Confirming/verifying a buyers foreign address with Paypal

Pinkcoke

Pinkcoke

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I have just sold a pair of shoes on Etsy to a buyer in Turkey and discovered from my Paypal e-mail that their address is not confirmed. I read online that confirmation is not available for countries outside of the UK, US and selected others but I'm not able to find informtion about this on the Paypal website or forum.
There seems to be a system of verification by phone & post but they require a UK bank account.
I also cannot conform to Paypal requirements for protection eligibility by sending the item tracked as Royal Mail only offer tracking within the UK and even when signed for you cannot see a copy of the signature. (at this point I fail to see the reason for internation signed for...)
This leaves me un-protected against 'item not received' claims.

Do you know of a way my buyer can confirm their address with Paypal?
 
I've always taken international posting as a bit of an act of faith, especially to certain countries. If it doesn't arrive you can claim compensation from Royal Mail, rather than paypal, up to £46, or you can pay extra for higher compensation, up to £500. I've never had to claim, I have heard it's a bit of long process. Airsure (rather than International Signed For) is fully tracked, but only available to certain countries (not Turkey), and I always use it if available. With International Signed for, although you can't see the signature, I think you still get proof it's been delivered, via the Royal Mail website?

An alternative is to use a tracked courier service, rather than Royal Mail, but they are more expensive. Have you looked at parcel2go.com?

Personally, I don't get concerned about whether the address is paypal verified. I am prepared that I might take the occasional loss on international posting, in return for the earnings from international sales. I am willing to refund the buyer and claim through Royal Mail. But I haven't ever lost anything, so I might be less sanguine if it happens.

What postal service I choose depends both on the value of the item and what I know about the postal service in the destination country (for instance Poland's has a bad reputation). With low value items I have used regular Airmail to many countries, to keep costs reasonable for the buyer, and as I said, I've never lost anything, nor had anyone claim non-receipt.

Ruth
 
Thanks for that Ruth,

I don't think I've lost anything before, rather when I used to use ebay people would claim non-receipt. This is the first non-eu country I've sent something to so thought I would look into it. I would like to send items abroad.

I gave the buyer the option of signed for postage (approx £11) or standard airmail and she said she would take the latter at her own risk. I hope it gets there ok!

It's good to hear about Poland - I've yet to learn about most countries' postal reputations.
 
Yes, I thought you were probably worried about a claim of non-receipt rather than actual non-receipt. I take the same attitude really, I would treat the claim as genuine, refund and claim compensation. But if I suspect they are pulling a fast one, won't sell to them again.

As far as I know you can claim the same compensation with regular Airmail, you just need proof of posting (which you should always get, I assume you know).

I learnt about Poland on ebay boards - and that is EU. Italy too I've heard people having problems with, but I've sent several things there and been fine. EU or non-EU is less the problem than the likelihood of theft or loss by postal workers in a particular country. But then I've had that happen to my credit cards, in England!

I too want to keep sending internationally - I just try not to sweat it too much.
 
Yes I do always get POP but I preferred it when they had certificates on which you wrote the full address, rather than the printed receipts now which only show the house no. and postcode that they enter.
I have had them enter the address wrongly before and this would stand as the address you supplied and which now needs checking after every parcel at the post office.

I don't know what will appear on the proof receipt for this as the address is so foreign looking- it's full of numbers.

talking about theft by postal worker, recently I had a recorded parcel for myself not arrive and when checking online it had been signed for by an unknown person and accepted! When I called up and notified Royal Mail the parcel miraculously appeared at my house with no explanation as to why they let somebody else sign for it or where it went!
My suspicion is that the postman thought it was valuable (it wasn't; but may well have looked like a wrapped mobile) or didn't want to leave a card, signed for it and dropped it off when he was investigated. Some service!
 
Who knows! Recorded doesn't have to be signed for by the addressee, I often sign for my neighbours things and vice versa, but then I trust my neighbours. Certainly theft by postal workers happens. A few years ago my local sorting office was infiltrated by a Nigerian criminal gang (seriously! an undercover reporter got wind and went in too, and there was a TV expose of it). My bank cards were intercepted, then they waited for the PIN number sent separately a week later, and cleared out my bank account. Fortunately the bank covered all the loss.

That's why I take sending by any postal service as a act of faith!
 
I have been selling on ebay for some years - not regularly, but I dealed a bit in Barbie dolls and doll accessories some time, and every now and then I still have something that I sell on ebay, and I have never had any problems with verified or non-verified Paypal addresses or sending to "strange" countries - but am keeping my fingers crossed - I guess you can never been entirely sure. Generally, I send my stuff everywhwere. Swiss post is so expensive though, that people usually opt for the least expensive mode of shipping, which is without tracking etc. I have also bought from some sellers in unusual locations, and everything has always arrived.

However, my mom has a penfriend in South Africa and she has been telling me for years what she has to do when she sends her a parcel. It seems that, sadly, theft by employees of the postal service is a problem there...

Karin
 
I previously spoke with pay pal regarding foriegn customers confirming their addresses just recently when my buyer's address was not confirmed. I was told that only the US, UK, and Canada can confirm their addresses via computer at this time.

I was also told that there is a way for members in other countries to confirm their addresses that would involve a written documentation but that it was a long process.

So when members do not have their addresses confirmed we are only partially eligible for protection.

However, If the member says they did not receive their item but confirms the ship to address was correct and delivery confirmation shows that it was delivered to the address it was supposed to it voids the possibility for an item not received case unless the item is over $250.
In the case that it is over $250 a signature is required to be protected. There is a track n trace website where a signature from customs may be obtained to show proof of delivery. The track n trace website shows results from most countries.

This all depends on method of shipping. If the shipping method is not one with delivery confirmation then you cannot confirm the delivery.

It is safer to offer international shipping with delivery confirmation.

Caryn
 
I think the simplest thing would be to ask a photo of the identity card. The name/address has to be the same with that of the paypal account.
Till now I had no problems with ebay parcels, I always received everything.
 
I wouldn't go that far: I very much doubt anybody would send another person online a photo of their identity card. I certainly wouldn't.
 
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