Shipping to unconfirmed address

[bj3nnings]

I have just been paid by a ebayer and the address is unconfirmed. The buyer has 4 feedback. Is there anything extra I should/can do to protect myself?

The payment was also made by a non us verified account by someone with the same last name as the buyer. I'm assuming a relative of the buyer paid (seemingly from Asia). The buyer is in Chicago and i'm also from illinois.

[crazymj]

I would recommend contacting paypal before shipping to fully protect yourself if its a transaction over $50. You are only protected under seller protection if you mail to the confirmed shipping address of the payment. I think they offer partial protection but you probably don't want to find out what that really means.
contacting paypal is pretty easy and they're pretty friendly and useful and long as you do everything they say.

[alexlazarevich]

This is confusing. Is the buyer in Asia or in Chicago. This makes a huge difference in how one can protect themselves as a seller.

As far as I know, confirmed or unconfirmed address have nothing to do with whether a seller is protected under PayPal Seller Protection.

For USA transactions under $250, you are protected by PayPal Seller Protection if you:

ship to the PayPal registered address of the buyer
ship the item within 7 days of payment
ship using online delivery confirmation (ship through eBay or PayPal shipping and use DC#)

For USA transactions at $250 or more, you need signature confirmation in addition to the above.

For Intl transactions, the above applies in the same exact way. However, getting online tracking with Intl is much more expensive. It's $30 for USPS Express Mail Envelope, which provides a full tracking number to the buyers doorstep. Most buyers won't pay that delivery cost.

An alternative to USPS Express Mail is USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope, which is ~$15 for items less than $250. But you MUST USE eBay ShipCover insurance as well. Since the package will NOT have a proper DC# that shows delivery to the door, the ShipCover insurance is what covers you should the buyer claim they did not receive the item. ShipCover works. It's worked for me on a $140 card some dingle-berry in Germany said they didn't receive.

As always, for USA and Intl shipments, if the buyer asks you to ship to an address other than the PayPal registered address, then you will lose the "item not received" claim, even if you have a DC# showing delivery to a different address. Always ship to the PayPal address, period. It is very easy for buyers to modify their PayPal to give it a new address, so buyers have no excuse for asking a seller to ship to another address.

Good luck whatever you do.

[dpwoodford]

Confirmed addresses are something of a PITA in Aus. I have had Paypal accounts in both the UK and Denmark, and in both cases my address was easily verified by adding a credit card. Here, even though Paypal have copies of utility bills, bank statement and passport on file, as well as 2 credit cards, they still show my address as unverified.