Shipping address not recognized by USPS

[green22-half]

Address provided by buyer isn't recognized by USPS.  The address is valid on Google Maps (Street View), showing the residence and street number on it. Image was taken August 2019.

Postal clerk said they occasionally get unrecognized addresses, and that delivery would be attempted.

I shipped the item anyway, based on the buyer's extensive and spotless purchase history.

Should I have held the item?  Do I have any recourse (re postage refund) if it's returned as non-deliverable?  Any other risks?

[wastingtime101]

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@green22-half wrote:

Do I have any recourse (re postage refund) if it's returned as non-deliverable?

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This is my standard advice for RTS (returned to sender) packages. Take the parts that are relevant to your situation.

You have a few options. You should decide which route you'll be taking and communicate with the buyer, but wait until the item is returned (and delivered) to you before you take any of the following actions.

• You can refund the buyer the item cost minus original shipping and minus a portion of your eBay fees (fee credits are prorated on a partial refund so you won't get back fees on the shipping amount you withhold). Go to your orders page, find the transaction and select "send refund." On the next page enter the amount. After that, relist the item and if you still want to work with this buyer you can tell them to repurchase it with the correct name/address.
• Have the buyer sort out their address issue then pay for re-shipping. Send them an invoice through PayPal or give them your PayPal e-mail. This is post-sale so it's OK to exchange e-mail addresses. It's also OK to ship to a different address because it's technically not tied to the original transaction. You would not purchase the shipping label through eBay or upload tracking to the transaction. You would purchase it from an alternate site like pirateship.com or paypal.com/shipnow and you can send the buyer the new tracking # through e-mail or eBay messages.
• A different way to accomplish buyer payment for re-shipping is to create an eBay listing for the shipping cost (bumping it up to factor in eBay fees) and having the buyer purchase it, entering their correct address at checkout. You could purchase a shipping label through eBay for that transaction.
• You can cancel the transaction "problem with address" which will trigger a full refund to the buyer and your FVF would be credited.
• You can do nothing. The buyer's MBG protection is voided when there's a package delivery attempt. I don't recommend this because even though you'll win an INR (item not received) claim on eBay, there's nothing stopping that buyer from going to their credit card to file a dispute and why deal with all that? I also think handling it before it gets to this stage with a partial refund is the "right" thing to do if you're not going to make reshipping arrangements.
• You might also want to direct the buyer to this page so their address is updated for future purchases: Account Settings: Addresses

[richard1rst]

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@green22-half wrote:

Address provided by buyer isn't recognized by USPS.  The address is valid on Google Maps (Street View), showing the residence and street number on it. Image was taken August 2019.

Postal clerk said they occasionally get unrecognized addresses, and that delivery would be attempted.

I shipped the item anyway, based on the buyer's extensive and spotless purchase history.

Should I have held the item?  Do I have any recourse (re postage refund) if it's returned as non-deliverable?  Any other risks?

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"Unrecognized" on postal lingo may not mean what you thinks.

For example the post office wants Saint Louis not St Louis. On the other hand they want St Augustine not Saint Augustine. So according the the PO computer half of those addresses are wrong.

I used to live in Boston in an area called Hyde Park. Everyone calls it Hyde Park. Yet the post office computer wants it addressed to Matapan to the point that it says Names to be avoided - Hyde Park. (even though to a Bostonian Matapan is an entirely different neighbor hood.)

Next time you get an "unrecognized" go the usps.com, click on find zip code then select find city by zip code and work backwards. You may find one of the above or who knows what else.