guest account? Its a new account created the same day of purchase. Would that be considered a guest account? 

[kirakirashina]

QUICK UPDATE - HELP NEEDED!

Okay, I canceled the purchase, gave a full refund and relisted the item. Now this person with this new account originally had a California address and now just re-purchased the item and it shows a Texas address??? Is this a scam???  Am I required to ship this? 

[nobody*s_perfect]

What exactly do you mean by "add to" his address?  Is this something you could write on the label after printing it out, such as an apartment number? If so, I would gladly to it, even though I would not be willing to actually change anything on the original address before printing out the label.  But if it's just details I can add with my Sharpie, then no problem.

To answer your actual question: Yes, if he's not a guest account then he can leave feedback afer you cancel the transaction. Given the specific request, this is probably not one of those cases where a different ID tries to divert the package, but it wouldn't hurt to double-check that the message with the change request actually cane from the same buyer ID.

[mr_lincoln]

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@kirakirashina wrote:

How do I know if its a Guest account? Its a new account created the same day of purchase. Would that be considered a guest account? 

---

@kirakirashina   I am not aware of an indication that an account is a Guest Buyer or not ... but maybe they messed up when they entered their address on the Guest flow checkout and couldn't figure out how to correct it.

Over the years I have sold to quite a few (0) FB Buyers and yes, some created their accounts the day they purchased OR placed bids on my auctions.  I have had more issues with Buyer with much higher FB counts then those with (0) or counts under (10) ... 

[kirakirashina]

Okay, I canceled the purchase, gave a full refund and relisted the item. Now this person with this new account originally had a California address and now just re-purchased the item and it shows a Texas address??? Is this a scammer???  I'm highly suspicious now that this person is indeed a scammer.

[kirakirashina]

QUICK UPDATE - HELP NEEDED!

Okay, I canceled the purchase, gave a full refund and relisted the item. Now this person with this new account originally had a California address and now just re-purchased the item and it shows a Texas address??? Is this a scammer???  I'm highly suspicious and don't know what next step to take.

I've also sold to brand new accounts with no problems before but never encountered this type of situation where the buyer wants me to add to his address. NOW he has a new address in a different state???

[bonjourami]

If you are that worried, cancel with problem with address, you wont get a defect and he cant leave fb. And block this guy!

[mr_lincoln]

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@kirakirashina wrote:

QUICK UPDATE - HELP NEEDED!

Okay, I canceled the purchase, gave a full refund and relisted the item. Now this person with this new account originally had a California address and now just re-purchased the item and it shows a Texas address??? Is this a scam???  Am I required to ship this? 

---

@kirakirashina   On a $ 15.99 Kidrobot x Hello Sanrio Plush Burger Charm - Chococat  I would not be inclined to think they are a scammer but that's just my opinion.

-We see Buyers regularly posting here that they purchased then realized their old address was still on their account'

-In 2021 a Census recorded approximately 111,000 people moved from California to Texas and Texas reports that 1 in 10 people moving to their state are from California. 

-List

-Sell

-Pack

-Label

-Ship 

-Wait to see if there is an issue

[bonjourami]

This is for the $15 item? Doesnt sound like a scammer.