Sending to another address - am I covered?

[flubba]

A genuine (as far as I can tell!) buyer is based in Oz but understandably doesn't want to pay the costs involved in sending something overseas (we've emailed back and forth with ways we could get the item to her). She will be in the UK for work in a few weeks' time and we have established that a collection isn't going to work so she's asked if I might be able to send the item (which I would do recorded anyway) to a friend's address in the UK.
Would I be 'covered' to do this, or do I need to insist that her friend buys the item on her behalf so that her address is the one on paypal/ebay to send it to? That seems like the more sensible option but I don't want to be an arse!

[FireOverBabylon]

you wouldn't be covered. either her mate buys the item and the Oz buyer pays her as a seperate transaction between them, or Oz buyer adds her friend's address to her paypal account. either way, don't just send it to a random address.

[flubba]

That's what I thought - will do one of those. Thanks Fire

[fergoose]

no you are not covered - refund her, tell her to add the alternative address as a gift address, then get her to pay again selecting that gift address

then when you send it send with a signature