Buyer purchased item with one address and then changed address when paid for item

[janellehollycat]

Hi - my buyer purchased an item under one address and paid for the item under another address.  I packaged the item under the original address listed on the purchase order/original invoice sent out to the buyer (no I didn't keep a copy) not noticing that there was another address listed when the item was paid for.  Buyer is now being rude and abusive to me saying all my fault, etc.  Has requested a return even though item was actually sent to the original registered ebay address and is in excellent condition and well packaged.  Do I have any legs to stand on here?  I wouldn't have had an issue sending to another address if the buyer had of emailed me but I don't recheck invoices once I've addressed packages - should I?  J 

[digital*ghost]

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@janellehollycat wrote:

 Do I have any legs to stand on here?  

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Sorry, but no. The delivery address for an order is only ever provided when the buyer checks out and pays. It is often the same as their eBay registered address, but it doesn't have to be. 

One common example of why, they are buying a gift and want it sent directly to the recipient - it is no different to someone having a billing address and a delivery address that are not the same (I have a PO box and a street address that I get deliveries sent to, in my case I would be really annoyed if I ordered something large - which I always have sent to my street address - but the seller sent it to my PO box instead, causing me to have to find a way to bring it home).  

What are the details of the return request? Personally, I would accept the return and cover all expenses as while I'm not excusing the buyer for being rude, they are right in that it wasn't their mistake. 

[kopenhagen5]

Well actually it is your fault.

And yes, you need to check the PayPal notification of shipping address.

A seller is supposed to send to the shipping address shown in the PayPal notification.

A buyer can choose and change the postal address in checkout which could be different to the billing address.

It is up to the sender to make sure they are sending to the postal address.

Edit - (waves to DG) 

[paper-jack]

An aside: Whenever I notice the paypal address is different from ebay one, I suggest to the buyer that if it is a gift I could gift wrap it. Have now done this several times, made the buyer happy and helped reduce my stack of gift paper.

[wide-world-of-stamps]

When we first started selling, we would write down the address we received in the sale notification.

Then, when payment was received and there was a different address, we used to worry and contact the buyer to see which one we should post to (we weren't experienced in online shopping at the time).

Now we know to wait until payment is made, and send to the address provided by Paypal.

It's an easy mistake to make for the inexperienced seller, but you've sold quite a bit, so it's surprising that you haven't come across this in the past.

The buyer is in the right in this case, and you'll just have to admit you made a mistake and learn from it for the future.

[janellehollycat]

Thank you all - I have accepted the item return.  I have NOT come across this one before where a buyer chops and changes the address they want the item posted to without telling me first via courtesy email.  It certainly for me is not usual to have different addresses from purchase to posting.  Live and learn something new every day.