Buyer address change

My buyer changed her address long before she made a purchase from me. She was able to see the change on her end but the shipping label reflected her old address. I shipped the item via ebay usps unaware that the address was incorrect and of course it was returned to me. I'd really like to help this person out but I don't want to cover the shipping for a new label. (She got the item for a steal a leather satchel and has some weight, otherwise i would just suck up the cost but i already lost on this purchase). Is there anything ebay would do that I can direct her to? We've been messaging all along and would really like to get the bag to her.

retro-licious

60 View listings

Posted 2 years ago · Edited 2 years ago·Last reply 2 years ago

8 comments

retro_licious

·2 years ago

829 View listings

Why wouldn't I refund her the shipping? I don't want to make $ nor lose $. Would I be penalized or does ebay look at this negatively in any way if I cancel?

pcmwire

·2 years ago

12984 View listings

@retro_licious wrote:
Why wouldn't I refund her the shipping? I don't want to make $ nor lose $. Would I be penalized or does ebay look at this negatively in any way if I cancel?

We have found these policies to work best for us:

We only ship to the address that is provided by the buyer when buyer checks out through eBay. We use Pirate Ship and the shipping address is actually not even able to be edited in that shipping flow (if you want to ship to a different address you have to create a shipping label from scratch).

If they contact us to change shipping address, we explain that we have to cancel order and they have to re-purchase. Never change the shipping address after buyer has checked out as you lose eBay seller protection.

If the package gets returned to us for any reason (incorrect address, return to sender, refused delivery, etc) we treat it as a return and give refund. You can cancel and refund with reason as "problem with buyer's address." eBay doesn't penalize you for this. We then contact buyer to explain that the package was returned and the buyer can re-purchase if buyer still wants the item.

As for shipping refund, that is up to you. You have already paid for the shipping cost, so refunding less your shipping cost would be an option. Or you can refund the entire amount.

eBay doesn't look at this type of order cancellation negatively if it's a one-off. If you do it habitually that can raise flags with them.

wastingtime101

·2 years ago

0 View listings

@retro_licious wrote:
Why wouldn't I refund her the shipping? I don't want to make $ nor lose $. Would I be penalized or does ebay look at this negatively in any way if I cancel?

So you don't lose money and because it was the buyer's error. If you prefer to take the loss on shipping, then go ahead and refund buyer in full. See my above post for options regarding cancellation reason that will not cause harm to your account.

wastingtime101

·2 years ago

0 View listings

I found a couple min to glance over your sold listings. The leather satchel sold May 11th which was well past the tech issue referenced above, therefore standard policies apply. Buyer lost their MBG protection when they provided an invalid address. Steps outlined in my previous post offer several options for handling the situation.

lacemaker3

·2 years ago

4, 3, 2, 1 ... Earth below us, drifting, falling ... Floating weightless, calling, calling ...690 View listings

@retro-licious,

Depending on when you shipped the package, there was a glitch reported last month, where eBay was providing old, long-deleted shipping addresses instead of the buyer's current shipping address to the sellers. So eBay acknowledged that they were giving sellers the wrong shipping addresses. Both you and your buyer should be protected from loss in this situation.

You should contact eBay customer service, and give them the ticket number shown in this thread, if your package was mailed in the time frame described. They should be able to tell if your issue was caused by eBay's glitch or buyer error.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Report-eBay-Technical-Issues/APP-Keeps-Changing-My-Shipping-Address-To-My-Home-Address/m-p/34417513#M125533

wastingtime101

·2 years ago

0 View listings

@lacemaker3 wrote:
@retro-licious,

Depending on when you shipped the package, there was a glitch reported last month, where eBay was providing old, long-deleted shipping addresses instead of the buyer's current shipping address to the sellers. So eBay acknowledged that they were giving sellers the wrong shipping addresses. Both you and your buyer should be protected from loss in this situation.

You should contact eBay customer service, and give them the ticket number shown in this thread, if your package was mailed in the time frame described. They should be able to tell if your issue was caused by eBay's glitch or buyer error.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Report-eBay-Technical-Issues/APP-Keeps-Changing-My-Shipping-Address-To-My-Home-Address/m-p/34417513#M125533

Adding on - that bug was specific to purchases by some iOS app users from April 7th for about a week and a half before it was resolved. eBay emailed affected sellers so if the seller did not get one of those emails then this situation probably does not apply. But check the dates anyway just to make sure.

If this was not part of that issue @retro-licious , then as others said above, eBay will say the buyer had the opportunity to view the address on the checkout page before paying, and they also would have been notified by email when the tracking number was generated and that email tells them where the item is shipping. They could have contacted you that day to see if you were still able to retrieve the package before it was in the carrier's hands.

You did confirm you shipped to the address on the order, yes?

One semi-common error I've seen is where buyers add a new shipping address to their account, but they do not make it the default and delete their old address. When they purchase the system pulls their old default address instead of the new one. Or they update their registration address, but not their shipping address and those are different fields on eBay.

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Buyers are not covered by eBay's MBG when they provide an invalid address at checkout. 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

mybigsale

·2 years ago

1110 View listings

@retro-licious

I believe eBay's response would be you shipped to the address the buyer provided. Buyers can see and change the shipping address at time of purchase.

I understand you have discussed and accepted the buyer's claim that it was eBay's fault. eBay will most likely take position that this is buyer error.

1. If you believe this was eBay's (=seller's) error, you need to reship at your expense

otherwise:

2. Have buyer send you payment for shipping (PayPal or another method) and reship

3. Cancel/Refund Order and relist so buyer can repurchase with correct address.

soh.maryl

·2 years ago

110 View listings

When any buyer makes a purchase, the shipping address on file for that buyer with eBay is shown to the buyer and the buyer has the opportunity to change it before paying.

There is nothing that you can direct her to other than that, if she wants it, she will need to pay you to reship it. The mistake here was hers, not yours, not eBay's. If she does not want to do that, you can refund her minus the shipping cost.