I made my first sale! Now I'm worried...

[Radiac]

Ok, I've been buying on eBay for almost 10 years now, but this is the first time I've actually sold anything on there. What worries me is all the horror stories about Paypal fraud/chargebacks that I've heard over the years. I sold my debug XBOX for $455 and the buyer had low feedback (7). He paid immediately and after looking at his feedback (100%) it seems that he just had a good transaction for a $600 guitar, so that eases my mind a little. It just bothers me that a low feedback bidder won the auction. I am probably being too cautious here, but I just cannot afford to take a $450 hit (who can?).
I guess my question is, am I worrying for nothing?

[scooby105]

Yes.

Send the package with signature confirmation to a confirmed address and you're fine.

[Radiac]

That's worry number two. It's an unconfirmed address.

[Vroomfunkel]

Do NOT send an item of that value to an unconfirmed address. Refund the payment, and tell them that you will accept it only if they confirm the address - otherwise they must pay by cheque / money order.

The +ve feedback for the guitar means nothing - they could still turn round and diddle you. Or indeed, they could be diddling the guitar seller as well and he just left the feedback before he found out.

If they make a fuss, offer it to the second bidder instead. There's absolutely no way that I would send an item of that value to an unconfirmed address with that low feedback. I've done it once to a guy who had several hundred good feedback, after I had done a few checks into him - and I was still nervous about it. Far too easy for them to screw you over, and you will have no comeback.

[Oobgarm]

Listen to vroom. Paypal's not going to help you if the buyer is unconfirmed.

[dgordon86]

Also,

go into your paypal profile and change settings to reject non-confirmed shipping addresses.
Then state you only ship to confirmed addresses in your listing
Badda-bing. problem solved for future cases.

Usually sellers who have problems don't take the proper precautions to avoid fraud, and then they wonder why it blows up in their face.

I've gone almost 300 transactions and never had a single problem. One time this lady tried to say a disc I sent didnt work. Nope, didn't fall for it, I played 2 hours on that disc the day before shipping.

I held out on her bluff and came out clean!

[Cornelius]

Do NOT send an item of that value to an unconfirmed address. Refund the payment, and tell them that you will accept it only if they confirm the address - otherwise they must pay by cheque / money order.

The +ve feedback for the guitar means nothing - they could still turn round and diddle you. Or indeed, they could be diddling the guitar seller as well and he just left the feedback before he found out.

If they make a fuss, offer it to the second bidder instead. There's absolutely no way that I would send an item of that value to an unconfirmed address with that low feedback. I've done it once to a guy who had several hundred good feedback, after I had done a few checks into him - and I was still nervous about it. Far too easy for them to screw you over, and you will have no comeback.

re-read this if you have to, but do all that it says.

For canada buyers with good feedback I will waive my usual confirmed address/delivery confirmation requirement on small dollar items, just because shipping costs so much more for the D.C. to canada (pretty much means priority). But that is only for people w/ good, recent, and lots of feedback, and only on low dollar things.

[ryborg]

Yes.

Send the package with signature confirmation to a confirmed address and you're fine.

Also, you don't need signature confirmation to win a potential Paypal dispute. Any tracking/confirmation number will do, which includes the very cheap (or free if you print postage yourself) Delivery Confirmation. Signature Confirmation is a few dollars extra, and some buyers don't like it, because they work day jobs and can't be around to sign for packages.

[Joe West]

best way, ship it prioity mail, and have insurance on the package, and empty your paypal account, and then ship it..................unverified address, could mean he just moved........but like the other guy said, you can have him notify
paypal, about his unverified address, you dont have too send anything back, it will take him 2-3 days too get it straight.......
good luck......

[Cornelius]

best way, ship it prioity mail, and have insurance on the package, and empty your paypal account, and then ship it..................unverified address, could mean he just moved........but like the other guy said, you can have him notify
paypal, about his unverified address, you dont have too send anything back, it will take him 2-3 days too get it straight.......
good luck......

I've wondered about the 'empty paypal account' option for avoiding these problems. I imagine most sellers are verified and have confirmed addresses, so
that means they have linked bank accounts and/or credit cards. If a claim is filed, can PayPal draw funds from either of those sources to cover the dispute? I've looked in the help section, but didn't find anything out about that.

