Another Amazon selling question...

[violingal3]

Every now and then I'll get a funny address or name and I'll contact the buyer just to double check. This happened to me once before and I didn't hear back, so I cancelled the order. I'm in the same boat right now, and although it checks out as a legit address (although all formatting, punctuation, capitalization was wrong - looked like a kindergartener typed it up) the name is weird (it isn't a name, I have no idea what it is - lol), my gut told me to just double check with the buyer rather than assume the correct address for myself. So far crickets... If you don't hear back, do you go ahead and ship or cancel?

[pcdoctor01]

I'm normally the seller not the buyer. I only buy if the seller has a 99% of 100% rating. Once I bought a DVD from a seller who said the the DVD was like new. When I got the previously viewed DVD, it looked like a Blockbuster rental that had been rented 30 times. I gave him a poor rating. Go with your gut or if you can purchase the item from Amazon as new do that instead if you are scared. Maybe the person is too busy to check his or her email.

[sheepla]

I never pay any attention to the address. I just print out the mailing label and ship. Never had anything come back. Keep in mind that a lot of people don't speak English as their first language which could explain the formatting, punctuation etc. issues.

[txhsmom]

I have had this happen several times. It's very frustrating -what's up with people who don't check their email???!!!

If you search for answers to your question over on the sellers forum, I believe you'll find that most feel your obligation as a seller is just to ship the item to the address given - no questions asked. And if the post office can't deliver your package because the address is bad, as the seller you will get to eat the loss. Some of the sellers over there are quite obnoxious about this and act like you are just stupid if you question an address. I've seen sellers advise you to go ahead and ship to a prison, even though the prison or jail regulations (posted on-line) clearly state that packages from third party sellers on Amazon will not be delivered and will be thrown in the trash. And in that case, I lose the item and can't get a refund from the buyer because they didn't receive it - it makes no sense!

I'm a small seller - I just sell things from my personal collection - and I'm more like you. If the buyer doesn't give me a last name and they are obviously living in an apartment complex, I'll try to get a last name from them. If my mailing program spits out their address because they didn't give me a street direction and one is needed, I'll email them for clarification. Most of the time, I don't get a response. It's very frustrating. I have cancelled orders for that reason, but Amazon will count that against your "metrics" and if you have too many cancellations, supposedly Amazon will suspend your seller account. And beware, a buyer can still rate the transaction if you cancel. The only bad rating I ever got was from a cancelled transaction, and the irritating thing was that I cancelled it quickly (I couldn't find the item), emailed the buyer quickly and of course, they got all their money back. Still I got a bad rating.

The perils of selling on Amazon - it's enough to make you not do it. Amazon will never take the seller's side on an issue.

Carol

[sherry7899]

As a seller, you are only allowed to ship the item to the address that the buyer has listed on their account. You are not supposed to make any changes to it, even if it looks odd. My DH sells on Amazon, and I had contacted Amazon with a question about an address that looked off, and that is what I was told.

Sherry

[Taramisu]

I usually just send to the shipping address on the order, I assume that the buyer knows what they are doing. If not, they shouldn't be ordering.

I did have an interesting situation not that long ago, I received notification that I sold a VHS and the shipping address was different that the buyer address, no big deal.

I received a message from the buyer requesting that I do not include the packing slip in with the order, fine no big deal. I figured he was buying a video for a friend or something and having me ship it to them. I responded and said I can do that no problem.

He messages back and says thanks, and explains that this person bought this VHS from his Amazon store and when he went to retrieve it off the shelf it wasn't there. Instead of being honest with his customer and saying that he didn't have the product and just cancelling the order (which is what I would have done). He orders it from someone else and requests it be shipped to them. I sold this item for $1 (it was a Denise Austin VHS). He basically admits that he sells his VHS at a minimum of $2.99, so he likely priced his item much higher and when he discovered he didn't have it he goes and buys it cheaply from someone else and still maintains his profit.

Finally, in order for me to receive the highest feedback possible, he requests that I put his shipping address on this package instead of mine. By the time I learned this I had already packed it up, so I wasted a mailer which I guess isn't a huge deal but by this point I was annoyed and nearly told the guy off and cancelled the order. But I didn't want my feedback rating dinged, so I complied with his request.

All this for a $1 VHS. Normally I don't have issues with selling on Amazon, but my thought is to sell off the last of my stuff I want to sell and just quit doing it. In some ways it's becoming a nuisance.

Sorry...I derailed from the original topic a bit, but just thought I would share.

BTW...he never did leave me any feedback.

[violingal3]

Originally Posted by txhsmom

Some of the sellers over there are quite obnoxious about this and act like you are just stupid if you question an address.

I'm a small seller - I just sell things from my personal collection - and I'm more like you. If the buyer doesn't give me a last name and they are obviously living in an apartment complex, I'll try to get a last name from them.

Yes, I checked the Amazon seller forums and couldn't believe some of the rude responses! That's why I posted here.

I don't know, I could just send it with the label but my gut just tells me to cancel.