I had a buyer purchase a pretty expensive card, but eBay won’t let me ship it since the buyer’s name is over 40 characters. When I click to purchase a shipping label, it automatically redirects me to “Change the Buyer’s Address” page and notifies me that changing the buyer’s address can result in loss of seller protection. Does anyone have any experience with this?
The buyer name line appears to have a bunch of unnecessary characters like periods and dashes and is just over the 40 character limit . . . I’m wondering if this is some sort of scam to lure sellers into “changing the shipping address” and then open a case. Considering the value of this item and the low feedback of the buyer, I’m probably going to cancel the transaction, but was hoping others could help me on this one.
No, but I might . . . I figured I’d check with everyone here first. Last time I called eBay, it took 2 hours; I’m really hoping to avoid that if I can.
^Agree, best call them. Even if the customer service op you speak to isn’t aware of such a scam, they may let you cancel the transaction on the grounds you’re suspicious of the transaction.
Changing the name isn’t an issue. Of course I would mention the 40 character limit to the buyer and see what they say however as far as protection goes eBay doesn’t want you the change the address, more importantly the zip code. I’ve had buyers ask to change the shipping location from their house to their po box, as long as its in the same zip code no issue. The buyers name ass it appears on the package one way or another doesn’t affect the eBay protection however I’d certainly purchase signature confirmation if you do decide to go through with the order.
I’d really consider it if the value on the card is as high as you seem to suggest. It sounds like a worthwhile insurance policy.
You can also ship with like, DHL or something. Go in yourself to a DHL Service Point, they do tracking and signature delivery to a ton of countries, probably less than 2 hours to pull off, and you can upload the tracking yourself.
It’s probably not the username that’s the issue. The address will probably include a reference number for customs which is a fairly long number. I’ve solved it in the past by removing an extra space between the reference # and the code.
It’s a four figure transaction . . . I’d rather cancel the sale due to “problem with the buyer’s address,” recoup my final value fee, and relist the card. I sent the buyer a message about the problem, offering to cancel/refund and hold the card for them if they want to fix their shipping information and repurchase it. I hope that’s not unreasonable, but my risk-tolerance is understandably lower with higher value items.
I appreciate all of the suggestions and advice everyone!