[Radiac]

Sorry I didn't reply to this thread earlier. Thanks to all who posted advise. BTW, I am taking the empty your account and ship method. I hope it works out.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Sorry I didn't reply to this thread earlier. Thanks to all who posted advise. BTW, I am taking the empty your account and ship method. I hope it works out.

)&@#$&@#

NO

DO NOT SHIP IT TO AN UNCONFIRMED ADDRESS! EVER! If the guy fills a claim they'll likely freeze your account or try to take the money out of your bank account!

[zektor]

)&@#$&@#

NO

DO NOT SHIP IT TO AN UNCONFIRMED ADDRESS! EVER! If the guy fills a claim they'll likely freeze your account or try to take the money out of your bank account!

That's right. Does not matter if you empty the paypal account. You had to confirm to accept cash, and don't think for a second that paypal would not do a chargeback and deduct the money from your confirmed checking account! This happened to me a long time ago, and it sucked. Not only did I completely lose the item I sold (he never sent it back), but I received a chargeback and they took the money right from my bank account. You have to be cautious with paypal and accepting money. Confirmed address and use of delivery confirmation is key.

[Radiac]

That's right. Does not matter if you empty the paypal account. You had to confirm to accept cash, and don't think for a second that paypal would not do a chargeback and deduct the money from your confirmed checking account! This happened to me a long time ago, and it sucked. Not only did I completely lose the item I sold (he never sent it back), but I received a chargeback and they took the money right from my bank account. You have to be cautious with paypal and accepting money. Confirmed address and use of delivery confirmation is key.

Wow. I didn't know that they could take money out of my bank account without my approval. I guess I'll refund the dough and go from there.
Thanks everyone!

[Radiac]

Ok, new wrinkle. I went to refund the payment and saw that he left a note apologizing for the odd address. He say he is in the military and the address does look to be a military address. That might explain why the unconfirmed status. Does anybody know if military addresses can be confirmed? Does this change anything at all? Should I trust him or refund?

[Kitsune Sniper]

Ok, new wrinkle. I went to refund the payment and saw that he left a note apologizing for the odd address. He say he is in the military and the address does look to be a military address. That might explain why the unconfirmed status. Does anybody know if military addresses can be confirmed? Does this change anything at all? Should I trust him or refund?

That's a whole other can of worms... You can't use delivery confirmation on military addresses, at least not if the buyer is abroad. The label only works up to the point that it goes out of the country... That's what my local post office says, but everyone knows my history with them, so take it with a grain of salt.

[Cornelius]

Sucky situation. A reasonable person will understand that you can't send a $450 item without delivery confirmation. You may have to explain a little about PayPal's policy. Of course, the irony is that if you have to explain it, they probably weren't going to try to rip you off. But if the item were actually lost, you'd be screwed. And the way APOs work as far as I understand is that the USPS turns it over to the military, and they deliver it. I'm sure they are good, but not $450 good.

Can you even insure a package to an APO?

[rcgamer]

The only time I have ever sent an item to an APO the guy tried to come back and rip me off. In fact that is one of my 2 negatives I have received on ebay.

[Radiac]

You may have to explain a little about PayPal's policy. Of course, the irony is that if you have to explain it, they probably weren't going to try to rip you off.

Yeah, this seems to be the case. This guy was on the up and up and not a scammer. He is stationed overseas and can't get his address confirmed so we mutually agreed to just refund the money and go our separate ways. So it's back to the bay for the debug.

Big thanks to all who offered advice.

[Vroomfunkel]

That's right. Does not matter if you empty the paypal account. You had to confirm to accept cash, and don't think for a second that paypal would not do a chargeback and deduct the money from your confirmed checking account! This happened to me a long time ago, and it sucked. Not only did I completely lose the item I sold (he never sent it back), but I received a chargeback and they took the money right from my bank account. You have to be cautious with paypal and accepting money. Confirmed address and use of delivery confirmation is key.

Are you sure about taking the money out of your bank account? Perhaps it is different in the USA - but they are definitely not allowed to do that in the UK.

However they will put your Paypal account into negative and freeze it until you repay. I have lost one Paypal account that way (someone trying to scam me, but I'd already withdrawn the money).