Return to Sender

I shipped an item and two days later the buyer messaged me asking why I sent the item to his old address. I informed him that has nothing to do with me and that his old address must be his current address on Ebay, which it was. The item came back to me today Return to Sender and the buyer still wants the item. Is there a way to ship the item again without having to pay for it which I'm assuming there is not, or is there a way for me to charge the buyer and additional shipping fee to resend it? Thank you!

liamslostandfound

1285 View listings

Posted 1 year ago·Last reply 1 year ago

5 comments

inhawaii

·1 year ago

Ebay's most handsome seller.4852 View listings

What I would do...

Refund the buyer LESS SHIPPING.

Re-list the item.

If the buyer still wants the item he may buy it again.

This time make sure the buyer updates his address with ebay BEFORE purchasing again.

wastingtime101

·1 year ago

0 View listings

@liamslostandfound

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 final value 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. Use PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, etc. This is post-sale so it's OK to exchange email and phone. It's also OK to ship to a different address because it's technically not tied to the original transaction. You will not purchase the shipping label through eBay or upload tracking to the original transaction. You will purchase the label from an alternate site like pirateship.com 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 in the services category, bumping it up to factor in eBay fees, and have the buyer purchase it, entering their correct address at checkout. You can purchase a shipping label through eBay for that transaction.

You can cancel the transaction selecting the reason problem with buyer's address which will trigger a full refund to the buyer and your final value fees will be credited.

You can do nothing. The buyer's Money Back Guarantee protection is voided when there's a package delivery attempt to the address on the order. 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

turtles-trading-post

·1 year ago

5955 View listings

I just had one of those! Buyer placed 3 orders a week apart. Right after I sent the third one, order 1 comes back after 3 weeks as undeliverable. I sent the buyer a message and got no response. USPS has been doing that a lot lately with legit addresses so I popped it back in the mail again. Second and third one come back in due time. I send buyer another message with no response. Then the first one comes back after two round trips. I check on the buyer again and now he has changed his address! I put all 3 orders in one envelope and sent it all to the new address. Buyer can now see the mess he caused.

reallynicestamps

·1 year ago

2473 View listings

EBay's policy is that you don't owe the buyer a single penny for an Undeliverable shipment.

It is the Buyer's responsibility to see that their address is up to date.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210#specialcoverage-inr

Now.

Most sellers would refund the Buyer the purchase price, but not the shipping, their fees, return shipping costs,or anything else they may have been charged from the Buyer's payment.

In your situation, your Best Practise would be to give the Buyer to cost for reshipping and ask them to pay it again to your Paypal account after they correct the address with eBay.
You can give the PP address in your Message because you are in a transaction.

When the shipping is paid, ship to the corrected address.

If he doesn't pay the new shipping charge, do not ship.
It's up to you whether your refund anything. EBay will be on your side.

simba6

·1 year ago

2306 View listings

The buyer could send you the payment for shipping through paypal. It would be better to cancel the sale choose reason problem with address and let them purchase it again. That would keep you within eBay rules.