Can I manually add PO Box to an already purchased and printed shipping label?
Summary: harhir encountered an issue with a buyer whose address requires shipping to a PO Box, which wasn't reflected on the USPS label. albertabrightalberta and thriftyfiftyfifty advised against manually altering the label, recommending instead to cancel the transaction due to address issues, allow the buyer to update their address, and repurchase the item. ryry-jj noted the importance of cancelling the label for a refund. harhir followed the advice, cancelling the order and informing the buyer to adjust their shipping details or select a different carrier.
I have a buyer who selected USPS Ground Advantage but realized that USPS cannot ship to his physical address stored on EBay but only to a PO BOX which of course is not on the physical shipping label. According to him only UPS and FedEx can ship to his address but USPS cannot ship to his address but only ship to a PO Box.
I already purchased and printed the shipping label before he contacted me.
Can I add the PO BOX manually to the shipping label or do I need to cancel the shipping label and have him select another carrier or change his address to the PO Box? Thanks
harhir
OP3 weeks agoThanks everyone. I have cancelled the order and let they buyer know to either change the carrier or change their address to a PO Box when using USPS.
albertabrightalberta
·3 weeks ago@harhir
A buyer CANNOT change the carrier unless you offer different shipping choices.
I looked at your listings and you only offer USPS ground advantage so the buyer needs to use a shipping address to which the post office will deliver.
ryry-jj
·3 weeks ago · EditedAlso when you cancel, since you already paid and printed the label, you need to cancel that as well to get refunded. You can cancel the transaction as "problem with buyers address" without issue.
You can also just ship the order, see what happens, if it is returned to you, the just refund less shipping to get your USPS label cost coverd. By shipping it, yes, it will cost the buyer the postage..otherwise you need to do all the cancelling and refunding and the label refund you may not see for 30 days. But do not change the label as mentioned by others
thriftyfiftyfifty
·3 weeks ago@harhir Honestly you're playing with fire on that one by writing in anything on the Label. Probably won't even matter because USPS will use Scans from the original label (rather than visual looking) to determine where the Package is going. If by a slim and odd chance they DO allow it to go to the handwritten PO Box, an Item Not Received Case is probably coming your way due to the actual address on the Order. Always put the ONUS back on the Buyer and Cancel/Repurchase properly.
albertabrightalberta
·3 weeks agoI don't think the p.o. will recognize the handwritten addition on a p.o. box to the label.
This is what I'd do. I'd let the buyer know that you will cancel the transaction as a problem with the address and issue a refund. (The refund is automatic with the cancellation but the funds for the refund will come from your backup source unless you already have money in your account.)
Let the buyer know you'll relist the item and they can repurchase, adding the p.o. box to their shipping address before submitting the order.
I believe they can have both the physical address and the p.o. box on the label and USPS will deliver to the appropriate one.