Buyer address changed between auction end and payment

[garysaucier]

Ok this is a strange one.  A buyer won 2 music CDs from me at auction on here.  I do my own shipping labels and do not use Ebay's shipping label feature.  The buyer's mailing address was different before I sent my invoice to him (from which I did my shipping label) than it was after he paid me.  I did not notice this until I returned from the post office today and had sent the items.  Both addresses were in the same city.  I've contacted him but haven't received a reply yet.  Has this happened to anyone?

[rock.star]

You need to always use the address that comes with the payment.
The buyer can choose a different address when they check out.

[missjen831]

You shouldn't be printing labels before the buyer has paid. The buyer can change the shippinng address during payment and that is the address you are required to ship to. You jumped the gun here, reship at your expense since the mistake was yours  

[garysaucier]

Thanks for the info.  My bad but this is not my business either.  I'm just trying to thin out things I no longer want or need which is what this site USED to be about I thought.  That makes it awfully dicey when you want to get someone a shipping estimate before they pay.  Technically they could initially show you an address in New York and then when they check out after invoicing you suddenly are shipping to California.  Hopefully the guy answers me soon so we can work it out.

[partial*eclipse]

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@garysaucier wrote:

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 ... makes it awfully dicey when you want to get someone a shipping estimate before they pay.  Technically they could initially show you an address in New York and then when they check out after invoicing you suddenly are shipping to California.  Hopefully the guy answers me soon so we can work it out.

You're right, if you quote a price for one location the buyer could then pay using an address that's farther away.  But the buyer usually doesn't need to ask for an invoice or a  shipping estimate, and you don't need to send one spontaneously either. The shipping cost should be shown  in your listing.  

[creoleorchid]

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@garysaucier wrote:

Thanks for the info.  My bad but this is not my business either.  I'm just trying to thin out things I no longer want or need which is what this site USED to be about I thought.  That makes it awfully dicey when you want to get someone a shipping estimate before they pay.  Technically they could initially show you an address in New York and then when they check out after invoicing you suddenly are shipping to California.  Hopefully the guy answers me soon so we can work it out.

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That's where you messed up. You should never have to give a buyer a shipping estimate. It should be set up for calculated shipping or flat rate to everywhere. Calculated shipping requires you to weigh and measure the packaged item and you plug that in to your listing form. When the buyer views the item, he sees what it costs to ship to him at the address he has as his primary. When he checks out, the address he enters at checkout will automatically recalculate the shipping if he puts in a different zoned address. He will have to pay that recalculated cost.

Rule number two: NEVER send an invoice before they pay unless you are combining shipping on more than one item and haven't set up combined shipping rules. It will lock you in to whatever shipping charge was shown to the buyer when they viewed the listing.

eBay sends invoices and payment reminders. No need to send another.