Item sold, paid by the partner, NOT the Buyer, different name?

ih8stress

Hi

I've just sold an item one Ebay and the buyer has messaged to say that the payment is from their partner, so a different name than the one on the order. I don't know if the billing address is different as I am on managed payments (private seller), so don't see any details .

Is this acceptable by Ebay? Could it be a scam for future chargeback or something?

I've tried reading the Ebay seller and buyer blurb, Money back guarantee etc but can't see anything about this.

The item is over £100 so I am wary about doing anything just yet.

My initial thought was to ask them to get their partner to transfer the money to their account, request that I cancel the sale, then buy it themselves when I relist it?

They are showing as a business seller but have no feedback for sales, only purchases. No poor feedback but less than a year on ebay.

Appreciate any advice/thoughts, thanks

se2020

Just ship it to the name & address shown by ebay themselves (not to whatever the buyer sends you in a message)
Use a tracked delivery service

soolin

Not an issue at all and nothing to worry about it , if buyer hadn’t mentioned it you wouldn’t be be any the wiser. As Se2020 says, just send with the usual caution and appropriate postage to the details given on eBay on the sold page, even better, buy the label direct from eBay. 

MikeJXE

Sorry but I smell a rat

Why couldn’t the partner give the money then could pay in the usual way 

If they also ask for it sent to an address that isn’t registered with eBay 

Then I will say it’s a scam 

soolin

MikeJXE said:

Sorry but I smell a rat

Why couldn’t the partner give the money then could pay in the usual way 

If they also ask for it sent to an address that isn’t registered with eBay 

Then I will say it’s a scam 

If buyer requests delivery to another address then it would be a scam, otherwise I really wouldn’t be worried. Sellers can also have as many addresses as they want on eBay, as well as adding ad hoc addresses at will. 

My OH doesn’t have an eBay account, so he tells me what he wants, I buy and get it sent in his name, likewise when my mother was alive I’d buy things for her and have them sent to her house, not mine and in her name.

Im not sure what  OP  mean by billing address, none of us see card details whether business or private and we didn’t even before managed payments, all that matters is that item goes to the address given by eBay. 

A large amount of my items go to a different name than the sale shows, just a very quick look at my sales today that I’m currently wrapping I’ve got 2 going to completely different names, I’ve obviously no idea why and I’m not in the least bit bothered. I only noticed as I was printing labels as I read this and noticed the difference, for instance Jenny Smith shows as the buyer and it going to Jo Brown. 

ih8stress

Thanks for the comments so far

I know that I can cover myself by sending it to the name and address ebay provide, and using a tracked service

BUT to my way of thinking, that does NOT protect me from an unauthorised payment claim in the future?  (I know that this could still be the case if it was from the Buyer's account too but less of a risk surely?).

@se2020 - I would never send to a different address and always send items tracked, thanks

@soolin - I did realise at the time that I was only made aware of it because the Buyer messaged me. I don't know if this happens normally for some sales, that someone other than the buyer provides the funds for the item?

I can't use Ebay labels as I don't have a printer, and get RM to collect parcels from me.

@MikeJXE - why the partner couldn't just give the money to them instead of me is my concern, hence this post.

Still feeling uneasy about it

soolin

It’s up to you what you do, but as I said I have 2 today just on the few sales I’ve made. I don’t think you can find any way of stopping people buying for someone else, it’s never occurred to me that buying and sending things direct to my mother made me potentially a scammer. 

Would you also be unhappy to sell to someone who uses 2 surnames as is common in some professions where they may qualify in one name, so for instance  (Dr) Madeline Smith who opened their account when they qualified and now use their married name for purchases for convenience? what about people who choose to change gender  , are they going to be a scammer ? 

You also can have absolutely no idea what their address is, all you would have is the address that eBay give you. 

Spoonie_Turtle

I don't think it's anything to worry about.  There could be all sorts of legitimate, practical/convenience reasons for paying using a family member's account - forgotten password for their own and don't want to have to reset yet, the details for one of them is saved on the browser they're using and not the one with their own name, temporarily not having access to their phone for 2FA for their own payment account, one bank account and card is used for spending in ons person's name and another for savings / bills / etc., the card for their own account could be temporarily frozen because they've lost it, waiting for a new card to come in the post as the current one has expired, perhaps simply they both just use one payment account like my parents do - the PayPal is in Dad's name even though Mum does most of the buying - and I know a few other couples do the same, or any number of other possible explanations. 

Really the only strange thing about it is they told you.

ih8stress

Hi, @soolin, thanks for replying, our posts crossed I think.

I'm not sure how you got items sent to your Mum's - I thought they could only be sent to the address registered at Ebay ie yours?  (not really looked into sending elsewhere, just thought that was a big no no).

However, I would imagine that you ordered them on YOUR account and with YOUR money?

My query isn't about sending it to someone with a different name though, it is about somebody other than the Buyer, paying for the item and any likely consequences?

Hope you aren't taking my comments the wrong way, just trying to find stuff out and protect myself.

Many thanks  

soolin

ih8stress said:

Hi, @soolin, thanks for replying, our posts crossed I think.

I'm not sure how you got items sent to your Mum's - I thought they could only be sent to the address registered at Ebay ie yours?  (not really looked into sending elsewhere, just thought that was a big no no).

However, I would imagine that you ordered them on YOUR account and with YOUR money?

My query isn't about sending it to someone with a different name though, it is about somebody other than the Buyer, paying for the item and any likely consequences?

Hope you aren't taking my comments the wrong way, just trying to find stuff out and protect myself.

Many thanks  

Before managed payments I had about 9 addresses registered on paypal which I used, as well as my own , I had my mothers, and various Uni and student addresses for my sons. I even had a holiday cottage there for a while and just chose the address I wanted at check out. Now with managed payments I still send items to friends and relatives but have to remember to change the delivery address before I pay. 

If I bought something from you now and asked for it to be sent to 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam, would you know if that was my actual address or not unless I told you?

Under managed payments I have my credit card , my husband's credit card and also 2 paypal accounts registered for payments and have to choose which card or paypal account I want to use. Unluckily for my husband, the default card if I forget, or if I get into the automatic payment when an offer is accepted loop - the payment comes from his card which is the default- as he buys more than I do. When I purchased for my mother, admittedly that was pre managed payments, I used my paypal account and my mother would give me cash or transfer the money to my bank. In the summer I bought an item for a friend as she admired something I had bought and asked me to get one for her and she doesn't use ebay - I never expected her to pay for it, I had meant it as a gift as it was a low cost bit of nonsense, but she ended up sending the money to my bank account - despite me telling her not to. 

So I still don't quite understand how you can tell who is paying for the item?

As has been said though, If I asked you to use the address in East Cheam but the address shown by ebay if you check the label page was Wolverhampton, then you potentially have a scammer. 

Hopefully I haven't taken your comments the wrong way nor given you cause for concern. I am always wanting people to use ebay safely, there are too many easy to avoid issues that should be addressed to save people, especially newbies from being scammed. However part of staying safe is also to understand the difference between a scam and a slightly rare occurrence that is still safe. The only odd thing about your situation is that buyer told you what they were doing. I don't bother doing that, I just buy for my husband, change the name of the address to his and use his card- I've never felt the need to tell the seller I've done that.

GadgetGuru

Just send to the eBay stated address for the buyer using tracked delivery - there's nothing different here then any other usual sale.