Do You Ship to a Different Address from the Billing Address?

by: toolguy

We used to ship to any address that the customer asked for as long as it was in the US.

We got a customer this week that asked us to ship to a different address then the one listed.

I called the number on the order page and when they answered they said they knew no such person.

We sent a message thru eBay asking our customer to cancel the order and we would relist the item and they needed to change their address before buying the item.

Everything worked out fine. . .

I had a problem once when a customer had the package forwarded and then claimed no delivery!

He scored a $64 air tool for free. . .

by: warzak

I live in Toronto and have been on EBay almost from the start. I do more buying than selling.

I always have my EBay purchases shipped to another address (my sister in the USA).

2 Reasons:

1) Most American sellers do not like shipping outside of USA. Many won’t ship at all. As for the rest, the shipping costs are always much higher than domestic. In some instances 10x as much.

2) All imports especially from the US are subject to duty, 2 taxes and a $5 collection fee. The charges are at the whim of Canada Customs. I buy collectibles where the value is really indeterminable but Customs will assess a value of their choosing.

I would think many if not most Canadian EBay buyers who buy from US vendors have a USA “ship to” address.

Please exclude those of us who reside outside USA from suspicion of fraud.

by: Basset

I have shipped to the address on the PayPal receipt only - for years.  I include a statement in my listings:  If buyer has paid and wants a different address, they are refunded and told they may re-purchase using the correct ship-to address.  

I no longer  ship international.

When I first started on eBay I would honor requests like that, but stopped in the interest of security.


Now it appears eBay had a new checkout screen that allows direct payment with buyer's  personal credit card on eBay. Seems to bypass PayPal altogether.  So - If a PayPal receipt is not generated.....  

I made two purchases on this screen. I have not received a receipt on the buying end, just an order confirmation that shows ''Paid with Credit Card''. On my buying screen, both have been marked as paid.  

I am wondering what the sellers receive to indicate they made a sale.

I assume the item MUST ship to the shipping address on the ''order details'' page.

by: toolguy

When eBay & Paypal were one I just shipped everything to the order details address thru eBay shipping.

Now since they have parted ways I find myself cross checking that the addresses match.

I really do miss those old US Postal Money Orders.

With new customers or customers that I thought would be a problem it was the only payment I would accept.

I see more problems in the future then I've had in the past. . .

by: iheartjacksparrow

I do mail to a different ship-to address as long as it looks like the package is going to a work address (to avoid the problem of porch shopping).

One of the good things about taking Stripe on eCrater is that they let you know when the billing address doesn't match what the buyer's credit card company has on file. I have it as one of my policies that I will not ship an item if Stripe fails a billing address. The couple people who were failed have worked out the issue with their credit card issuers and I've had no problems with scams in that regard.

by: comet

Holy Crapamola!!!!!

This has affected TOOLGUY!

The End times really ARE nigh!!!

Run!

Must-go-faster!

by: The End

What a pain in the a$$.

by: The End

Back to Postal Money Orders and Checks  :o)

by: The End

I can't STAND that the young people are Stupid about Postal Money Orders.

by: Ming the Merciless

I had two requests just last week to ship to a different address after I'd paid for shopping labels and packed the purchases.

I wrote back and explained that ebay and PayPal prohibited this because so many problems have and can arise from this procedure.

I also explained how they can legitimately add a second shipping address during the PayPal checkout process. I know because I have two of them for when I travel.

Both buyers were satisfied with the explanation.

Ebay and PayPal both must make buyers accountable for providing up to date, accurate shipping addresses so that sellers don't receive INR defects and/or chargebacks. This warning should be in large BOLD letters on the first page of the checkout process.

The Toronto buyer (or any other buyer domestic or international) can add his sister's address during the checkout process and it remain there until he or she changes it -- just be sure to click on the link and select the secondary shipping address before completing checkout.

by: dans parts

Historically, most of my "ship to another address" requests were from International sales, wanting me to ship to a US address (friend or container company).  Lately, seems to be the opposite.  International sales with US address showing for shipment when I go to invoice, but wanting me to ship to their home country.

I tell them the same thing I've always told them.  If you haven't paid for the item, and you already had that address you now want shipped to registered to your eBay and PayPal addresses, just switch it.  If you didn't have it already registered before the auction ended, or you've paid for it, then Sorry - only what eBay shows me.

Have never had a cancellation because of that.

by: Marie

PayPal requires that you ship to the Ship To address that appears on the PP payment as one of the requirements to receive Seller Protection.

Ebay's rule is to ship to either the address listed in Ebay or on the PP payment.

