Buyer wants to use a different address

Wanna_Bee_Free

I'm scratching my head over this one this morning so grateful for people's suggestions. The buyer has paid promptly by Paypal, Paypal has a confirmed address so I think that's all sorted out, great. But the buyer has sent a message (as an ebay question)
'I realised that my address has changed. could you, please, send the item to the following address' giving a completely different UK address.

I can think of three approaches,
1. Send it to the buyer's new address and assume the ebay message is my proof that's where they wanted it. I would prefer to do this but Paypal have such strange and unpredictable rules for disputes I worry I am vulnerable in some way if I do.
2. Ask the buyer to change their address on Paypal and faff around waiting
3. Send it to the new address but pay extra for proof of receipt - probably signed for I guess. The item value is low so my preference would be to avoid extra postage costs.

Thanks for any help on this.

Bowling_4_Gold

Hmmm... You should really send it to the address on Paypal because in a dispute, you will lose if your POP is to a different address. You will need to ask the buyer to add an address on PayPal, refund them the initial payment, then tell them to pay again or otherwise, say that you can only send to the address on PayPal. The only thing that seems strange is scammers usually go for high value items so this person buying a low value item almost seems genuine.

soolin

Paypal do not have strange and unpredictable rules about posting, they are very clear. If you want full seller protection then you must send to the address that paypal have in the box that says 'OK to send'. Obviously if you are not using tracking it doesn't particularly matter in a case of a claim for non delivery.

However, like bowling-for-gold says it is important to have a proof of posting at least to the correct address in a case of a chargeback for fraudulent use of a card.

Wanna_Bee_Free

soolin wrote: »

Paypal do not have strange and unpredictable rules about posting, they are very clear.

Thanks for your helpful replies.

When I say strange and unpredictable I mean that I don't understand them and feel unconfident that as a seller the outcome will feel fair and reasonable if I have to go through their dispute process.

You both seem to agree that unless I send it to the address that paypal have in the box 'ok to send' then I won't have full seller protection, and the message sent via the ebay system isn't good enough proof.

To me it seems similar to sending to an unconfirmed address in Paypal based on the buyers response via ebay, which I have done quite a few times with no problems so far. I might take a punt this time given the low value of the item. If they've just moved then they won't get a Paypal confirmed status for some time anyway I guess?

soolin

You no longer need a confirmed address for paypal, it does not matter at all. All that matters is the address in the box at the top of the payment page when you log in where it says 'OK to send'. If paypal say OK to send then that is the address they will cover you for.

However like you I have used different addresses on occasions for low cost items knowing I give up my paypal protection. The alternative is to refund the buyer and ask them to just add the new address as a gift address and then choose that address when they repay, this however can also mean a lot of flapping about.