Question about determining a buyer's true residency

francot1

O.G.
Jan 24, 2009
360
2
I have a buy it now item restricted to only US buyers, and I have all other locations excluded. I received a message from a buyer stating that she is bidding from the US and cannot purchase the item, and asked me to remove any blocks as she does not understand why she cannot buy the item.

When I looked under her info I saw member since 2006 in Japan. Is it possible she could have moved to the US, or has 2 residences, and the Japan would still be listed because this is where she registered? or Does Ebay automatically update the country based on where you are using the computer? Which would mean if she is bidding in the US, she should be able to purchase the item.

I stated in my listing that I would only ship to a confirmed paypal US address. I am wondering though, if her membership is listed as being in Japan then wouldn't her paypal address also be in Japan, or could the paypal address be different? Would it be possible to have Ebay have her listed as living in Japan but have a confirmed US paypal address?
If I called or emailed ebay and paypal would they let me know if she has residency in the US?

I do not want to remove the exclusions and cannot understand why if she is in the US cannot purchase the item.
 
Be Careful Some people who want items badly enough will do sneaky things to get them. I specify no international shipping in my auctions and an italian buyer bought one of my items, she had registered a bogus US address with ebay in order to be able to bid on US only itemsbut her confirmed paypal shipping addy was in Italy. I didnt want to ship to her but she threatened to neg me and ding my stars if I didnt sell to her even though she knew I didnt want to ship internationally and she deliberately evaded my bidding restrictions.
 
the "she is bidding from the US" may be that she's just visiting or on temporary work permit. If she has moved or has 2nd home in the USA that can be confirmed then bidder has to update with BOTH eBay/Paypal and that should allow her to BIN :yes: Once you have completed registration, eBay does NOT auto update your registered location based on where your computer is showing location.
 
You could ask her flat out what her EBAY and PAYPAL confirmed shipping addresses are.

Maybe her Japan address is military? In which case, if she has a PO box on base it is considered US soil and shipping is the same as stateside mail.
 
She is probably honest. I don't jump to conclusions all the time. A lot of times people just don't update. I would 1. Just ask her where she resides, and make sure that is where you would be shipping. and let her know 2. That she needs to update her paypal and ebay addresses. 3. Make sure paypal is confirmed. That can all take time so I think for that reason I would pass on this buyer.
 
It wouldn't make sense that she can't bid if she has updated her account, so maybe it is best to leave it that she can't buy.
 
Be Careful Some people who want items badly enough will do sneaky things to get them. I specify no international shipping in my auctions and an italian buyer bought one of my items, she had registered a bogus US address with ebay in order to be able to bid on US only itemsbut her confirmed paypal shipping addy was in Italy. I didnt want to ship to her but she threatened to neg me and ding my stars if I didnt sell to her even though she knew I didnt want to ship internationally and she deliberately evaded my bidding restrictions.

This happened to me too. It was a real hassle.
 
Be Careful Some people who want items badly enough will do sneaky things to get them. I specify no international shipping in my auctions and an italian buyer bought one of my items, she had registered a bogus US address with ebay in order to be able to bid on US only itemsbut her confirmed paypal shipping addy was in Italy. I didnt want to ship to her but she threatened to neg me and ding my stars if I didnt sell to her even though she knew I didnt want to ship internationally and she deliberately evaded my bidding restrictions.

You didn't have to ship. Purposely doing things like that to get around bidding blocks is an Ebay violation. You should have reported her as an unwelcome bidder. She would have gotten slapped and you'd have been off the hook. :smile:
 
Ditto. And to make sure the shipping address is PP-confirmed.
If it doesn't work, I would steer clear of this buyer.

For some reason, overseas buyers do not have confirmed PP addresses. I have over 180 ebay transactions (all buying) and live in Australia and despite 100% feedback, I cannot get my address "confirmed" on paypal for overseas transactions. I emailed them about this and there was some bizarre reason. This is despite me using my bank account as the source of money rather than a credit card - you'd think they could check up on that.

So an unconfirmed o/s address does not necessarily mean a scammer.
 
Paypal states that most buyers outside of USA, Canada and Great Britain cannot confirm their addresses. It has to do with the bank/ credit card company not reporting information to Paypal. This shouldn't be an issue for you since she wants you to ship the bag within the US. E(vil)bay will always show what country you resided in when you initially registered, but that doesn't mean you still reside there. I would ask her to update her e(vil)bay/ Paypal address to reflect that she is now in the US. This should also allow her to bid/buy your item without you having to remove your restrictions. If she can't/won't do that, then don't sell to her.

I once removed my restrictions to ship to someone in Italy, only to have them tell me that they were now in Qatar! Not surprisingly, the mail between Canada and Qatar does not work so well.
 
But the buyer is saying she's in the U.S. That's why I brought up the confirmed address. If the buyer needs to change the location in her eBay's account from Japan to the U.S., then she should be able to confirm her PP address.
 
If you want to only sell to buyers with a confirmed address in the US, then stick with it. If she's telling the truth, she can change her info and confirm her status with paypal. I would not ship it to a third party (no protection), and I wouldn't take excuses.

If she lives in the US as she claims, she should have a confirmed address with paypal.