USPS says my shipment was sent to the Mail Recovery Center
I am a relatively new Ebay seller and I recently sold an item for $240 and shipped through USPS Ground Advantage, uninsured. The item was supposed to be out for delivery yesterday but this morning I received a notification alerting me that the item was unable to be delivered and was sent to the Mail Recovery Center in Washington.
Question is I don't know how to proceed with this. Do I refund the buyer immediately and request USPS return the package to me if found?
If it isn't found, do I just eat the loss of the item or are there steps I can take to receive some form of reimbursement?
I genuinely don't know how to proceed with this and I don't want to risk taking a hit to my Ebay account and the idea of losing an expensive item in the mail is incredibly disheartening.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
kalyoth
·6 months agoIf you are comfortable with building it in, For me, anything over 100 includes a fee for the insurance built into the shipping. I absolutely do not trust USPS to be perfect but, the other options cost far more & are just as unreliable.
christworks
·6 months ago@jusham_0 You do not need to message the buyer unless they've contacted you. Haven't you heard not to wake a sleeping lion? Leave your buyer alone unless they message you or file an INR. Meanwhile, you work behind the scenes with USPS to get the package moving again.
If the buyer has not noticed and you message them, you may put into their head that they need to file an INR, especially with a high dollar order like that. This will make more work for you and also start a clock which will speed things up for you to refund.
Next time buy the extra insurance. You have $100 already with Ground Advantage. It somewhat alarms me that you thought you had no insurance and were still okay shipping a $250 item without it.
I used to buy the extra insurance for anything that sold over $100, but now I have enough capital built up in my business that I can afford to take a hit if it comes to it, so I normally do not buy the extra insurance unless the price is over $175. Sometimes it also depends on where it is going. If it going across the country, I'm more inclined to buy the insurance becuase there is more risk something might happen. If it is going a few hours down the road, I'm less inclined to buy the extra insurance.
itsjustasprain
·6 months agoI am trying to fathom why they would send it there when they know that you are the sender and (presumably) what your return address is. Were there NO other details about happened there?
jbbowers12012
·6 months agoThis may be a mistaken scan. We have had a few over the years.
a_c_green
·6 months agoMy thoughts also.
@jusham_0 : I would just wait and see if anything more happens. It may just be that the carrier scanned the package before actually looking to see what his scanner setting was. If you have not heard anything from the buyer about this, do not contact him. He may have received the package just fine (in fact, I would say he almost certainly has), but pointing him to that tracking entry may suggest that you have no idea where it is.
jusham_0
OP6 months agoYeah unfortunately no further details were provided about USPS being unable to fufill the delivery but I opened a request for information and should receive a response on Monday when business hours are resumed.
I am just as curious as you are, but I get it. Mistakes happen and USPS has a ton of orders they fufill on a daily basis so I'm not as upset by the courier and just more so that the incident happened.
At the very least this is the first time it's happened to me so I guess I am lucky in that regard.
I'll be able to give everyone an update come Monday~
jusham_0
OP6 months agoThank you guys for the replies, the buyer has not filed an INR just yet so I'll wait a little while to initiate a refund, currently in contact with USPS to see what the issue is and see if it can be resolved.
I let the buyer know there was a delay in shipping and they seem to be understandable, so I'll see where it goes!
Thank you so much for your advice, this is a new experience for me and I appreciate the guidance 🙂
jbbowers12012
·6 months agoHi, I would not refund your buyer just yet. There are a lot of reasons that your package was not delivered. "The Gate Was Locked' - "There Was A Big Dog In The Yard" etc. etc. Sit back & watch the tracking for a few days. It is very possible that another delivery will be attempted. Good Luck & Keep Us Posted.
bonanza125
·6 months agoDo not refund the buyer. There is a chance the package will still be delivered. There could be just some sort of delay. Has the buyer filed an "item not received" case against you yet? If not then wait for the case and provide tracking information to Ebay. From this day forward anything over $150 pay for the extra insurance.
mamacassidy
·6 months agoAs others have said, don't refund just yet.
You may have to refund they buyer and you may not. If an item had "attempted delivery", ebay counts that the same as "delivered". However, if this item is just "lost", then you will have to refund.
I would give it a day or 2 and see what the tracking says. If it was undeliverable, then it should be returned to you. If there in no update to tracking in a couple of days, go to USPS.com and file a Missing Mail Search Request.
If an item is returned to you after "attempted delivery" or "refused", then technically you don't have to refund anything. But most sellers will refund the item's purchase price minus any shipping costs/ fees.
Just let it play out for a couple more days and then come back here for further advice.
gone.c-33
·6 months agoGround Advantage included $100 worth of insurance so at least there’s that.
frugalmarketplace
·6 months agoSorry to read this. I would recommend you file a “lost package report” on the USPS website. I had a an expensive purse going to authentication be lost and two weeks later it did show up and the customer was very patient and eventually received it.
Also always insure packages over a certain amount. I could not afford to loose that much and the ebay insurance , in my experience is much better than the USPS.
jusham_0
OP6 months agoYeah that's a lesson hard learned for me, this is a pretty big loss but if I have to just eat it I will.
I'll just refund the buyer and apologize for the inconvenience, file a claim with the Washington MRC with all the relevant tracking info and hope it somehow ends up back to me. If not then it's not the end of the world, but it definitely stings.
Thank you
ryry-jj
·6 months agoNo, don't refund yet. Communicate with the buyer, tell them you are on it, file a missing package with USPS and see what happens. Reassure you buyer they are protected for 30 days from the estimated arrival date. You have time to be patient & figure out where the package is. Just communicate with the buyer.
Ebay has protocol in place if the buyer files an item not received, and then tracking shows they do receive it, but it is easier to give it more time