Passport required.

tarajayne

My friend has bid on some skincare items from the USA from ebay and been successful, she had an email from the seller today asking for a copy of her driving licence or passport. I have said she should not do this under any circumstances, anyone else had this happen?

Dave_Brooker

tarajayne wrote: »

My friend has bid on some skincare items from the USA from ebay and been successful, she had an email from the seller today asking for a copy of her driving licence or passport. I have said she should not do this under any circumstances, anyone else had this happen?

A Why would they need someone's driving licence or passport to post something?

B Who would send a copy of their driving licence or passport to a stranger in another country??

tarajayne

Gonna email my friend now, can't understand 'cos when I have bought from USA never been asked!

kingmonkey

If she paid by credit card then sometimes they like to confirm identity.

smartie1976

It will just be for an identity check, as for a US seller, a UK address will be ineligible for US paypal protection.

However do not supply them with this information, and it is particularly sensitive and both documents have your signature and DOB on them, thus the fraud potential is huge.

I'm sure the seller will understand if your friend advises it is both illegal to send him a copy and exposes her to potential fraud.
(He's American, he's not going to know such things).
Besides, neither actually confim your address - they are VISUAL ID (ie what you look like), which he doesn't require.

You can always point him to BT.com to check your details (if you're on there)

greeneye

smartie1976 wrote: »

It will just be for an identity check, as for a US seller, a UK address will be ineligible for US paypal protection.

Sure this is true Smartie?
As only US and UK sellers can get their paypal accounts confirmed/verified I'd always assumed we had mutual seller protection when shipping.
I get seller protection when shipping to the US so why don't they get seller protection when shipping to me?
I'm often try and talk US only sellers into sending to the UK on the basis that the UK is the only other country they will have seller protection on.
Have I been ballshatting them?????

frivolous_fay

Maybe there's some confusion with 'non-US verified'

Obviously verification is irrelevant here, it's all about address confirmation.

greenstreetprince

everyone is jumping the gun and coming to their own conclusion as to why this seller is requesting a passport/driving license copy.

for those who suggest it is for address verification, could you please tell me exactly where on your passport your address is listed? nowhere to be precise!

please think before you post!

barvid

Just come back from Vegas (hardly money saving...) and every single credit card transaction needs to be backed up by photo ID, i.e. driver's licence or passport. If the seller is American, it may be second nature to want to see one of these.

Jimbo333_2

Just come back from Vegas (hardly money saving...) and every single credit card transaction needs to be backed up by photo ID, i.e. driver's licence or passport. If the seller is American, it may be second nature to want to see one of these.

Surely using Photo ID like this is only useful for face-to-face sales?? You walk into a shop in Vegas (or Spain - same system there now) buy a shirt on credit card, the teller asks for passport etc, and yep, that's your credit card cos your face in the passport pic matches your head, which is in their shop.... but on ebay??

Wouldn't catch me email my passport to someone in the US... hell no. Passport number only (to fill in on the Credit card counterfoil) .... MAYBE.

greenstreetprince

Jimbo333 wrote: »

Surely using Photo ID like this is only useful for face-to-face sales?? You walk into a shop in Vegas (or Spain - same system there now) buy a shirt on credit card, the teller asks for passport etc, and yep, that's your credit card cos your face in the passport pic matches your head, which is in their shop.... but on ebay??

Wouldn't catch me email my passport to someone in the US... hell no. Passport number only (to fill in on the Credit card counterfoil) .... MAYBE.

agreed, if someone can steal credit cards details they can also steal a driving license? most people have both in their wallet/purse