by: angryllama

WARZAC in Toronto. I'm not even remotely from Canada, but what you cite as WHY you have items shipped to Sister in USA to save on customs charges and local taxes seems to fly in the face of what I've heard from OTHER CANADIAN buyers over the years that I've been selling / exporting thru eBay. Two quick things about what sounds "off".  1.) If your eBay seller shipping to you in Canada uses eBay/PayPal shipping labels there is NO QUESTION AS TO VALUE of your purchase.  EBay/PayPal SHOW exactly the $price that YOU PAID on the label which doubles as the CN22 simplified Customs Form. If you got a HUGE bargain and bought a used iPhone 6 for $99 then THAT is exactly what the form would disclose. 2.) Unless your sister in USA is accepting your packages and then DRIVING them to you in Toronto (or YOU drive to HER and bring BACK with you) the exact same Customs hassles you describe and perhaps WORSE should be the outcome.  As an eBay seller I cannot and NEVER WOULD alter the price$$ paid on a Customs Form, but I DO periodically AMEND the description like to take out RED MEAT/RED FLAG wording like "Rare Out of Print Antique Valuable" from the title line. OK, point 3.) I have also had Canadian Buyers comment that part of what they HATE about eBay's wrong-headed GSP system is that it AUTOMATICALLY makes them pay for those Taxes and Fee even if the Canadian and/or Provicial Government they are in WAIVES all those fees if the PURCHASE VALUATION is below a certain cut-off $$price. Too much of what I sell on eBay goes out the door for UNDER $6 usd and when CANADIAN buyers have to pay $11-ish usd for a 6 oz. DVD that is quite pricey enough. When I was briefly JAMMED into the GSP system without my approval I "discovered" that even to CANADA the shipping cost including Fees, Taxes, and UnJustified more expensive Priority International Mail rates meant that the $11 for Intl.First Class was Vastly Higher.  I then "OPTED OUT" as quickly as my little fingers could FIND and TYPE out the GET ME OUTTA HERE instructions.  My sales thru export have been hovering around 5 percent with VERY VERY FEW problems and if I were still in GSP I forcast that 5 percent would have plummeted to nearly 0 percent. Was / Were the expensive imported eBay item sales shipped to you using GSP? Were they over $25 usd?  I'm not BANGING on you as though you're not telling truth, rather it strikes me that you have taken the wrong lesson from your past problems.  Just don't buy if the seller is in the GSP system and keep right on looking til you find it from one who is NOT... or is like yourself IN CANADA.

by: Volvo351

Gee, Toolguy's confessing that he got scammed...I thought e'thing on feebay was Hunky-Dory at least hearing Toolguy tell it...

He did beat me to the punch about x-check on feeBay & PayPig addresses. I don't know if these COULD differ but given that the two heads of the Two-Headed Monster aren't in sync, better safe than sorry. If there's a glitch there you can be sure the scammers know about it.

by: Volvo351

@Comet

Yep, when a straight-up seller like Toolguy gets scammed, what hope is there for the rest of us?

by: FEEbay

Absolutely NOT. It happens all of the time, and we have the same canned response.... "Per Ebay/Paypal policy, we can only ship to the registered address on file with Ebay/Paypal. These are THEIR rules, and to continue as a seller on the site, we have to abide by them. Although it seems rather silly, we have no other choice. Thank You for your patronage."  BY ALL MEANS..... pin it back on EBAY.....

by: an American in France

What about situations when someone wants to buy an item as a gift & have it shipped directly to the recipient? I have purchased items on Etsy (not eBay) as gifts, pay with PayPal, & have the seller send to the 3rd party. I have not had a problem, possibly because the 3rd party address is also listed in my PP account, though the names are clearly different. Has anyone else had this experienc?

by: thebobman

>GSP system without my approval I "discovered" that even to CANADA the shipping cost including Fees, Taxes, and UnJustified more expensive Priority International Mail rate

I shipped 2 packages via GSP. I assumed that they filled a large box with smaller items and shipped that box to lets say the U.K. or somewhere. It would save a lot on shipping. All they do is slap an expensive priority label on it. That doesn't help, I could do that myself.

by: VintageLady

As a Buyer, I often ask for purchases to be shipped directly to my kids living the other side of the continent or world, so, yes, I do ask for shipping to another address. Never encountered any issues, Sellers are kind and cooperative, on any venue I buy from. I stopped buying from eBay lately because of the GSP which, in my experience has been a disaster: unjustifiably high shipping costs (once it was 6 times the actual shipping for that $9 item I purchased)and poor delivery performance (the little item in a modest envelope travelled the entire US, through 5 states, from East to West from processing center to processing center in every state until it finally crossed the Northern border 4 weeks later, unbelievable) and the mandatory duty fees charged upfront, a liability issue as it is because in my province I do not pay taxes and duty for items under a certain value.

As a Seller, I also often ship by request to the buyer's business place, vacation home and even abroad as a gift for a dear one.
Never once did I have an issue, to the contrary, the Buyer was extremely grateful for the extra help and had no problem covering for extra shipping cost if needed.

I guess everyone's experience is different, I am a ''small'' Seller, try to see the best in people and be helpful to the Buyer and people respond to that favorably. Maybe larger scale Sellers have different experiences with the ''ship to'' issue, it comes with the ...scale:)  

by: moonmyst

iheartjacksparrow seems to be the poster girl for eCrater. She paints a perfect picture of the venue. If things are so wonderful iheart, then why do you still continually post on this blog?

Sorry, but in reality, eCrater should be a seller's LAST resort. I agree with finding another selling venue or yes, starting your own website. But don't bother with eCrater -- there's no traffic being driven to their site.

As a test, I listed 25 of my most popular items on eCrater. That was 3 years ago. I have had no sales and not even a single inquiry. And as another test, I recently messaged a few random sellers with general questions about their stores and not one single person responded.

Before wasting precious time and energy starting an eCrater store and transferring all your inventory, I sincerely recommend you list only a sampling of your stock and see what happens.