Delivery to an address that looks dodgy

[KirstenBlest]

Selling stuff on ebay, I've had more than my fair share of 'items not received', even with tracked items. There seems to be a link between desirability of the brand and the items.

I have just sold an item that is from a recognised brand and the buyer's address is vague. It's a university name and a street name. Not the actual name but something like
St Mary's College
Scamham SC1 2AB

The postcode is just for St Mary's College. All SMC students reside in Halls.

The buyer has 2 positive feedbacks.

If I send it tracked Signed For, maybe a porter will sign for it, but am I leaving myself open to an 'item not received' claim?

Don't they usually provide a photo for proof of delivery?

I'd be reluctant myself, to send it to a university address especially with such low feedback score as well.

I would just cancel the order if the buyer can't produce a valid address.

That sounds like my address at university. It would just be put in a pigeon hole by a porter.

I don't accept buyers who haven't got a decent purchase history. Can't remember the exact setting.

Would the porter sign for it?

Should I ask for confirmation that the buyer won't claim item not received.
It will be fairly obvious from the parcel size what it might be.

The item sold for nearly £100. The buyer paid promptly and has replied to my questions. The smileys were a bit off-putting but I'm from Gen X.

I used to send things to my daughter’s university college. They would be signed for by the Porter who would then email my dd to say that the parcel had arrived. Seemed pretty secure and nothing ever went missing.

Used to work in the post room of a uni. I signed for tons of deliveries from various companies and they went into separate pigeon holes and then they were delivered to the students if they weren't in a message was left for them to come and collect

I work at a university where students gets all deliveries to a main address and then collect from "goods in". That's around 3,000 students with the exact same address.

Tracked and signed should be alright.

I always get anxious at new ebayers even though 99% of the time it's fine.
Good luck!

Thanks.

My worry is mainly based on that the item fits perfectly with the 'well-known brand' likely to attract CFs.

Why don't you message the buyer to double check?

Summer Term is finished in most universities now. That alone would make me suspicious .

Get insurance?

At the university where I work, "term" finishes on 31st august. It doesn't finish at all for Phd Students.

@BlueBlueBerries , I had already done so.
@Theunamedcat , the Royal Mail 'Signed For' includes insurance. The issue is more that if the tracking doesn't show it as delivered for some reason, I can't claim.

My son has another two weeks left, as do most of his friends.

Not that he's done any work for several weeks so I can see some students coming home rather than partying endlessly.

I went to a university (and 2 of my nephews then went to the same one) where summer term finished around 18th June because we started at the end of September.

At my previous university we started at the beginning of September so finished at beginning of June.

However at both universities postgraduates were there all year round. Masters students and some PhD students, particularly first year ones, lived in halls.

Can you phone the university to clarify what their system is?

It isn’t finished at a lot of universities, many students are also in halls until late July as this is when private rentals typically start. Those studying medicine and those doing phds will be at university until August and some will be on placement in August.

I cancelled the order.

Here's a summary of the issues:

• Buyer name and 'deliver to' name quite different
• Item was for a woman, 'deliver to' was a man's name
• No house address, just an organisation
• Very little feedback

Thanks for your help. Much appreciated!