The original title of this guide is/was "Why good ebay sellers will only ship to the buyers confirmed paypal address", but given the limited space, I had to shrink it down a bit. I hope the title conveys the idea behind this important subject! After reading this, I hope you find it helpful and would ask you to rate it with a "yes" vote below!
It happens to all sellers on occasion: A buyer will win an item, send a paypal payment, and include a note requesting for one reason or another that the seller ship to some other name and address; an address other than the confirmed billing address on the paypal payment. I am here to tell you that any good, smart ebay seller will NOT ship to any name or mailing address other than the confirmed paypal address! We make this very clear on all our item pages, yet still we'll get the occasional winner try and get us to do it anyway.
What is so important about a paypal confirmed name & address? Simple, the only way paypal will "confirm" the account holder name & address is if it MATCHES the billing name & address of the financial account (credit card, checking account, etc) of the source of the funds. It is very quick & simple to have your paypal account confirmed (see our other guides for step by step instructions). There is very little reason not to have your paypal account confirmed. In our case, we even have not one but two addresses confirmed, our home address for "flat" mail such as envelopes, and our PO Box for packages.
In terms of a seller doing his/her part to help prevent fraud, this is HUGE. It is perhaps the most important thing a seller can do, and again, all GOOD sellers do it. Also, paypal watches the backs of those good sellers by way of the "seller protection policy". More on that in one of our other guides. What happens when someone has their account hijacked and/or their identity stolen, the bad guys will quickly start buying things. Obviously it makes no sense to have those purchases sent to the victim's address, so the bad guys request shipping to another address where they can get the items. Thus the critical importance of following the rule of only shipping to the confirmed address. It is the number one way a seller can prevent or quickly help identify account theft.
Granted there may be some other reasons that a legitimate buyer may have for wanting another address to be used, but in these days of identity theft and the slickness of crooks, there is no reason to take such chances. These safeguards are only as good as those of us who follow them!
Should a seller choose not to follow this very important rule, they absolutely are NOT covered by paypal, and deservedly so!
There will always be some sellers who don't care about this. They should know that they are taking unreasonable risks with both theirs and their buyers money, accounts, identity, and security.
Perhaps this policy may cost us an occasional sale from a buyer who wants us to ship elsewhere. That is fine with us, because we are more concerned about doing things the right way. The security of your account and your identity means more to us. Making smart decisions, business longevity, and our reputation as top notch sellers and fellow collectors mean more to us. So rest assured folks, if someone ever steals your identity and/or account, and tries to get us to ship an item to some other address, we for one will NOT do it! I know most other good sellers feel the same as well.
And please keep in mind folks, shopping on the internet whether on ebay or elsewhere can be very fun and SAFE, we all just need to take a few important steps to minimize any risk.
Thanks,
Steve & Jen
PS. Any "no" votes begs the question...are YOU one of those sellers who will sidestep the rule about shipping only to confirmed addresses? Do you need the money THAT bad? Are you that uncaring that you would take such risks with your buyers?
OceanStateSports
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