OT Ebay selling/fraud avoidance question

Stork

I sold something on ebay (yay), but as you see the winning bidder is from China and has private feedback (boo). While the auction was running I could see the feedback and it was a total of 150ish left, with all positives, with a total score of 63, so lots of repeats.

Okay so far I suppose, but I got payment via payapl within hours with this note in the comment section "Note: Please ship to: Xxxx Xxxxxxxxx Box XXXX Orem, UTAH 84059 U.S.A ". Now, on the surface I'd say "whoopee I don't have to fork it over to send to China without tracking and insurance". Instead I'm thinking "this doesn't sound good".

Paypal's 'merchant security' section was a bit vague. Can I send with tracking and delivery confirmation to the box in Utah and will this be sufficient for dispute resolution with paypal in case of a chargeback? I'd be able to prove delivery to the address specified by the buyer.

I did not specify in my auction about confirmed addresses (stupid me), so would I be out of line to refund the payment and demand a confirmed address now? The guy is paypal verified, just without a confirmed address and asking to send to a different address. Plus I'm not sure ebay's rules allow me to unilaterally change the requirements of the auction after the fact (for those of you who peruse the liteside you may remember a recent auction debacle about that one )

This is annoying! And the guy could be on the up and up for all I know.

Any opinions on what to do and what is possible to do? Thanks


Cathy

edited for abnormal punctuation that resulted in an emoticon

21Walker

Hi, Well I sold a coin to one of the board members here who is in the Philippines but wanted the coin mailed to New Jersey. No problems.......But 2 differences here, 1. I know the guy and 2. he's not from China. I usually clear my PAYPAL account once all my auctions are done to an account not associated with my PAYPAL account. That way if for some reason the buyer tries a charge back.........oops no funds available.........Rick

SYRACUSIAN

Cathy,

I did not specify in my auction about confirmed addresses (stupid me), so would I be out of line to refund the payment and demand a confirmed address now? The guy is paypal verified, just without a confirmed address and asking to send to a different address. Plus I'm not sure ebay's rules allow me to unilaterally change the requirements of the auction after the fact


you need to understand that practically all non US addresses are unconfirmed as far as paypal is concerned.Last year, I had to undergo an extensive investigation (for a different reason) and I had even sent them photocopies of my utility bills, but my address remains unconfirmed,because paypal uses AVS to confirm addresses, so owners of cards non issued in the US cannot be confirmed via this system. So, I would suggest to avoid putting that term in any of your future auctions anyway.

My gut instinct is that you're over reacting a little. Many good Chinese ebayers use private feedback for reasons that they only know and I'm guessing that you can get confirmation of delivery to that PO box in Utah. There's a wide variety of reasons why a bidder would like you to ship an item to another address, I happen to ask this myself all too often,and never had a problem so far with understanding sellers.

but I got payment via payapl within hours

Bad ebayers usually don't pay, or take ages to do so,or they give you a hard time about anything. There's nothing concerning for you so far in this transaction, I would suggest to relax and congrats on the auction.

Stork

<< <i>My gut instinct is that you're over reacting a little. >>

You sound like my hubby . I hadn't thought about the confirmed address part, that makes sense. The guy is verified which is reassuring.

How does the song go... 'paranoia may destroy-ya'.



Cathy

coinpictures

My 2 cents:

In this case I think you're ok. Buyer has been on Ebay since 2004, so he predates the myriad of Chinese scammers that have come out of the woodwork in the last 3 months.

However, in my opinion, to protect yourself going forward, you need to exclude China as a country you ship to in your Ebay preferences and auction terms. There are simply WAY too many new Ebay registrants from China whose sole purpose is fraud. You cannot exclude bidders by date of registration or feedback total (unless negative), so it's the only way to be sure.

The Ebay boards are full of horror stories about (1) new Chinese registrants that go through entire Ebay stores, buying everything and never paying (sure, the seller is never out the merchandise, but he has to relist all his items and file for his fees back from Ebay, a royal pain in the butt), (2) Chinese buyers who shortly after buying something, becoming NARUed by Chinese Ebay for reasons no one can determine, and (3) Shipping addresses and/or instructions coming through as garbage characters on western computers [This is the fault of Ebay's system IMO].

I'm sure there are legitimate Chinese buyers, as the one in this auction appears to be, but in my opinion, given the current state of affairs and the risks involved, it is better to block China in its entirety, unless you really enjoy headaches.... until Ebay gets its act together and builds some protection into its systems.

farthing

While I have never sold on eBay (much less anything to China) I have on several occasions won coins from sellers located in China. Nearly every time the coins were shipped to me from a US address. I've always assumed that the sellers were using family members located in the states to do the shipping.

koincollect

I sold to a guy from Russia once who requested me to ship his items to some firm in the US. This firm consolidates all his purchases here and sends him a single package home. This is much safer and cheaper for him. The buyer might just want to save on shipping or the Chinese postal system might not be safe for high value parcels!

JZrarities

Did you ask the guy why you are shipping to Utah?
I would also ask for a Phone Number for the person in Utah picking up the item - it might give you peace of mind before shipping.

Stork

Very sensible all of you . I don't feel I have the right to add conditions to the sale, basically I feel it's wrong. But asking for a phone number isn't too unreasonable.

BTW it was quite an act of faith way back when I was new here and I sent off a "huge" check to some guy over there in Greece after hanging out here only about 6 months. That went well .

Thank you all for being the voices of reason! Besides, if the guy was going to turn 'bad' I think my piddly little auction would not have drawn his attention.


Cathy

ksteelheader

I've had a couple of auctions won by people outside of the US that wanted shipment to a US address. I had no problems at all!!

MyWorldCoinTypeSet

I have all my US purchases sent to a buddy in the US. When I'm travelling for work, we meet up, and I get my stuff.

But, my feedback is very visible. Private feedback would scare me if I was a seller.

wybrit

I've had a couple of auctions won by people outside of the US that wanted shipment to a US address. I had no problems at all!!

Ditto here. In fact, I am rather relieved when that is what the buyers do.