A strange but true eBay story.

coindeuce · April 5, 2017 11:25AM

First time customer commits to buy a item in the $200 price range. Claims to have tried to make payment thru PayPal. Our settings limit shipping to domestic addresses only. He admits that his PP address is confirmed to a location in Guatemala
(a collectibles shop), but according to our sales record, his eBay account is registered with a Miami, Florida ship to address. I offer to let him send a check or money order so that we can ship to the domestic address, but he claims to only have funds available from his PP account. It appears that he has made other, recent domestic eBay purchases. I'm mystified as to why eBay would allow a member to commit to a purchase when their eBay registration address is domestic but their PP confirmed address is foreign, especially since we only ship to a PP confirmed address that is a domestic address.

Cougar1978 · April 5, 2017 11:46AM

I would want back off from that.

When they are doing something screwball watch out.

oih82w8 · April 5, 2017 11:48AM

Not so good feelings about this one.

1630Boston · April 5, 2017 12:52PM

Stranger things have happened when we let computer programs/algorithms do our thinking for us. JMO

291fifth · April 5, 2017 1:57PM

Way back in 2001 I sold a gold Tiffany Atlas watch on eBay to a buyer in Costa Rica with a Miami address. I had been offered melt for the watch locally (about $200 then if I recall). I took my chances and shipped it to the Miami address, his check, made out in Spanish, cleared and I ended up selling it for $750 (still a big loss) instead of the $200 offered locally. Sometime you just have to take a chance. Life on eBay isn't without risks.

coindeuce · April 5, 2017 3:23PM

The shop has always had a policy of not accepting PP from foreign confirmed addresses, since it is specified in all of our eBay listings that we do not ship outside of the U.S. and its Protectorates. The fact that someone can have an eBay account registered with a U.S. ship to address, but a PP account registered to a foreign address is just a stupid oversight on eBay's part, or an ambitious expectation on such a buyer's part. And there is no guarantee that the "unable to pay" buyer will corroborate their request to cancel an order, which means potentially having to jump through hoops to get a final value fee credit.

Booger9989 · April 5, 2017 4:17PM

This COULD be what is going on. My best friend lives in the Dominican Republic and in order for me to send him things I ship them to an address in Miami who then re ship's the item's to him in the Dominican Republic. I have never had a package go missing doing it that way but when I tried the first few times directly he never got what I was sending. So I would honestly check to see if the address is a business in Miami and see if the buyer is doing the same exact thing.

It cost my friend by the LB to forward it from Miami to the Dominican Republic and it only cost me shipping to Miami. ....

Booger9989 · April 5, 2017 4:20PM

I will add that LOTS of 3rd world countries have shipping issues and buyers have the same type of set up. From what my friend told me the company in Miami fills them big conex shipping containers and once it is full imports the container to said country. ...

Sometimes it takes a week sometimes a month depending on how much the container is full. Its actually pretty safe....

ctf_error_coins · April 5, 2017 4:25PM

no worries shipping to other countries

UnclePennyBags · April 5, 2017 4:28PM

I just had an item purchased from a US account with 400+ feedback... Paid immediately ... Get an email from PayPal around 6:00 the next morning and it says not to ship, payment is under investigation... The PayPal account was registered outside the US and shipping address was Washington state.... After 6 days of the payment being investigated I called PayPal and after about an hour I got PayPal to make the payment go away ... Then had to call eBay and an hour later my $4 FVF was refunded.... Very productive day that was!!!

UnclePennyBags · April 5, 2017 5:58PM

@CoinsAndMoreCoins said:
Read the language from Paypal and all protections which speak to shipping to "non-verified" shipping addresses.

If the address is verified, you're covered and pretty sure that is true regardless of where the account holder is registered.

If not verified, I'm thinking don't do it.

My best advice would be to post and ask on one of the ebay forums as I've always gotten quick and accurate responses to such questions and eBay/Paypal policies change often.

Definetly only ship to verified address... Non verified is rolling the dice

mustangmanbob · April 5, 2017 7:30PM

I have a lot of customer with multiple paypal addresses, and they select which one to use.

For example, Pierre lives in France, and when buying in Europe, he uses his French address.

But when buying US, (most of my stuff is heavy) he has a freight forwarder address in one of the coastal port cities that consolidates shipments, packs them in a SeaTrain container, and the go by ship.

Many Canadians have a ship to address in the Niagara Falls area, when parts are sent, consolidated, and driven across the border, saving a metric ton of import taxes and shipping costs.

Sometimes, if it is small, the foreign address is used directly, and it goes USPS.

It sound, assuming it is legit, the person does not know how to correctly set up multiple paypal addresses.

TurboSnail · April 5, 2017 8:01PM

By selling on Amazon, I shipped a lot to dora ,miami FL & spring field NY. These are the common areas for freight forwarders. I always send with signature confirmation. And once it is signed by the FF, it is out of seller's responsibility(at least in Amazon).

derryb · April 5, 2017 8:07PM

send him a paypal invoice and make it clear you will only ship to his paypal address. I suspect if he was trying to scam, it would be for an item of much greater value.

grote15 · April 5, 2017 8:10PM

Not saying this buyer is legit or not, but the paypal confirmed address has no required correlation with the ebay address on file and you can actually have multiple confirmed addresses.

grote15 · April 5, 2017 8:57PM

@CoinsAndMoreCoins said:
Interestingly enough, with respect to the ebay address on file if found to be spurious at any of the multiple places you have to change it upon moving etc, will get your account locked down for long enough to be annoying.

