to think this is eBay's responsibility?

[CoolToned]

I sold an item on eBay and eBay sent me a notification containing the buyer's postal address.

After the buyer paid, I sent the item to such address.

As it turned out, the buyer's Paypal's address is different to eBay's notification.

Now I sent eBay the notification as a proof and eBay said I should have checked the Paypal address if it matches with eBay's.

I don't think this is my fault? Shouldn't eBay be responsible for consistency of information?

They always tell you to send to the PayPal address. Look on it as a lesson learned for next time.

It's your fault for not double checking

Wouldn't it be the buyers responsibility to make sure both their and PayPal addresses match? Is the address their old one? Can they not go and ask for the parcel?

The notification did not state it should be sent to the Paypal address. I sent it to the address stated in the notification. This was what it said"

--

Dear *

Congratulations, your item sold. Please post this item to the buyer within 3 business day(s) after your buyer pays.

Complete one of the following:
Print a postage label. Print and pay for your postage labels on eBay. Access reduced rates on some postage services-plus tracking information is automatically uploaded.
Provide postage and tracking information. When you upload tracking information to eBay, we’ll let your buyer know the item’s on its way. This will save you time, and may result in fewer buyer questions and higher detailed seller ratings.
Mark your item as sent in My eBay. Once done, we’ll let your buyer know the item’s on its way. This will save you time, and may result in fewer buyer questions and higher detailed seller ratings.
You should always leave feedback for your buyer to encourage them to buy from you again.

G
G
Sale price:
Quantity: 1
Quantity sold: 1
Quantity remaining: 0
Buyer:
* [contact buyer]
Buyer's postal address:
*
Avenue

***

Their eBay*

Always use the paypal address, that one will be verified (it will say this) IF addresses are different then check with the buyer.
Ebay will only side with you if you use the paypal address.
I once bought an item and for some reason the seller sent it to an old address, must have been somewhere on ebay/paypal but it was not the verified address, I got refunded much to the sellers disgust!

So you think eBay should make sure every buyer updates their address on both sites, even though they are separate entities?

Do you think other websites that use PayPal should do that too?

Did you send it using tracked postage?

It's made plain on eBay and PayPal that you send to the PayPal address. Everyone else here is aware of that so it must be common knowledge. Sorry but you're responsible.

The eBay notification shouldn't contain an address. That would solve this issue.

(I think data protection would have something to say about sharing information that way fwiw)

I don't sell a lot on eBay, but I think I would send to the address that is on the eBay email. I would go to eBay, sold items, view invoice/payment details.

FATEDestiny - yes it has a tracking, but I did not insure it.

If it should be sent to the Paypal address, shouldn't eBay's email NOT contain an address named "Buyer's Postal Address"? I mean, if they can't make sure everything is consistent.

Tracking is irrelevant. You didn't send it to the PayPal address, which is made quite clear when selling, even if you've missed it.

Tigger - Well I sent it to the address eBay provided in the notification clearly titled "Buyer's Postal Address".

I think since eBay is profiting from the transactions, they should make sure everything is consistent, and that they do not provide an address that is incorrect.

Contact ebay again and kick up a fuss. I would of course follow the instructions on the notification email where it says 'post to this address', especially where it gives you the option to print postage labels. Who wouldn't? Otherwise, it should be the buyer's responsibility to update ebay with the correct address.

Also, I had a related problem a few months back. Ordered online from a company that I had used before so they had stored my info. However, I had moved since I last shopped there. I had updated paypal but the company sent it to my old address as that was stored on their database. It was deemed to be entirely my fault/responsibility for not updating my address. Luckily the new tenant in my old place took the package in and I got it no problem.

Also it would NOT be hard for ebay to ensure that the addresses sync- it's not like they have to do it manually. They can just import the information from PayPal. Really bad form of ebay and I would definitely keep complaining.

thisisafakename - exactly. It was eBay's instructions contained in an email that I followed.

Tracking is relevant Tigger. If a seller chooses not to send items tracked then it makes no difference which address you send to.

OP - you should send to the PayPal address and you should already know that. But eBay need to sort out that buyers addressing the notification email. I wish they'd remove it altogether.

FATEdestiny - I actually always send to the eBay address because I just assumed all addresses should be consistent. From now on, I will check just to make sure, but I still think the address inconsistency is the eBay user's responsibility. eBay, as the platform used, profits from the transactions and it should be their responsibility.

I have sold through ebay and have always just followed the notification email. I have NOT been told to log in to Paypal separately and check the address (surely that could be the billing address anyway and not the same as the delivery address). If that's the case, ebay do not make it sufficiently clear and should not notify people with the message 'post the item to the following address'. Ridiculous.

thisisafakename - seller was at fault completely and PayPal/eBay would have found in your favour if you needed to dispute the payment. Luckily you didn't because of the lovely new tenant though.

eBay didn't sync info on its PayPal even when they were the same company. Now the two are different companies they would not be allowed to sync information because of data protection.

In that case, eBay should NOT send notification email containing the "Buyer's Postal Address"

Absolutely they shouldn't.

I assume eBay send the buyers address because not all transaction are paid for by PayPal. But I think they could develop the back-office capacity to send a separate email within address (from eBay) only for transaction not paid for using PayPal.

Tracking is relevant Tigger. If a seller chooses not to send items tracked then it makes no difference which address you send to.
Tracking is irrelevant in this case as whether they accept it or not, seller has posted to an incorrect address.