Selling to a buyer with unconfirmed address---

[penspouse]

Mods - If this is not the correct place to post this, please feel free to move it.

 

I posted pens for sale, here and on three other pen forums. I have been corresponding through email with a buyer regarding shipping charges. The buyer has paid me for a pen through PayPal with a verified PayPal account. The address to which I would send it is not verified. The buyer is in another country. Should I be concerned? I am not familiar with this person, but that doesn't mean he/she is not legit. I just don't know. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

ETA: My listing stated shipping to CONUS. The buyer asked for shipping costs for untracked shipping.

Edited April 30, 2010 by penspouse

[Format]

I am not sure that my address is verified by Paypal either, the account is but I am not sure what you would need to do to make it verified even.

 

Have you checked google maps to see if the address given actually exists and is a house?

[isaacrn]

Here is my take on this. I just underwent a similar thing after selling a straight razor at over $500. The buyer talked me down and I needed the money so agreed. Then he turns out to be in Germany, and i had CONUS. He didnt opt for insurance or tracking. If i had done those on my own, it would have ran me an extra $40 out of my pocket. So one month goes by, and I get an email from him asking if I had sent the razor. I was in a panic. Am I responsible for a refund? I cant track this thing down. Its his word against mine. I called my Postal Annex that had my customs declaration proving I had sent it out, and when I told the buyer that, it miraculously appeared the next day.

 

So, I still try not to get involved in shipping outside of the US. Customs and wait times are a hassle for buyer and seller. But I wont ship anymore without Delivery Confirmation. I dont really care if they dont want to Insure it, or want tracking, but delivery confirmation proves to me they received the item. Thats all I can really do from there. If it is damaged, that is their issue since they didnt insure it.

 

Hope my little story helps you out somewhat.

[Breck]

I've been in the buyer's position, so I'm biased to say "go ahead and ship." If you're too uncomfortable, insist on tracking. It protects you both, and the extra charge shouldn't be enough to kill the deal.

[piembi]

I don't know about your buyer but I know that I did not know anything about a verified address. Finally I found out that my shipping address has to be my credit card address or something like that.

 

I will never have a verified address in the near future because my valid address/the address on my passport is still my parent's home. I moved out 26 years ago but it is still my home. It is my house now and my father is still living there. I am living elsewhere and my pens should go to this address

 

I am very grateful that ebay sellers I have bought from did not worry about my unverified address. One or two asked me if the address is correct and that's it.

[piembi]

Then he turns out to be in Germany, and i had CONUS. ...

So one month goes by, and I get an email from him asking if I had sent the razor. I was in a panic. Am I responsible for a refund? I cant track this thing down. Its his word against mine. I called my Postal Annex that had my customs declaration proving I had sent it out, and when I told the buyer that, it miraculously appeared the next day.

 

Well, this happened to me as well - I mean the waiting time due to German customs.

 

German customs is a real pain! If the item is stuck there - and pretty much every pen from the USA had the German customs sticker and had been opened by them - it can take weeks. You never know how long it can take. Most of the sellers I have bought from gave me an info about the shipping date so I could calculate the shipping time (1-2 weeks) and add customs (1-2 weeks).

 

Maybe your buyer just wanted to do the shipping time/customs maths when asking for the shipping date?

[WendyNC]

It's not an problem to add additional verified addresses to one's PayPal profile. I have both my office and my house listed, but my former office is still in there as well.

[jar]

I would NOT ship anything without tracking and insurance.

[carlc]

I do ship without tracking for lower cost items but I always make it clear before any money is transfered that this is entirely at the buyers risk.

 

If they want tracking then they pay for it.

 

As for unconfirmed addresses - I have just shipped (a cheapish) pen to a different address than the official papypal address but I recognise the FPNer in question. Also if it happens to be a fraudulent transaction I'm not that much out of pocket.

 

For an expensive pen I would insist on tracking or at least signed for delivery but if I'm honest I didn't know about verified addresses until recently and have often shipped on the address given in a PM.

 

In many ways as there is no official sanction mechanism then FPN purchases/sales are an exercise in trust on behalf of both parties.

Edited April 30, 2010 by carlc

[Format]

Would people be offended to ask for a scanned copy of their driving licence and a utility bill?

[penspouse]

Thanks for all your responses. I have asked the buyer if the payment was actually sent, and on which forum he found my listing, as well as his user name on that forum (I was not able to find him using his name on forum Member Searches). If I get a satisfactory response, I will let him know that it will be sent 1st Class with delivery confirmation instead of my original intent of using Priority Mail, so it can be sent within his payment price. If that is not satisfactory, I will refund his money. I don't want to get stuck with a missing Parker"51" Flighter and a PayPal claim that it has not been received.

[xuan87]

I would NOT ship anything without tracking and insurance.

 

actually this is good advice that i should follow. so far, i had shipped alot of items to international locations and no one had tried to "cheat" me by claiming that their items did not arrive. next time, i should either ship with at least tracking, or state a disclaimer that it's at the buyer's risk if he wants to save on cost and ship without tracking.

[Wile E Coyote]

If the buyer makes a claim with PayPal and you don't have tracking, PayPal will find in the favor of the buyer.

