Package Returned For Insufficient Address

There is always a first time. I had a package with free shipping come back yesterday with â€œInsufficient Addressâ€ on itâ€¦it was a mobile home park, and there was no Lot number. It was over $5.00 to ship this. I messaged the buyer yesterday and did not get a response.

It was a 0 feedback buyer..probably new. I plan to wait a couple more days, but my question is..I donâ€™t think I should have to refund the $5.21 since it was the customer who didnâ€™t provide the correct address. Also if they do contact me I donâ€™t think I should have to pay that again..it was not an expensive item 29.95 .

I try to give my customers good service but this is a new one. Thoughts?

frugalmarketplace

40031 View listings

Posted 1 year ago·Last reply 1 year ago

7 comments

deserdog

·1 year ago

6255 View listings

I am a low volume seller, so I keep track of the packages. Several times when I have had insufficient address, I have been able to contact the buyer and the delivering post office. I just asked the post office to hold the package and the buyer picked it up.

frugalmarketplace

OP1 year ago

40031 View listings

@deserdog

Most post offices are impossible to contact, and this one had already been returned to me.

deserdog

·1 year ago

6255 View listings

Lot of them never pick up the phone, but I always try.

12345jamesstamps

·1 year ago

8703 View listings

Buyer needs to contact me first.

Refunds may not go to the buyer...buyer deceased...or whatever.

frugalmarketplace

OP1 year ago

40031 View listings

@12345jamesstamps

ðŸ˜‚ðŸ˜‚ðŸ˜‚. I saw that picture of yours on another post.

12345jamesstamps

·1 year ago

8703 View listings

And guess how many contact me?...2 this year with wrong address....LOL

wastingtime101

·1 year ago

0 View listings

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