Is this a valid shipping address?

[valkseller]

I've tried to figure out what this shipping street address should be for an item that I sold:

Does anyone in the Miami area recognize it?

The street address is incomprehensible, can't be found.

Street:  2-1-4.3 N.wW .79- AveE. SP-0003638

City:      miami

State:   FL

Zip Code: 33122

This is exactly what the buyer provided.

I've tried some online address validation tools but none can verify this address.

Ebay reps couldn't help.  I sent a message to the buyer, no reply.

[soh.maryl]

Somehow I was under the impression that sellers wee required, per eBay rules, to ship to the exact address shown when the buyer pays for his purchase.  Why would anyone take the time or trouble to validate an address? Or am I incredibly ignorant?  

[1tuna]

looks like its2143........ 79 ave followed by an ID code or something for a reshipper

if its paid I woud try to ship with ebay shipping

its really up to pitney bowes who runs all the shipping software for ebay

I have been known to tape on additonal info below the ebay label to help out international labels

you could always ask the buyer to make sure

[toysaver]

There is a freight forwarding service at 2143 NW 79th Ave. Doral, FL 33122-1615?  Without more info they'd never get it.  You can cancel citing something is wrong with the address, I would.

[a_c_green]

---

@valkseller wrote:

I've tried to figure out what this shipping street address should be for an item that I sold:

Does anyone in the Miami area recognize it?

The street address is incomprehensible, can't be found.

Street:  2-1-4.3 N.wW .79- AveE. SP-0003638

City:      miami

State:   FL

Zip Code: 33122

This is exactly what the buyer provided.

I've tried some online address validation tools but none can verify this address.

Ebay reps couldn't help.  I sent a message to the buyer, no reply.

---

Cancel the sale due to Problem with Address (which it is). The address is a reshipper, and the trailing number on the end of the street address is the buyer's account number with that reshipper (so that they don't have to open your package to see whose purchase it is). 

The problem here is not with the reshipper (who probably handles dozens if not hundreds of legitimate purchases a day for international buyers), but the buyer who, for reasons which are not clear, is trying to disguise the mailing address so that filters will not pick it up by sprinkling random punctuation marks into the actual street address.

I've seen this stuff in the past, and I don't know why the buyer is trying to  disguise the shipping address so badly that even the USPS themselves can't validate it. The actual address is on NW 79th Ave in Doral, FL (which the USPS treats as the equivalent city to Miami for ZIP code 33122.)

If the buyer ever gets back to you to give you a valid, uncorrupted street address, then maybe you can sell to them again, but I would not waste my time. They're deliberately playing sillybuggers with their mailing address, and it's not your obligation to find out why. 

Also add them to your Blocked Bidder List (here) to prevent further difficulties.

[donsdetour]

Check the feedback of the purchaser as well and see what country they are listed in, as well as activity.

This is a reship or freight forward addy and it has some problems lately

due to that form of address being said as it gets forwarded to correct addy fcliamed as not delivered.

It is also used on hijacked account that addy has been changed on.

Its a problem addy for sure.

[valkseller]

soh.maryl said: Why would anyone take the time or trouble to validate an address?

When ebay's shipping label system won't produce a shipping label because the street address provided is not invalid and the buyer did not respond and ebay couldn't figure it out, that's why I gave it one more shot before canceling the order.

I was under the impression that buyer shipping addresses had to be verified before a seller is eligible for seller protection.  But that's not possible when ebay allows invalid shipping addresses to come through on a purchase transaction.

---

[toysaver]

You lose seller protection if you change the address, perhaps that is what the buyer wants you to do...

[donsdetour]

You also lose protection if forwarded from your end to the location: these are large locations that a great deal of packages are received. therefore it get forwarded due to zip......>

It would end up forwarded and you lose protection:

That is the way and they why of such addys being used.

[a_c_green]

---

@valkseller wrote:

I was under the impression that buyer shipping addresses had to be verified before a seller is eligible for seller protection.

---

---

No, all that's required for seller protection against an Item Not Received dispute is a tracking number showing a Delivered status to the City and ZIP of the Ship To: address received with the payment. For sales over $750, Signature Confirmation must be used; below $750, the free Delivery Confirmation is all that's needed.

---

@valkseller wrote:

But that's not possible when ebay allows invalid shipping addresses to come through on a purchase transaction.

---

---

Well, the assumption has always been that the Ship To: address is valid, since of course even a scammer wants to receive your item. The only validation that occurs when the label is printed is behind the scenes with the USPS database, to ensure that details such as Street vs. Avenue or Apt. vs. Suite number are correct, and that the correct ZIP+4 9-digit ZIP code can be added, based on the street address. 

Once I cleaned up the street address enough that the USPS ZIP Code verification page (here) was able to recognize it, it changed the City Name from Miami to Doral, but that's long been known as an equivalent entry in shipping addresses, so I'm not sure that was really the buyer's goal (to receive it in Doral as tracking would show, then claim that it was supposed to go to Miami instead).

Nevertheless, you're not required to solve that mystery; just cancel as the unworkable address that it is.

[soh.maryl]

Can you show me a link where eBay says the buyer's shipping address has to be verified before the seller is eligible for seller protection?  

