eBay sellers: confirmed Paypal addresses?

[Colinsmom]

I've been selling quite a bit on eBay lately, and the one problem that I have run into a few times is people paying through Paypal with an unconfirmed address. I wonder if I am being too anal about requiring a confirmed address, though most people have no problem getting their address confirmed and repaying (occasionally they will send a MO instead - fine with me) once I explain it nicely to them. But there is the occasional buyer (I have one now) who thinks that I am raising a huge stink for nothing and trying to cause them all kinds of trouble.

As a seller, I know from a practical standpoint that if I ship to an unconfirmed address and the person fights the charge, I'll lose automatically. But realistically speaking, am I being too anal about this??

Lori - mom to Colin, 09/2002

 

[tinaluis]

That happened to me a lot when I was selling even though it was in the listing that it had to be a confirmed address. If the final selling price on the item wasn't that much (under $10) I just sent it out. If it was higher, I insisted on the verified address or a money order. Good luck. It really is a pain sometimes.

 

[MouseMan]

I have been selling on eBay for years and my motto has always been CYA! I'm not willing to take a loss simply because a buyer doesn't want to give me a confirmed address. So I let them know in my auction, that a CONFIRMED address is reqiured and that if you bid and win you MUST pay using a confirmed address of Check/MO. But, that's just me.

 

[drdelsol]

If it's small items I ship it anyhow. Sometimes the person wants it to go to work or someother place that isn't easy to comfrim. If I want to buy something using a credit card from one business and have it shipped to another, that sometimes raises a flag. I had a storefront address once for 8 years that the address didn't show on the USPS website matching it, yet the local post office confirmed it was correct. I never had problems getting deliveries from anyone at that address yet if a seller tried to look it up to confirm it themselves- problems.

 

[antbritt]

You know I never really thought about this. Sometimes I Bid and purchase on Ebay for a friend and then have the item shipped to my friend as she lives in a differnt state. My address is confirmed on Ebay but of course my friends in my Paypal is not. I never realized this could be a problem.
If my address is confirmed is that good enough or should i just have the item shipped to me then?
Is this a problem because then maybe the item won't arrive or is it a payment problem.
I have never had a problem doing this and the item always arrived and then my friend woudl call and let me know that all was ok .

 

[seashoreCM]

I always quote shipping using USPS. Sometimes I overtly offer to refund the excess. If the Paypal confirmed address is a post office box, you cannot use UPS or Fedex to ship with.

This does mean that the postage could be higher for Paypal buyers compared with others but you never know until after you have quoted the shipping and after the buyer has paid.

This does mean that you cannot ship to other addresses as for gifts.

It is not a good idea to quote UPS or Fedex shipping rates and ask for more money if the address is a post office box. You do not get Paypal protection if two separate payments are made. Also the buyer may balk at paying the extra and you could be in for a long drawn out email battle the outcome of which is unpredictable.

The current Paypal rule for seller protection is that the shipment must go to the address showing in the Paypal transaction details page, this address may or may not be the same as the confirmed address.

I almost always insist that Paypal buyers have a confirmed address as well.

If the buyer raises a stink about terms in your item description, you can give an ultimatum of a few days, then call off the sale and relist the item, but you cannot apply for a refund of the final value fee (commission) without following eBay's rules and time schedules.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

Sample item descriptions -- search eBay for seller ajaynejr completed listings

 

[Belle1997]

I live in Canada and it does not let us confirm our address. So I would hate not to be able to bid on something becuase of this. I always email the seller with my full address so that they can give me a shipping quote. I understand your frustration on that end. That is why if you cannot get a confirmed address maybe you should ship it with a traceable number. Though it would cost more to ship I have paid the extra just to be able to bid on an item. That way if it is delivered you can prove delivery and that is all paypal needs for you to be covered. I would also check how many items they have purchase on their feedback and where the items were shipped from. So you can see that the items are arriving to the correct address. Hope this helps a bit.

 

[floridagirrl2]

If it's an inexpensive item AND the person has a reasonable amount of excellent feedback, I will ship to an unconfirmed address. I use USPS Delivery Confirmation on all my packages, so I think that gives people pause re: trying to claim a package wasn't delivered.

 

[seashoreCM]

Paypal seller protection is available only to a very limited number of buyer country seller country combinations. Buyer in Canada, Seller in U.S. is not one of them.

On some transactions I quote shipping with insurance already included. For shipments from the U.S. to Canada the difference in cost between insured and uninsured packages is not trivial, in excess of USD 5.00

 

[Belle1997]

I understand shipping to Canada is more expensive and is not trival. But as a Canadian I know if I want to bid on an auction item I know I wll have to pay more for shipping which is OK with me. It still ends up costing less than if I tried to purchase it here or buying from disney direct. So an unconfirmed buyer is prepared to pay the extra costs to ship there really should not be a problem. For you are safe as a seller for you will confirmation of delivery and the buyer should feel better for they are also protected. Being from Canada I am a little leary but getting over it that someone I buy from in the US can say the shipped it and take advantage of the fact I am not protected by Paypal. Well so far so good. But I would never bid on anything expensive for this reason. So I hope you will still ship unconfirmed addresses to Canada
if the person is prepared to pay the higher shipping cost. I know one seller under estimated the cost to ship to Canada it cost 5.25 more than quoted an she wrote to ask if I would pay more. Of course I did. I believe that the shipping costs is the buyers responsiblity not the sellers. Also if I ever want to bid on any other auction items she may have she knows I will pay the shipping and not rip her off. I know not every one is like this. But if I wanted to buy an item at least I have good references.