Buyer Wants to Ship to Different Address

[bokabainc]

A buyer with 3,000 + feedback wants me to ship an item he already paid for to a relative's address in another state. I sent him a message explaining that I can only ship to the address shown in the order. I have not heard back from him. If I do not hear from him by Monday, should I cancel the order as "problem with address" or go ahead and ship to the address shown in the order? This appears to be a common problem. 

[orangehound · Accepted solution]

As long as the item isn't too terribly expensive, I will ship to the new address as requested by the buyer.  I don't do it blindly, however, because there are rare times that an account has been compromised.

On those occasions when I've been concerned, here are some of my actions ...

1. I look on Google Maps to see what kind of address/neighborhood it is in.
2. One time for a moderately expensive item, I also called up eBay customer service to see if there is anything unusual about the account.
3. I check the post office to ensure the address is valid.

Yes, I know about the buyer protection concerns, but address changes happen from time to time, and as long as this isn't for an iPhone or something very expensive, I'll make the address correction.

[buyselljack2016]

Monday is a USPS non-shipping day if that helps at all. Gives you a little more wiggle room.

[be_4101]

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@bokabainc wrote:

A buyer with 3,000 + feedback wants me to ship an item he already paid for to a relative's address in another state. I sent him a message explaining that I can only ship to the address shown in the order. I have not heard back from him.

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This is a built-in feature on eBay, so write back and let your buyer know: If you refund your buyer's payment, the Pay Now button will reappear and your buyer can go through Checkout again, this time to select or add the proper shipping address.

You do run the risk of losing the sale however, if your buyer cuts bait.

[mg152]

The paints? They’re less than $20 so I woukd change it but that’s me. You do lose protection. I have changed the address on 10-15 items with no issue but I’d only do it for trusted members and items under about $40.

[mg152]

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@orangehound wrote:

As long as the item isn't too terribly expensive, I will ship to the new address as requested by the buyer.  I don't do it blindly, however, because there are rare times that an account has been compromised.

On those occasions when I've been concerned, here are some of my actions ...

1. I look on Google Maps to see what kind of address/neighborhood it is in.
2. One time for a moderately expensive item, I also called up eBay customer service to see if there is anything unusual about the account.
3. I check the post office to ensure the address is valid.

Yes, I know about the buyer protection concerns, but address changes happen from time to time, and as long as this isn't for an iPhone or something very expensive, I'll make the address correction.

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I don’t google anything. I just change the address if it’s a longtime member and an item under $40

[mg152]

Are you the artist? Those are some beautiful paintings my friend.

[orangehound]

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@mg152 wrote:

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I don’t google anything. I just change the address if it’s a longtime member and an item under $40

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Yeah, I also wouldn't check much in that situation other than glancing at the buyer's profile.

But, for example, we had an address change request last week for a $100 item ... I spent about 10 minutes looking at what I could of the buyer's account and their new address.

We've only been burned once on an address change, and it wasn't because the buyer was a scammer.  The buyer was just incompetent.

[bokabainc]

Thanks. I will probably go ahead and ship to the relative's address and hope for the best since it was a $15 item. 

[bokabainc]

Yes, thank you!

[a_c_green]

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@mg152 wrote:
The paints? They’re less than $20 so I woukd change it but that’s me. You do lose protection.

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Technically, INR disputes look at only the buyer's City and ZIP code, so if the requested alternate address is only a change of street address, but not City or ZIP, then you'll still be covered.

[vintagecraze50]

Brian your paintings are stunning. Best of luck to you here.