Buyer changed addresses after I shipped her order

Hello!

I recently sold an item and sent it out the next day. That evening I had a message from the buyer, saying she had changed addresses to flee domestic abuse.

Now I have been told that her item hasnâ€™t arrived and she wants a refund. As she hasnâ€™t been at the address I sent the order to, Iâ€™m not surprised she hasnâ€™t received it. Do I still need to refund her?
Your advice is appreciated!

rog-130455

5 View listings

Posted 2 years ago·Last reply 2 years ago

9 comments

janet9988

·2 years ago

127 View listings

If no case was opened then you can refund as problem with the buyers address.

soh.maryl

·2 years ago

110 View listings

Did you ask this buyer if she had filed a change of address request form with her (former) local post office?

rog-130455

OP2 years ago

5 View listings

Thank you all so much for your advice! Guess I made a silly mistake. Iâ€™ll always go for the order tracking option in future!

wastingtime101

·2 years ago

0 View listings

First make sure the ID of the person messaging you matches the ID of your buyer. If the IDs don't match, report the message and don't respond.

If your actual buyer files a non-receipt claim, confirm tracking in the claim then in 3 days you can ask eBay to step in and get the claim closed in your favor.

What does tracking show - where is the package now? If it's eventually returned, you can elect to send the buyer a partial refund less shipping/fees if you like. See below for more info.

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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

coastaltechsolution

·2 years ago

1132 View listings

The OP stated no tracking was added, maybe standard envelope?

The OP is un the UK so not sure if that matters

wastingtime101

·2 years ago

0 View listings

@coastaltechsolution wrote:
The OP stated no tracking was added,

Yeah, that post went up while I was writing my reply so I didn't see it.

Here on .com @rog-130455 you need tracking to have seller protections on a non-receipt claim. If your item was listed and sold on .co.uk you should check the UK site policy or perhaps post your question on the community.ebay.co.uk discussion forum.

I checked the UK help pages and it seems the policy there is similar to the one here.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-protections?id=4345

If a buyer reports that an item hasn't arrived

If you send an item within your stated dispatch time, and you upload tracking information before the estimated delivery date that shows evidence of successful delivery, you're protected.