Suspicous PayPal Payments

[evil_genius]

Alright so I sold 2 things today for 150 each. Both buyers have zero feedback on eBay, and unconfirmed PayPal addresses, both buyers are out of the country as well. From my understanding, these people could get their item, claim they never received it and get the money back since they are unconfirmed. Should I refund them or complete the transactions?

[Mayhem]

Either have them pay via a method non Paypal related, or ship with online tracking in case anything silly happens.

[Volcanon]

You should be shipping anything over $50 tracked anyway.

[zektor]

You should be shipping anything over $50 tracked anyway.

You should ship EVERYTHING with a minimum of delivery confirmation, tracked if overseas. If you accept a payment via paypal and ship without any proof of shipping, the buyer can easily claim never received upon getting the product and paypal will undoubtedly give them a full refund at your expense.

Sad to say, and I know it may seem unfair, but I cancel any bids from new zero feedback bidders on high ticket auctions. I have just been burned too many times.

[winona2k]

Worth mentioning, confirmed adresses only applies to US/UK and maybe Candada? There is no way for a non UK european to have their adress confirmed by paypal.

[evil_genius]

Can you get tracking on packages going to another country? Last time I checked at the PO they don't ofer this.

[Bibliophile]

Alright so I sold 2 things today for 150 each. Both buyers have zero feedback on eBay, and unconfirmed PayPal addresses, both buyers are out of the country as well. From my understanding, these people could get their item, claim they never received it and get the money back since they are unconfirmed. Should I refund them or complete the transactions?

Refund them their money, and ask them to pay by some other means (e.g., money order, etc).

Some of the advice other members gave you about using tracking will protect you against an "item not received" dispute, but it will NOT protect you against an "item significantly not as described" dispute. No amount of tracking protects you against that. If you are suspicious, it is better to refund their money, or to ask for an alternative form of payment. Otherwise, you could be out $300.

[Bibliophile]

Can you get tracking on packages going to another country? Last time I checked at the PO they don't ofer this.

You can if you use EMS (Express Mail Service), but this will not protect you against a false "item significantly not as described dispute."

[Darren870]

priority does too. comes with insurance

[Scavenger4]

You should be able to track Priority Mail packages via the customs form or you can use Express Mail which will give you a tracking number as well.

[Bibliophile]

You should be able to track Priority Mail packages via the customs form or you can use Express Mail which will give you a tracking number as well.

The customs number will not provide tracking. It will only show acceptance of the package by the post office, and in some cases, when it is received by the post office of the recipient nation. However, it does not show when the item is received by the addressee.

[ryborg]

Tracking doesn't matter because you won't be able to fight a Paypal chargeback. If you feel uncomfortable about shipping a high-value item overseas, just get insurance. It's not that expensive and if something happens (scam or otherwise), you'll be covered.

Really, most international users aren't trying to scam you. They just want their item like anyone else. I've shipped tens of thousands of items to practically every country and I've had VERY few problems with items arriving/scam attempts.

[Bibliophile]

Insurance will not protect you from a paypal scam by the buyer/recipient. Insurance only covers loss of or damage to the package by the post office/carrier, and is not a simple process.

It is true that many buyers overseas are honest buyers, but most problem buyers have zero ebay feedback. I have sold on ebay many times, and almost everytime I had a non-paying bidder, it was a zero- or low-feedback bidder.

Fortunately, I have never been scammed by a buyer. However I have had scams committed or attempted by sellers.

[scooby105]

It's because of situations such as this that I rarely sell items outside the US.

[gum_drops]

I see Evil_genius changed his $119.99 Metal Gear Solid Pre-orders to USA only shipping, I think that is a good move, no point taking the chance with unconfirmed international payments.

You could also change it to immediate payment required and edit your paypal account to only accept confirmed addresses, effectively blocking all unconfirmed payments. This would also allow you to accept payments from Canada and the UK as they have confirmed addresses.

[evil_genius]

I see Evil_genius changed his $119.99 Metal Gear Solid Pre-orders to USA only shipping, I think that is a good move, no point taking the chance with unconfirmed international payments.

You could also change it to immediate payment required and edit your paypal account to only accept confirmed addresses, effectively blocking all unconfirmed payments. This would also allow you to accept payments from Canada and the UK as they have confirmed addresses.

Well we have a regular gumshoe over here lol. Thanks for the advice, I am gonna look into that right now.

[zektor]

Can you get tracking on packages going to another country? Last time I checked at the PO they don't ofer this.

Not tracking per-se, but proof of delivery to that country. When I ship to Canada, I noticed a delivery confirmation type number on the receipt. When I went to check this number via USPS's website delivery confirmation section, lo and behold it DOES show up just like getting domestic delivery confirmation. All paypal requires is a proof of delivery, and the status of this will changed to "delivered" on the USPS site when it is delivered.

[Dark_Sol]

As a buyer from the faar faar Russia i can tell you couple of things.
First - for cheap items i don't really care a lot i usually take First Class Mail. This can be tracked inside the country it was sent from, but sometimes it does not have a customs form and it's impossible to track it in any way. So it's a lucky/unlucky situation.
Second - for quite pricy items i usually take Priority. It has customs form and can tracked both in US and in Russia as well. It CAN be checked if the buyer recieved the package or not. Even on usps.com.
For expensive and heavy stuff - only EMS. It is fast, it is 100% trackable. You can know for sure if the buyer got it or not.

For payments - paypal from overseas is ok. Money orders as well. But payments from zero feedback and negative buyers? matter of consideration i guess. If you can take risk from such buyers - got for it, if you're ready to fight if any shit happen.
Again, most worldwide paypal addresses cannot be confirmed at all. I do not have a confirmed as well simply because it's not possible. Even though i'm a ebay user for 5 years.
As for scams - they are everywhere.