Why do sellers require confirmed address?

beaute

Member
Feb 12, 2007
89
0
I'm fairly new to eBay, I wasn't able to use it before because, well most transactions over eBay require payment through PayPal, and PayPal was not supported in my country until very recently (I'm talking 3-month recently). I don't use cheques and it is fairly uneasy for me to send money orders. So I used to do all my eBay shopping using Western Union money transfers, it was a pain and I can't say I didn't get robbed, cuz I obviously did (about $600-worth, eBay even removed the neg feedback I left for the seller and kept the neg he gave me, but that's a different story). But I managed to stay around.


Now that I finally have the luxury of PayPal (send privillages only, no receiving, so I can't really sell anything), I find it that many sellers would require confirmed addresses. I don't understand why. PayPal does not offer address confirmation for international accounts, only account verification and I already verified that, so why complicate things?


What makes things worse is that some sellers won't even ship internationally. Again, I have to ask, why not? Since I will cover all shipping & handling charges, just why on earth won't you ship to me?
 
A lot of Sellers will only ship to Confirmed Addresses because that's the only way Paypal protects them.
There's less protection for Sellers when they ship out of their country, that's why some won't.
 
Sellers who post to an unconfirmed address will not be protected if the buyer does a chargeback. I certainly will ship internationally & will send to an unconfirmed address if the buyer has good feedback or if there is no much feedback the buyer can send me proof of identity i.e. that they actually live at the address where the credit card is billed to.
 
If they ship to an unconfirmed address, you, as the buyer, can tell Paypal you never got it. Paypal will refund all of your money and then the seller will be out the money + the item. Can you blame the sellers for avoiding that? I am not ssaying you would do that, but some people would, and have.

izzybee
 
then i guess it's paypal's fault for not offering address confirmation for international accounts.. that's just unfair :sad:


BagAngel, that's so big of you. on behalf on all the international ebay/paypal users, we thank you
 
Once, I shipped an item to an unonfirmed address. Unfortunately, the person paid with a stolen credit card/paypal address, so a few months later there was a chargeback. The address I sent to was the theif's address, and the actual owner of the paypal account (the one with the confirmed address) got her money back from the credit card company. I will never send to unconfirmed address again.

To stop unconfirmed buyers from bidding and paying, go to "my account" in paypal and go to "payment preferences" on the right and click on "only accept payment from confirmed addresses":yes:
 
Now that I finally have the luxury of PayPal (send privillages only, no receiving, so I can't really sell anything), I find it that many sellers would require confirmed addresses. I don't understand why. PayPal does not offer address confirmation for international accounts, only account verification and I already verified that, so why complicate things?

What makes things worse is that some sellers won't even ship internationally. Again, I have to ask, why not? Since I will cover all shipping & handling charges, just why on earth won't you ship to me?

Beaute, I'm an international buyer myself. First of all, search around in this forum, you will find several threads dealing with this issue both from the seller's and the buyer's point of view. They might help you understanding the several concerns.

I have to say that yes, not being able to confirm an internationalPaypal account is a pain, and the US seller who agrees to sell abroad is less protected if he/she sends to an uncomfirmed international address. BUT:

- Usually, even if people set their auctions as US only, you can ask them politely if they are willing to send abroad. Especially if you have built some reputation, many of them will agree to do so.

- If they are not willing to accept Paypal from international buyers, many of them agree to use Bidpay. I have used it a couple of times and it always worked well.

- It is necessary for both parties to choose a safe and trackable shipping method. Even if it costs more, it allows both the buyer and the seller to be sure of their part of the deal.

- Many international buyers do not realize that they will have to pay almost certainly import duties on their US parcels, and I know that many sellers do not want to face bad feedback because the buyer was stunned by unexpected duties. For them, it is safer to sell only to the inner market.

I can understand both points of view, but so far I have to say that, having a perfect FB of around 100, usually when I ask if I can have a parcel shipped internationally BEFORE bidding, I get a positive answer. However, I very seldom had problems with parcels, and in those occasions me and the seller agreed with partial refunds or things like that. It is important, as a buyer, to be accommodating, kind and not get frustrated if a seller does not answer your questions or if he/she answers unpolitely. It happens from time to time, but I learned to ignore those sellers. And if they answer that they do NOT ship internationally, I just do not bid on their auctions. I respect their choices, and, besides, everything pops up again on Ebay, you just have to wait!
 
Once, I shipped an item to an unonfirmed address. Unfortunately, the person paid with a stolen credit card/paypal address, so a few months later there was a chargeback. The address I sent to was the theif's address, and the actual owner of the paypal account (the one with the confirmed address) got her money back from the credit card company. I will never send to unconfirmed address again.

To stop unconfirmed buyers from bidding and paying, go to "my account" in paypal and go to "payment preferences" on the right and click on "only accept payment from confirmed addresses":yes:

i want to PERSONALLY thank you for those directions! i think i am going to go do that RIGHT now! will it really stop them from bidding or just paying through paypal?
 
i want to PERSONALLY thank you for those directions! i think i am going to go do that RIGHT now! will it really stop them from bidding or just paying through paypal?

I guess it just stops them paying through Paypal. But you can also limit shipping to the US, in that case int'l buyers like me cannot see the auctions from their country's Paypal and have to access Paypal.com, and in any case you can cancel their bid if you state in the auction that you are not shipping internationally. This way int'l buyers should ask you for a "special agreement" to ship abriad. At least this is how I do myself. I would never bid on a US only auction without asking for permission first.
 
I have a restriction from internation sellers can't even bid and that they have to have a paypal account. Didn't see the one for confirmed address though...

I have allowed a few international buyers with good feedback bid but none have won so far.

As a buyer I used to get annoyed because my confirmed address was at home and I had to work during the day so I had to hope it was left for me and still there when I got home. I understand it from the sellers point of view so there was no hard feelings.