I sold an item today, and subsequently the buyer requested that I send the item to an address other than the confirmed addressed provided by eBay/PayPal--nearby, probably a recent move. As most of you probably know, this would render me ineligible for "Seller Protection", even if I provide Delivery Confirmation, should the buyer decide to claim the package was not received.

I've politely asked the buyer if it would be possible to receive the item at the confirmed address, explaining why.

My question is this: is this unreasonable of me? Is there some other way to handle this without exposing myself to the possibility of a false "not received" claim? Thanks in advance!

Kingofpain89 wrote:Theres this thing called "mail forwarding" the USPS uses.  Do people not use it anymore?  And even if the move was recent, the buyer should easily be able to change their confirmed address.

Sounds like laziness to me.  

If its a high dollar item I would be reluctant to send.  But if its not, I would probably go ahead and ship it.  And if delivery confirmation isnt enough to protect you, how about adding delivery with signature?

The recent move thing is just speculation on my part. The addresses are in the same city. The buyer has been on eBay since '01, but only has a 38 feedback, so perhaps he just moved a while ago and didn't bother to change the address. As you say, laziness.

The item's not that expensive, so I'll probably just send it, after I hear back from the buyer about sending to the PayPal-provided address. He was slightly rude during our negotiation (it was a Best Offer situation), so I'm half expecting an irate response. If that's the case, I might just refund him and relist. Thanks.

EDIT: It occurs to me that I could just send it to the old (confirmed) address and leave it at that. I'd be protected vis-a-vis Paypal, but that'd probably net me a negative feedback (justifiably).

JohnGaunt wrote:If the communication is through eBay, then you can always use those e-mails to back up your story if something goes wrong.

Yeah, that's true, though working with eBay on a deal gone sour is something I've avoided so far and not among my top ten life goals. I'll probably just send it, as long as the buyer responds semi-tactfully and doesn't set off any alarm bells.