[drydenhei]

Last month I had the same issue with a buyer's address that looked suspicious, though not to the extent of your buyer's address.  @a_c_green  makes a good point about something being fishy when the buyer tries to disguise his address.

My buyer also used a freight forwarder with address to Doral. Weirdly though, when I was about to print the shipping label, eBay flagged that address as possibly being incorrect/error (don't recall the exact message) and gave me the option to print out the corrected address. Before printing out the shipping label, I messaged the buyer about his address and my concerns. After messaging back and forth, buyer said he was using a reshipper/freight forwarder to ship the GPU to Trinidad!  I'm a newbie seller so FF was unfamiliar at the time.

Buyer gave me the okay to ship using the corrected address. I had read here and on Reddit about how scammers would play game(s) with shipping addresses as described by @a_c_green  I chose to ship with signature confirmation (in order to avoid claims of non-delivery) to the FF's address.

Almost a month after selling my GPU, buyer opens return request claiming the GPU was "faulty." I tried to resolve the issue by asking buyer to check his drivers, check the installation of the GPU, check for latest updates. Buyer told me that they KNOW how to install drivers and a GPU, while continuing to claim the GPU was faulty. About 24 hrs. after sending buyer my last message on how to solve their issue, buyer sends me a message stating that my GPU is WORKING FINE.  Buyer had mixed up my working GPU with another GPU from another buyer! 😖😖😠

Was buyer a scammer or someone who is disorganized? IDK.

I don't ship overseas and don't want to ship to freight forwarders. However, I also don't want to get penalized/get added fees / or whatever eBay does to punish sellers who cancel a purchase that have been paid for, when I find out that I have to ship to a freight forwarder. This may sound harsh, but it seems like eBay is forcing sellers to ship to FF, otherwise I will get penalities/fees if I cancel such a purchase? IDK. 

[lacemaker3]

@soh.maryl, I don't believe there is any eBay policy that states, in so many words, that the buyer's shipping address has to be verified in order for the seller to be eligible for seller protection.

However, the policy does state several requirements for the seller to be eligible for seller protection. Among other requirements, there are these two:

• A delivery status of "delivered", and
• Recipient's address, matching the address displayed on the order (including the city, county, zip code or international equivalent)

Shipping only to the buyer's shipping address, as shown on the order details or the payment transaction, will satisfy the second of those requirements. But, if the address is not valid, then the package can't be delivered, so the first requirement cannot be satisfied unless the address is valid. eBay usually accepts an "Attempted delivery" scan to satisfy the first requirement, but a package with an invalid address may not get even that.

Therefore, it is a good business practice to verify the shipping address before shipping. eBay does some checking when the buyer enters the address, but buyers have the option to proceed with the address they entered, even if the address doesn't pass the validity checks. Hence the situation the OP is in, where the buyer provided a shipping address that probably would result in an undeliverable package.

Since this address appears to be for a freight forwarder, I think this is probably because the buyer doesn't understand English, the proper format for a USA address, or the warnings about invalid address on the eBay checkout page. I doubt this is a deliberate attempt at fraud, but it is reasonable for the seller to protect themselves in this situation by cancelling for "problem with the buyer's address". IIRC, there have also been delivery issues reported for that address when one or the other of the two alternate cities (Miami, or Doral) was used. I forget which city was supposed to "work best".

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-protections?id=4345#section3

[a_c_green]

---

@lacemaker3 wrote:

Since this address appears to be for a freight forwarder, I think this is probably because the buyer doesn't understand English, the proper format for a USA address, or the warnings about invalid address on the eBay checkout page. I doubt this is a deliberate attempt at fraud, but it is reasonable for the seller to protect themselves in this situation by cancelling for "problem with the buyer's address".

---

IMHO, I think it definitely is an attempt at fraud by obfuscating the address. No one could really render 2143 NW 79th Ave as "2-1-4.3 N.wW .79- AveE" by accident. As I said, I can't be positive about what the intent was, but I'm leaning now towards an INR scam, which I'll get to in a moment...

---

@lacemaker3 wrote:

IIRC, there have also been delivery issues reported for that address when one or the other of the two alternate cities (Miami, or Doral) was used. I forget which city was supposed to "work best".

---

It's Doral. If you enter the cleaned-up street address in the ZIP+4 lookup page on USPS.com (here) and provide Miami as the City Name, USPS will change that to Doral when you click the blue Find button. If you submit Doral instead as the City Name, it will remain as Doral after verification.

So, when the street address is mangled with enough stray punctuation marks that the label cannot be printed in correct form because it won't verify, I think the buyer may be hoping that it gets shipped with manual corrections instead, so that the Ship-To: address showing Miami remains uncorrected in the transaction record. Then when tracking shows the package Delivered to Doral instead, the buyer promptly attempts an Item Not Received dispute.

I know this seems a bit of a stretch, but we have seen this specific game being played before, and only involving the Miami/Doral reshipper addresses. I have not seen this done with any other reshipper locations that I'm aware of.

[audvalh_0]

I had a hard time shipping when an address looked incorrect to Ebay.  I verified it with the buyer and then had to contact Ebay to see what the problem was.  It turned out that the package was to go to a military base and then overseas... and needed a customs form.  Yep, learn something new every day.  Sometimes you have to verify an address if it looks suspicious or if Ebay doesn't want to recognize it.