unpaid item case unfair...

[Anonymous]

Just want to warn buyers about this case.I tried to buy a lounge cover but the seller would not post to a post office box which is my only address as I live on acreage out of town.What made me mad is it,s not until you take the item to checkout to pay,thats when it comes up in red print about po boxes.so,I live out of a country town and dont have anyone else to receive the article,so I tried 3 times for the seller to please cancel.I was totally ignored and they filed an unpaid item case.Do you think that is fair.....now ebay has marked my account.

[digital*ghost]

If you check the postage and payments tab in listings, it will state if the sellers doesn't send to PO boxes (it will always be the last in the list of exclusions when they don't post to them).

Also, if you use the cart, not the "Buy It Now" option, eBay won't even let you check out an item if the seller doesn't post to PO boxes when one is on file as your primary postal address. This option means you can't ever confirm a purchase you can't have sent to you. 

You could have had it shipped to an address the seller would post to, so that's always another option if you find yourself in similar circumstances.

Sellers don't open unpaid item cases to punish buyers, they open them because it ensures they get a credit on the fees eBay already charged them, and prevents both parties from leaving feedback. Many sellers have been exactly where your seller is, complied with requests to cancel, only for the buyer to never respond to the cancellation request and / or leave the seller a negative for their trouble. So, sellers will often void the transaction this way to protect themselves from any more hassles. 

[lyndal1838 · Accepted solution]

You can ring ebay and ask them to remove the strike from your account.

If you explain what happened they will sometimes remove the first strike from an account.

[gutterpunkz05]

Change address to  C/- Post Office Whoop Whoop, instead of PO Box.  From memory the Post Office has to hold it for 30 Days.

[springyzone]

I do think it is unfortunate. This is one case where a seller could possibly give a little bit of leeway. To totally ignore your messages was a bit rude.

I would do as someone else suggested and give ebay a ring to explain and with any luck they may remove the strike. good luck!

One strike alone won't affect you in the least but unfortunately 2 could, and the reality is quite a few sellers do have this rider about not posting to post office boxes. probably best to double check the ads very carefully in future.

[*tippy*toes*]

Probably not fair, but if it's your only strike, it's not going to affect you at all. Why not check to see if your post office does Parcel Collect (you need to sign up to My Post to use it......it's free). That way if you do encounter a seller who won't post to a PO box, it will still be sent to the PO.

[stickerswa]

And also apart from whats been stated already - some sellers use couriers and couriers cant deliver to PO boxes.

Ring ebay and explain. 

[digital*ghost]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

 Why not check to see if your post office does Parcel Collect (you need to sign up to My Post to use it......it's free). That way if you do encounter a seller who won't post to a PO box, it will still be sent to the PO.

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Parcel collect is even more limited than PO boxes. 

Couriers can't deliver to parcel collect addresses, and not even all Aus Post services are eligible to be delivered to Parcel collect addresses. 

[davewil1964]

If, however, the seller is using AP and has arbitrarily blocked PO Boxes because they believe the US-centric hyperbole about the dangers of PO Boxes, then parcel collect will go through. At which point it is in the seller's court as to whether they want to post, and whether they want to suffer any consequences.

[digital*ghost]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

If, however, the seller is using AP and has arbitrarily blocked PO Boxes because they believe the US-centric hyperbole about the dangers of PO Boxes, then parcel collect will go through. At which point it is in the seller's court as to whether they want to post, and whether they want to suffer any consequences.

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What does it matter? There are myriad reasons why a seller blocks PO boxes and it's not safe to assume that a parcel collect address will be ok when a PO box is not. The fact that PO boxes are of certain safety concerns for some sellers (especially if they happen to ship worldwide) is just one of the reasons that has been put forward and discussed in defence of that decision, but no one here could even come close to making an informed estimate at how many sellers actually use that as the basis for such a decision.

Parcel collect (and parcel lockers, because they have the same T&Cs) being offered as the solution to a problem when I know it often creates more was the point of my post. 

ETA: by the way, if sellers are concerned about PO boxes for safety reasons, parcel lockers and parcel collect would definitely be out of the question for them.