What do you do about items returned to you for bad address?

[wileycat66]

I had a book returned to me for a non-address type of issue. (Maybe the house was torn down, so undeliverable.) I had to pay for the return shipping. 

I offered free shipping. 

Would you try and collect money to resend outside of ebay?

Would you refund minus original and return shipping and tell him to rebuy? 

Or would you kindly eat the return shipping, refund minus original shipping and tell him to rebuy? 

The book was only like $16. 

Thank you. 

[tree*fern]

Hi @wileycat66  Refund the buyer minus original and return shipping. Message the buyer and explain why USPS returned the book: USPS did their part and tried to deliver, so they won't refund the shipping cost.

Since this means a money loss for the buyer, I wouldn't let them buy again. Put them on your blocked bidder list. 

[wileycat66]

Thank you! This is what I was leaning towards.  I don't want to go around and around with emails, pay pal invoice for shipping cost, and then typing out my own label to pay at the post office since you can't really buy Media Mail on USPS site. 

[tree*fern]

@wileycat66  You're welcome! 

[disneyshopper]

Instead of using media mail, compare with ground advantage.  If the item gets returned, you do not need to pay for return shipping if there is a problem with the address, as you do with media mail.

[wileycat66]

Book rate is cheaper, but that could have been a solution for reshipping this if she wanted to pay for that.  Thank you!  I just refunded. 

[wileycat66]

I suppose if they leave me negative feedback, I can dispute this sort of thing with ebay?  I also resisted the book and raised the price of it since it was selling better than I thought. Put them on block list. Feel bad, though. 

[tree*fern]

@wileycat66  If they leave you negative feedback, you could try asking for removal, but unlikely they would unless the comment violates policy (e.g., expletives). Wait until removal is denied, then leave a calm, professional reply to the feedback saying the buyer didn't provide the right shipping address. I've sold books here for many years, and get maybe one of these per year; no one has ever left negative/neutral feedback for it.

[wileycat66]

Thanks again! I have had a couple of these and usually the buyer isn't even communicative about it all. Strange.

Ebay and Pay Pal also make it a lot easier for people to see which address the item is going to.  I am glad, because I've done the wrong address thing by accident on my end years ago. 

[tree*fern]

@disneyshopper  @wileycat66  Yes, for low-cost books you'd take a small loss when the total amount buyer paid wouldn't cover item cost refund minus original and return shipping.

But charging Ground Advantage instead of Media Mail would have an impact on book sales and profit margins. It's a category where small sellers are competing with huge, high-volume warehouse sellers who sell books + free shipping at less than just the cost of Media Mail for the rest of us (I sell mostly books).

Before changing to Ground Advantage, I'd suggest evaluating the cost of small losses from infrequent undeliverable returns vs. the impact that higher shipping will have on sales.