Buyers don't know where they live.

[huatao1975]

Almost every day I get "buyers" with problematic addresses. If I ask them to confirm, I always get angry responses such as "I know where I live!!" or "It doesn't matter !!" or "Either way it's the same!!"

Today's one is a buyer who entered Brassall QLD 4306, I googled it, it should be 4305. Google map pins his / her house within boundary of 4305.

EBay does not allow me to modify the postcode from 4306 to 4305. Should I write 4305 with a pen on the delivery docket next to 4306 or can I just leave it as 4306 ? Or is googled wrong (in other words, should I trust buyer or google) ?

Thank you.

[kopenhagen5]

Leave it as original, the posties know what's going on.

[collect247 · Accepted solution]

You need to post to the address that shows in PayPal

[huatao1975]

Of course. I forgot about PayPal. Thank you.

[digital*ghost]

I usually try to avoid contacting buyers about their address unless absolutely necessary, but I definitely need to modify a significant number of them due to incorrectly entered details (incorrect suburb is really common, at least according to google / Aus Post, but I also get tons of people misspelling street and suburb names - maybe even more than I know as I hand-address a lot of packages and I'll only double-check if something doesn't look quite right). If I do need to verify details, I just tell them that I'm trying to create a postage label for the order but Australia Post keep auto-correcting X to Y, so I need to confirm whether to allow the address to be altered or it needs to be kept as they entered it. Most of the time they reply that using either version will get to them fine. 

I'll google the street address and postcode supplied  first (leaving out any suburb or city that has been entered), as most of the time it's the suburb they've entered that's the problem (this can be an issue caused by new suburbs, re-zoning, or the buyer entering their city council as the suburb - eg I live in a metro SA suburb, and that suburb is in the 'city' of Marion, which is also a smaller suburb within that council area. This is more obvious when they enter the capital city rather than their actual suburb. 

Most of the time, if the street number and name are correct, and either the suburb or postcode is correct (with one being slightly off), Aus Post will be able to deliver it ok as there typically isn't identical street names within a general area. I prefer to keep as close to the buyer-entered address as possible, particularly if they appear to purchase on eBay somewhat regularly, as I presume any significant issues with their address would have been picked up and corrected already. eg yesterday I was creating a label where the buyer had entered a street number like 50 XXXX Street and Aus Post wanted to correct it to 50-65 XXXX Street. I turned off the auto-fill and kept it at 50, so that it matched with what the buyer entered, presuming Aus Post would not get confused with that kind of thing (i.e. if it's 50-65, then 50 is at 50-65, anyway). 

[davewil1964]

I had one the other day, from a buyer with several hundred feedback, with a suburb of 'Mt xxxx'. Neddless to say the suburb is actually 'Mount xxxx'.

I change them to the correct address. eBay will certainly allow that. In fact eBay will reject an address that is not in AP's database.

[jellybirddesigns]

I am so with you on this.

I've found it's gotten worse over the years.

I regularly get addresses that don't look quite right, like one order today where the buyer had listed 2 different suburbs.

I do, however, send a lot more items with tracking these days so if the buyer has supplied an incorrect address, it's totally on them if the item goes missing or comes back to me as non-deliverable.

[digital*ghost]

---

@davewil1964 wrote:

I had one the other day, from a buyer with several hundred feedback, with a suburb of 'Mt xxxx'. Neddless to say the suburb is actually 'Mount xxxx'.

---

I get that often as well, I always write out the full name if it's the suburb, or as it come up in the google search because they tend to match the Aus Post database, but I also presume AP would be able to decipher it if I didn't, like they do with St, Rd, etc, as there's not too many other words it could be (in the context of an address, especially). There's a number of suburbs where St is correct in the name (as opposed to Saint, but likewise not many would be confused by either form, no matter which one is correct). I guess if there's one Mt xxxx and one Mount xxxx, it might cause some issues. 

Lots of buyers also misspell their own names, which I can pick up on due to creating labels from the PayPal notifications, since they have the buyer's name at the top as well as the name they entered at checkout (I've done that plenty, though, eg when replying to buyer messages and signing off my name,  so I'm not one to talk  ). 

[huatao1975]

I got another one today, that is a "Parcel Collect"  xxxxx xxxxx, eBay's print label doesn't have space for the xxxxx xxxxx, so I will have to print the number out on a small piece of paper and sticky tape it next to the address. I'll take a photo and I hope it won't get mess up.