[Rlowenote]

I sold some vintage bicycle parts on ebay and the buyer had a "unconfirmed address". Just to try to cover myself I shipped it as "signature required" and insured. I did Google Earth the address and it was evidently his work address. Everything I sell gets insured since the seller takes the hit for lost goods, not the buyer. I just figure insurance fees into the shipping charges.

 

I've also had to notify my Credit Card company when I bought something and had it shipped to my work location. I did this right after placing my order so as not to have any delays of shipping.

 

Ralph

[beluga]

Mods - If this is not the correct place to post this, please feel free to move it.

 

I posted pens for sale, here and on three other pen forums. I have been corresponding through email with a buyer regarding shipping charges. The buyer has paid me for a pen through PayPal with a verified PayPal account. The address to which I would send it is not verified. The buyer is in another country. Should I be concerned? I am not familiar with this person, but that doesn't mean he/she is not legit. I just don't know. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

ETA: My listing stated shipping to CONUS. The buyer asked for shipping costs for untracked shipping.

 

 

I am at the other end of the spectrum, as I work for an airline I sometimes ask whether items can be send to one our our overseas crew hotels, from where I then pick it up on my next trip.

This is often quicker, saves me shipping costs, I usually don't get delayed at Customs and it also addresses the needs of sellers who want to sell only within their country or continent.

 

As long as payment has arrived in advance and the shipment can be tracked by seller and buyer alike I do not see any risks for the seller.

Keep in mind though that postal tracking works only within the country where the shipment is mailed from and effectively ceases to exist the moment the shipment leaves the country.

 

As it carries extra costs I would leave insurance up to the buyer, but as seller I would point out that the buyer assumes all associated risks if he declines insurance or specifies a different method of shipment.

 

 

 

 

B.

Edited May 2, 2010 by beluga

[jrantala]

Just a note on whether Paypal addresses are verified or not: my understanding is that Paypal doesn't offer (or allow) address verification in a lot of countries. Don't know if this is true in all countries except US (and maybe Canada), but at least a number of European countries are not in this scheme.

 

Why is that ? Haven't got a clue...

[dizzypen]

When shipping overseas to someone you don't know you should only ship to a PayPal verified address and you should track the package to the door (preferable with signature confirmation).

 

There are just too many ways things can go wrong without those two things. People can say they didn't received it, they didn't order it, someone used their account without authorization, etc. The only way you have any hope of protecting yourself is if you have a verified address and have tracked the package.

 

If you are at all uncomfortable you should cancel the sale and refund the money. IMO, it's just not worth it if you have any doubts about the transaction.

 

Good luck to you.

Edited May 2, 2010 by dizzypen

[SamCapote]

When shipping overseas to someone you don't know you should only ship to a PayPal verified address and you should track the package to the door (preferable with signature confirmation).

 

There are just too many ways things can go wrong without those two things. People can say they didn't received it, they didn't order it, someone used their account without authorization, etc. The only way you have any hope of protecting yourself is if you have a verified address and have tracked the package.

 

If you are at all uncomfortable you should cancel the sale and refund the money. IMO, it's just not worth it if you have any doubts about the transaction.

 

Good luck to you.

 

I agree. It only takes one time you get burned to learn the lesson. It cost me $400 to learn. It is a shame it costs so much more to ship with signature confirmation from the USA to another country, than vice versa, and most buyers have a hard time accepting the higher rates.

[streeton]

Having read ebay forums on this matter of verified/unverified, it seems as though only the US and Canada have verified addresses (and maybe 1 or 2 other countries). This has to do with computer systems and credit card companies and I can't be any more definitive than that other than going over old ebay Q&A forums. I know that there are no verified addresses in Australia but I've never had a problem with US sellers rejecting my bids/cancelling sales on ebay.

Edited May 7, 2010 by streeton

[printhardcopy]

Penspouse my good customer.

 

Maybe i would share my experience of selling in ebay, (FPN actually excellent place to sell pens more than ebay and of course some ebay buyers are excellent as well)

 

some buyers will click and purchase your pen without reading that you only ship to paypal shipping address, after that they send payment, they will forcefully ask you to send to another address. (Usually i will reject straight away)

 

Some is worst, after you ship, they start to scold you that you never ask them which shipping address to send and threaten that if he never get the pen, he will file for dispute to get the money back. (Which ebay or paypal state clearly that we must ship to paypal shipping address)

 

Some will lie that they never get the pen althought tracking show that they already received the pen. They ask another person who is in the house to sign for the package. So that they can lie to paypal that they never get the package. However, paypal side their nonsense.

 

some will purchase the pen and after 1 year complain the nib spoilt and buy another nib or pen to threaten you with negative feedback if you dont give them discount. (if the person reading this, im saying this to you)

 

This is a disgrace to all pen lovers, for the sake of 1 pen or 2 pens, they can lie through their teeth.

 

I wonder how they feel that they are holding a pen that he never pay for when he start writing ? Will he truly feel happy when he start writing using a pen not belong to him actually ?

 

When we write, our emotion and thoughts are link with the pen.....

 

If these person is good in lying meaning that means whatever any words written on the paper is all fake.

 

Therefore i strongly recommend you send your pens to verfied shipping address with registered post tracking number.

Edited May 7, 2010 by printhardcopy