Marketplace
I've had an eBay account since 2002 and for the first time I NEARLY got scammed…
TL;DR: ALWAYS check the buyer's address prior to sending out an item you've sold and ONLY send it to the exact address listed on the sale page.
I sold a phone the other day for around $1300. Through out the whole sale, the buyer asked a few random question like why I was selling it etc. Their profile seemed "normal". Profile since 2016, over 200 feedbacks, 100% rating etc. Even asked during the listing if they could cancel the order as they had won another phone listing. Told them they can cancel their bid. They never did. Thinking about it after felt like a ploy to seem "legit"..
Buyer had paid after they won the auction, got the email to say send it away from eBay and all was nice and safely packed. That night buyer asked when I was sending it as it was a gift. Told them the next morning. Next morning again asked me if I was going to send it out the same day.
Went to post office to send off and lady at counter told me the address doesn't "exist". I asked "What do you mean it doesn't exist?". She told me that Unit 3/10 XXXXX st doesn't exist just the street and the same house number. At this stage I was thinking there is a typo somewhere possibly so got in contact with the buyer via eBay messages. They told me that "Oh, sometimes it appears different, just put in 10C XXXXX st, not Unit 3/10 XXXXX st and it should be fine". Stood in the post office and did some googling and found that in fact 10C XXXXX st does exist, however the address on the eBay account provided was wrong. By this stage, I was running late to a meeting, I had a hectic morning rushing around and nearly gave in until I stood back and thought about it and saw a street view of the property and that Unit 3/10 XXXXX st did not exist in any way shape or form. I then vaguely remember reading that if the address that you send it to does not match exactly what was provided on the sale page, as a seller your ENTIRE sellers protection goes out the window. This was later confirmed by eBay chat themselves.
In the 1400+ buy and sell transactions I've made, I've NEVER checked the address before hand. A massive massive oversight of mine and just pure luck this hasn't happened sooner.
In a nutshell, the buyer intentionally placed the wrong address in eBay, tried to fool me by providing a different address through messages, will then claim then never received the item and get to keep the phone and get a refund all because I didn't send it to the exact address provided on the sale page.
Got on eBay chat and they advised that the only way around this was to cancel the order, refund and ask buyer to change to correct address if it was a typo and they can buy the item again so it appears when the correct address appears on sale page. I cancelled and refunded the order and told the buyer that I will only send to the address on the sale page.
They became annoyed saying that I ruined their son's birthday and that they had never had an issue with this address. I told them to provide an address that exists and you can repurchase again and to change address beforehand. I cancelled the sale, they were refunded and that was that. I was then bombarded with heart felt messages of ruining their day, and that eBay chat told them that I was the one that had issues with my account and that the transaction was cancelled because of account issues I had blah blah, basically lies. They then left negative feedback on my account in which I thankfully had redacted.
Now I'm left with the phone (thankfully!), lost the free final value fees as it was listed during a 5 Free final value fee promo and a sour taste in my mouth with the entire experience.
I decided to post this as I mentioned this to a few people at work and it seems pretty wide spread that people buy and sell and decide to send to a different address as to whats on eBay. A good work colleague even struck a deal to send a $3500 item via private bank deposit and sent the item off. He could have just kept the money…
The key is vigilance. I am usually completely aware of situations like this and was nearly had today for the first time… I hope this post can help make other people aware!
I always google street view the address to make sure it exists and see how many VT commodores are in the overgrown front yard.
Selling on eBay has become an exercise in tin playing your butt.