Buyer wants me to send the item to a different address than the one that appears on their account

[rayhdehg-0]

I sold an item for 700$ and the buyer has already paid but wants me to send it to a totally different address (different province and a different name). Looks like they have been an ebay member for many years and they have 100+ nice feedback from previous purchases. Do I send it to the address that they want? I'm new to this so please help if you can. Any advice is appreciated.

[byto253]

Do not send it to an address that is different than the one you are provided by from Ebay.  You lose all your protection.  

This sounds like it is a drop shipper who has a sale at a higher amount then buys it on eBay.  Or it could be a scam.  It could also be someone that made an error and has their old address or work address, etc.  Or maybe a gift for someone.   Whatever it is, it is up to them to have the correct address for delivery registered with eBay for that sale.

I have a US address for deliveries as well and sometimes I forget to switch it from US to Canada or Canada to US to match the location of the person I am buying from, it is easy to do.

For options,  you can message them back that unfortunately you are required to ship to the eBay address registered at the time of sale and provided to you by Ebay.  Do you want me to ship it to the address provided?  If not, I can cancel at your request and relist it so that you may update your address and buy it with the delivery address that you would like.   Relist it at that price with immediate payment required.

Just do NOT deliver a $700 item to a different address.

[femmefan1946]

When was the feedback left? If it was a year or more since the last ones -- any big gap really-- there is a good chance the account was hijacked.

[femmefan1946]

Other signals of hijacking or fraud:
Requests for your phone number or text

Asking you to include a gift card and sending "payment' from a phony URL (Check the actual address)

[pjcdn2005]

A buyer can change their address when they pay but once they have paid, you must send the package to the address given at the time of payment.  If you send it elsewhere and the buyer files an item not received (inr), you would not be covered by seller protection for inr's.  In the past, I have sent the odd low value item to an address different than the payment one but I wouldn't do that for the items you've sold.

Also, if an item plus shipping is $750 or more, you must send the package with signature confirmation in order to qualify for seller protection. The only CP signature option to the US is with Xoresspost.

When a buyer does send you a message to send an item to a different address, double-check that it is the actual buyer sending you the message as it may be someone totally unrelated to the sale.

[ericsells75]

Almost certainly a scam. Offer to cancel the sale and let them change address and re purchase

[ricarmic]

I have many times successfully done this for buyers but ONLY for stuff I can afford to lose. 

I would never send a $700 item to a different address.

I would simply send a polite message advising that for both of your protection you can't ship to a different address than the payment address and advise that the easiest way to fix this is you'll cancel the item (reason problem with address so it doesn't ding you) and you'll create a special item just for them for the same amount which they can purchase and pay for with the correct shipping address and everything will be normal (including the normal protections for both of you) after that. 

[rayhdehg-0]

That makes a lot of sense. Thank you very much.

[rayhdehg-0]

Thank you very much. I just messaged them.

[byto253]

Let us know how it goes, I hope the sale sticks.  But if it does not, there is a reason. 

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

Scammers target sellers with limited selling history, because they are less likely to know eBay's seller protection policies. This is a very common scam. You 100 percent cannot send to a different address. You are not covered. The age of account or feedback is irrelevant in this scenario. If you send to a different address, it is the same as sending without tracking. 

If you send it to a different address, it means that after the expected delivery date passes, the buyer can open an item not received case, and they will automatically win it, even with tracking. 

On a side note, if it is over $750 total, you also need to ship it with signature confirmation. This is even if the item is less than $750, but the shipping and/or taxes bring it up to $750.

Other people have already covered it pretty well. Explain to the buyer you have to send to the address on the invoice. Offer to do that, or to cancel and re-list so that they can check out with the proper address. 

[byto253]

I recently had a sale on .com from someone in B.C. that assumed I was US based and had his Blaine, Washington set up and requested shipment to his Canadian address.  Ended up doing the cancellation.  Just to say a request like that does not automatically mean it is a scam.