Buyer wants to change shipping address after paying through PayPal

[angry_hermit]

This afternoon, someone purchased one of my items using PayPal then used Contact Seller to request that I ship to a different address in the same metro area.  Using a burner account here to protect buyer's privacy.

I understand that eBay will protect me from an INR if I ship to the address given in the Member-to-Member message.  But PayPal can't see that message, and their policy makes clear that I will not be protected from a chargeback.

In the Knowledge Base, @Anonymous writes: "If the item has not been shipped yet, we recommend cancelling the transaction and having the buyer repurchase with an updated address."  But there is no recommendation on how to cancel without incurring a defect or how to list the item for the buyer to repurchase.

If the buyer is legitimate, I would like to have them request to cancel the order.  But if the buyer is resistant or unresponsive, what is the seller's best option?  What are the consequences for cancelling the transaction because "Something is wrong with buyer's address" when the buyer's message backs that up?

After the sale is cancelled one way or another, what is the best way to give the original buyer the first shot?  I have seen recommendations for an auction-style listing, intending to sell to the highest bidder at the previous purchase price, or for a best-offer listing with an inflated Buy It Now price.  I also thought of having the listing post at a pre-arranged time.

I want to offer the buyer first shot at the item tomorrow so they'll be more willing to request the cancellation themselves.

What has worked for other sellers, and what does eBay recommend?  If there is a known best practice, could that be included in the Knowledge Base article or a help page for future sellers in this situation?

[green-night]

What is the value of the item?

This is a common request which I almost always fulfill assuming it is a relatively lower priced item. 

If you perfer to cancel the order, you don't need anything more from your buyer.  They have already indicated a problem with address.  

[rosesfinethings]

We always have the buyer hit the cancel button themselves, then we re list it and they re buy it with a new address, this way we do not get a defective item on our record. Hope this helps, Rich from Roses Fine Things.

[myboardid]

You can safely cancel for "problem with buyer's address".  This situation is why that reason exists.

That said, I have been selling here for more than 20 years, I ship to addresses the buyer changes after the purchase on a regular basis, I've done it thousands of times.  I have never, ever had a problem doing it.  But I would take into consideration the value of the item and whether or not it is a high-scam item.  I would not do it for electronics, cameras, cell phones.  I sell collectible holiday decorations. 

[pburn]

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@angry_hermit wrote:

What has worked for other sellers, and what does eBay recommend?  If there is a known best practice, could that be included in the Knowledge Base article or a help page for future sellers in this situation?

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Just to be super clear:  you probably lose all eBay and certainly lose PayPal seller protection if you mail to an address other than that on record when the buyer paid.

I'm not sure where you got the information that eBay will accept the request to change the shipping address from an email. I think their track record on that situation is iffy. That being said, even if eBay backs you on the change of address, PayPal will not. PayPal will honor an INR case shipped to a different address in a heartbeat.

Here's a good article for you to peruse.

https://www.ebay.com/gds/Sending-to-an-Alternate-Address-for-Buyers-and-Sellers-/10000000014599377/g...

Hope this helps you make your decision! Good luck!

[angry_hermit]

The item sells for a couple hundred dollars. Enough that I don't want to lose the sale but really don't want to lose the item. And yes, this category gets triangle scams where the buyer wants to drop-ship directly to his mark through a stolen credit card. I would have already sent the item if the cost of losing it was less than the cost of the time spent investigating the right thing to do.

[angry_hermit]

The Knowledge Base article says:

As long as delivery confirmation to the buyer's address is provided, a seller is eligible for protection when an item not received request is opened through the eBay Money Back Guarantee. This can be either the address given at checkout, or the address provided via messages on eBay.

eBay telephone support has been trained to tell sellers they're covered and to ship to the alternate address, which violates PayPal policy.  PayPal telephone support told me to cancel the transaction -- which could lead to a defect if done wrong, since there seems to be no definitive policy statement on how it can be done safely.

I now understand eBay's decision to deprecate guides if guides advise sellers to invoice buyers directly through PayPal and not give eBay their cut.  PayPal suggested the same thing.  Of course I'm not going to do that, but someone in a hurry just might.

eBay has recently revamped its help pages.  Changing your shipping address after a purchase instructs buyers to request to cancel the order.  But my buyer just messaged me their preferred shipping address.  There needs to be a corresponding help file for sellers in this unfortunately common situation.

I appreciate the efforts of this community to try to take up the slack.

[labs118]

They will tell you over & over again if it's in messages your protected 
But that is on ebay only & I would never ever trust them.

I would cancel Problem with buyers address, keep your message I mean screen shot them as ebay message can tend to disappear !!!

You could always relist as a Buy it now best offer & accept your buyers offer and make sure they add /change to the correct address on the Payment page





Great read, this poor seller thought everyone had their back 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Payments/Lost-money-selling-an-item/qaq-p/28551609/jump-to/first-unrea...

Trinton's response

Hi xxxxx when contacting eBay we are able to speak to policies on our platform, but would not be able to talk to the processes or protections provided by another company. Though we do offer protection on our site through the eBay Money Back Guarantee when we can see the buyer has requested a change in delivery, the buyer does have protection options outside of eBay and a seller would need to investigate these possibilities themselves as we can only address eBay processes with authority. Protections we offer would not apply to the protection program of another compnay such as PayPal or a financial institution. 

[garmentvarmint2004]

HERMIT..

From     what I have seen in  recent years--If an  Ebay mesage or policy statement is even  the  least bit vague or ambigous---do  not  trust it.    Ebay will  almost always find in the favor of buyer---in most situatuions. 

[berserkerplanet]

>>Protections we offer would not apply to the protection program
>>of another compnay such as PayPal or a financial institution.

My take on that is that the eBay "it was in a message" protection is useless (other than to defend against the laziest or most ignorant buyers). After eBay protects the seller, buyer just goes to PayPal or CC chargeback and wins.

Not even sure why eBay trots this out (unless it's another empty "see all the things we do for you" gesture).