It seems ebay goes through that data on some regimented or random basis and anything that pops a flag gets a dink. I know a few people that have moved and from what I understand, they failed to change the address in every single place that exists on ebay to do so. Missed one, out of the game for 3 to 6 months while their customer service goes well out of their way to put the cuss in it.

I had an old address on file with ebay for over 10 years before I realized it and changed it. I believe they are more concerned with an updated contact number than the address on file as that has no bearing on paypal payments.

UnclePennyBags · April 5, 2017 9:57PM

@grote15 said:
Not saying this buyer is legit or not, but the paypal confirmed address has no required correlation with the ebay address on file and you can actually have multiple confirmed addresses.

True.... I have several and some not even in my name.

ricko · April 6, 2017 5:44AM

I have moved several times... only my PP address has changed.... Of course, I am only a buyer, not a seller. Cheers, RickO

coindeuce · April 6, 2017 7:46AM

@UnclePennyBags said:

@grote15 said:
Not saying this buyer is legit or not, but the paypal confirmed address has no required correlation with the ebay address on file and you can actually have multiple confirmed addresses.

True.... I have several and some not even in my name.

Not so. Only one PayPal address can be linked to an eBay member ID at any time. This issue for us is that our Paypal preference is set to not accept payments from foreign PayPal addresses. The fact that eBay does not know that until a member tries to pay for an item is what seems ridiculous.

grote15 · April 6, 2017 7:53AM

@coindeuce said:

@UnclePennyBags said:

@grote15 said:
Not saying this buyer is legit or not, but the paypal confirmed address has no required correlation with the ebay address on file and you can actually have multiple confirmed addresses.

True.... I have several and some not even in my name.

Not so. Only one PayPal address can be linked to an eBay member ID at any time. This issue for us is that our Paypal preference is set to not accept payments from foreign PayPal addresses. The fact that eBay does not know that until a member tries to pay for an item is what seems ridiculous.

This is not correct. You can use any PayPal address to complete a purchase. However, if the address registered with eBay is a US address and the PayPal confirmed address is not, a buyer can skirt the restriction that eBay offers for bids from international buyers.

coindeuce · April 6, 2017 8:02AM

@grote15 said:

@coindeuce said:

@UnclePennyBags said:

@grote15 said:
Not saying this buyer is legit or not, but the paypal confirmed address has no required correlation with the ebay address on file and you can actually have multiple confirmed addresses.

True.... I have several and some not even in my name.

Not so. Only one PayPal address can be linked to an eBay member ID at any time. This issue for us is that our Paypal preference is set to not accept payments from foreign PayPal addresses. The fact that eBay does not know that until a member tries to pay for an item is what seems ridiculous.

This is not correct. You can use any PayPal address to complete a purchase. However, if the address registered with eBay is a US address and the PayPal confirmed address is not, a buyer can skirt the restriction that eBay offers for bids from international buyers.

OK, I understand how this member was able to commit to a purchase, but it does not make sense that they would try to use a PayPal account registered with a foreign email address, which I expect most likely has a confirmed foreign shipping address, which we do not ship to under any circumstance.
I don't know yet if it is possible to register a Paypal account with a foreign email address and a domestic confirmed shipping address.

johnny9434 · April 6, 2017 8:07AM

id stay away from that one. something sounds fishy

abcde12345 · April 6, 2017 8:08AM

@johnny9434 said:
id stay away from that one. something sounds fishy

What does a fish sound like?

johnny9434 · April 6, 2017 8:09AM

@abcde12345 said:

@johnny9434 said:
id stay away from that one. something sounds fishy

What does a fish sound like?

gurgle gurgle last i knew thats old news though

UnclePennyBags · April 6, 2017 5:58PM

@coindeuce said:

@UnclePennyBags said:

@grote15 said:
Not saying this buyer is legit or not, but the paypal confirmed address has no required correlation with the ebay address on file and you can actually have multiple confirmed addresses.

True.... I have several and some not even in my name.

Not so. Only one PayPal address can be linked to an eBay member ID at any time. This issue for us is that our Paypal preference is set to not accept payments from foreign PayPal addresses. The fact that eBay does not know that until a member tries to pay for an item is what seems ridiculous.

I was thinking shipping address.... I do have a PayPal billing address on file but I have things shipped to my girlfriends address in her name all the time... So I was referring to being able to ship to addresses that were not your "address" on file but still a confirmed address... In fact I have a drop down box that lists several confirmed addresses

derryb · April 6, 2017 9:32PM

Any active paypal account can be used to pay for or receive funds for an ebay sale. I have multiple paypal accounts and use them all with the same ebay account for both selling and buying.

A strange but true eBay story.

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