ot: am i wrong to be frustrated? re: ebay

Hi Ally - Here's how I see it - he can technically ship to the unconfirmed address - but he won't be covered by PayPal's seller policy if he does. That being said, a lot of people do not have a confirmed address - they have their work address, or have just moved, etc. It is the seller's choice whether or not to ship to them. I personally do ship to unconfirmed addresses, if the person's feedback is positive, and I do ship with delivery confirmation, etc. I am sure eventually I will be burned on that, but I figure that's just the cost of doing business. Especially since I have quite a few very good customers who have had me ship goods to their unconfirmed work address, or address in another country, etc. Technically, he did put that in his auction description, so he doesn't have the obligation, but you did offer more money and a way for him to confirm. So basically, I can see both sides. But since I know from experience what a great customer you are, I know he is losing out on good business by not being flexible about PayPal's address policy. Sometimes ebay is a gamble, and sometimes some sellers don't want to take that gamble. Of course, in your case, that's his loss.

As long as you pay by Paypal (whether through your balance or by credit card or whatever), the seller must ship to a confirmed address to use the chargeback protection. If a seller ships to an unconfirmed address, they are putting themselves in temporary over: A) someone who has stolen information (password, acct number, etc) from the buyer (or the bogus person could be impersonating the buyer) and has the merchandise shipped to their address. A story like having just moved would be the perfect lie to tell if one were this kind of person. BE) the actual Paypal buyer who has it shipped to an unconfirmed address and then claims that they were a victim of scam like above. Either way on the two above scenarios, the seller has to refund the money, all because he didn't ship to a confirmed address. Anytime you buy or sell by mail, you really do not know who you are dealing with. Both sides are taking a chance. That is why such things as using confirmed addresses, and leaving and reading accurate feedback are so important. That having been said I have shipped to an unconfirmed address and for a while my business address was unconfirmed (a typo can cause a lot of problems with computers). But if anyone was adamant they could ship to my home address which was confirmed. The best solution in this case is to get the address changed at Paypal asap and to send the guy a cashier's check or a postal money order and then he should ship anywhere you request. He is not being unreasonable. He doesn't "know you from Eve" and if someone had stolen your identity (and it does happen) and bought some things through Paypal and he had refused to ship them to anyplace but your confirmed address you would be singing his praises for not letting someone steal from you. The "extra money" thing actually in a way makes you look worse (if you were a thief what would you care about spending more of someone else's money) also since post office telephone numbers are no longer listed in the book (you get an 800 number instead), how is he to know the phone number is legitimate. Your feedback rating is irrelevant since the point is he doesn't know for sure if it is really you. .

but now i am writing him a check right? and he is still shipping to an unconfirmed address? so he is still not covored? is that right?

"Being covered" only applies to Paypal. Some people will not accept personal/business checks. And most that do will wait for the check to clear before shipping, usually 2 weeks. You must understand that any mail order / online transaction is "iffy". You know you are you, but that doesn't mean anyone else in the online world does.

Good point! It can take my bank over a month to notify me of a bad check. They usually hold it and then try to re-deposit it. I'm reluctant to take a check from someone I don't know, although I do it at shows and have never had a bad one there. The only bad one I've ever had was an ebay customer.

What bugs me about all this "unconfirmed address" thing is that they refuse to confirm my POBox address, which is where I want all my valuable mail to go.

Tina

That is ridiculous on their part. I lived in a town in Nevada where everyone only had PO boxes. And my sister lives in the boonies in NM and is in the same boat. You would think that they'd get a clue - not all PO boxes are for the purpose of scamming people, and people selling on the web have the right to some privacy and protection by not having a physical address out there for the world to see.

Carol in SLC My newest creation (11/28):

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from snipped-for-privacy@aol.comnospam (Carol in SLC) :

]not all PO boxes are for the ]purpose of scamming people, and people selling on the web have the right to ]some privacy and protection by not having a physical address out there for the ]world to see.

no kidding!

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

(Jewelry) ----------- It's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you; it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis

I don't know about this as far as confirming your address. It might have to do with shipping goods bought. Since the USPS owns the PO boxes, you can not ship anything to a PO box except via the USPS. That means UPS, FedEx, Purolator (are they still around?) and such can only use a physical address. Therefore, Paypal might have instituted a requirement to confirm physical addresses so sellers who use UPS and such (have you noticed how proximately UPS is featured on Ebay lately?) can ship to a confirmed address. Of course, this does not apply to "drop boxes" or non Post Office boxes (which are easier to use for bogus purposes since they are private companies).

A cause of much more frustration on EBAY to us is that people bid and have not changed their email address...you cannot get a hold of them, email bounces and is returned as undeliverable...

I want to spend my time creating and selling, not running a collection agency...i am thinking about changing my disclaimer message to reflect this problem...

I have even had to telephone a few to tell them their email address was outdated, obtaining contact info from ebay... EBAY needs to do a betrer job of not letting people bid with outdated email addresses...somehow, a better update is needed.. Just my two cents...

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Yes, and that is how we get 1-1/2 pages of what the seller will and will not do, and one small blurb about the item being sold. It is the nature of the beast to encounter problems. If the seller wants to sell their item, sometimes they have to work for it.

Personally, I hate (with a passion) the ones that make me go to their website and fill out an F-ing order form, all information which is already included in the damn auction or will be included with the payment, just so that lazy sellers will not have to do their own paperwork.

Becki "In between the moon and you, the angels have a better view of the crumbling difference between wrong and right." -- Counting Crows

Actually, selling on eBay is similar to retail. I want to concentrate on the artwork too. So I intend just to sell to galleries at wholesale. If you want to up your prices to closer to retail which is double wholesale, you have to remember thet the increase in price reflects the retailing work you do. And retailing does include collecting money, maintaining a customer database, advertising, and all the rest. That's why the retailer doubles the cost of wholesale -- because they have to work hard for it.

Tina