Buyer gave an address that both UPS and USPS say is incorrect

[zoeydog78]

Hello, I have contacted ebay about this matter but they were of no help. I have also emailed my buyer three times with no reply from them. Buyer bought an item from me and paid for it using paypal, however, when I went to ship the item at USPS, I was told the address didn't exist. I went to the UPS store as well and they told me the address was incorrect as it was given and I was hesitant to make assumptions on what the address should be so that's why I emailed the buyer multiple times. I have the item packaged and ready to go, however still no response. In a holding pattern I guess. Has this ever happened to anyone? 

[a_c_green]

Have you tried the ZIP code lookup page at https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction_input? If you have not gone there yet, try plugging in the address there and see what kind of error message you get in reply.

If you can give us a little more detail on what the address looks like without actually posting it completely in public, please do. Some addresses need a little reworking, such as those in Puerto Rico, but as long as you're not changing the actual delivery location, you can make minor alterations or corrections to the shipping address in order to get it accepted.

[kyderbyfan]

Is this a verified address on the buyer's ebay account? If not, I would not ship just yet. Try to contact the buyer to confirm his address before shipping. Also, indicate to the buyer that if you do not have a response within a set time frame that you intend to cancel the sale and refund the payment. Your reason to cancel the sale would be non-response from the buyer. That being said, before you proceed, check to see that the buyer is not in a storm zone that may have left him without power or internet service to respond to you. Many have been affected in surrounding areas near Florida and Texas recently.  You may want to Google the address too and see if there is a slight variation that will not let the label go through or if this is just a completely incorrect address.  Sometimes you have to include Apartment number or Suite number on certain street addresses or the zip code does not match the street address. 

[dtexley3]

If you don't get a valid shipping address before your shipping deadline, Cancel the sale and select "Problem with buyers address".  Keep a copy of the address and screen shots of it as well so you have proof of the previous address just in case.

[kitchenandhomegoods]

It happened to me with a Florida address a few years back.  I used google maps, USPS, Ebay, Fedex, UPS  and many other businesses to verify what looked to be an incorrect address.  I could not find a delivereable address anywhere but finally spoke with a manager at the USPS facility in the buyers disctict and was told of what the address should be.  I forget the exact details of what needed changing, but for the most part, the customer was correct and USPS needed to update their address database.  Weird, I know.  The only reason why I went through with it was to build my customer satifaction base.  If you are an established seller, you may want to pass using the fact that the address is not verifiable.  Not sure if Ebay accepts that but you can certainly try.

BTW:  It took 8 phone calls with 3 different states of the USPS offices to finally figure it out although in the end it was finally my discision to send it with very little faith totally insured that got it there.  You might ask the buyer to send a different address but always have it verified through Ebay before posting as it could easily become an issue if the buyer wants to pull a fast one.

[a_c_green]

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@kyderbyfan wrote:

Is this a verified address on the buyer's ebay account? If not, I would not ship just yet. Try to contact the buyer to confirm his address before shipping. Also, indicate to the buyer that if you do not have a response within a set time frame that you intend to cancel the sale and refund the payment. Your reason to cancel the sale would be non-response from the buyer. 

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Actually this would be a solid example of cancelling due to a problem with the buyer's address; I would definitely select that choice of reason, given that neither UPS nor USPS would accept it in its current form (assuming that you cannot debug it as I suggested within a reasonable time).

[d-k_treasures]

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@a_c_green wrote:

Have you tried the ZIP code lookup page at https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction_input? If you have not gone there yet, try plugging in the address there and see what kind of error message you get in reply.

If you can give us a little more detail on what the address looks like without actually posting it completely in public, please do. Some addresses need a little reworking, such as those in Puerto Rico, but as long as you're not changing the actual delivery location, you can make minor alterations or corrections to the shipping address in order to get it accepted.

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Most real websites verify the shipping address when submitted, considering how easy it is to do.

[a_c_green]

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@d-k_treasures wrote:

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@a_c_green wrote:

Have you tried the ZIP code lookup page at https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction_input? If you have not gone there yet, try plugging in the address there and see what kind of error message you get in reply.

If you can give us a little more detail on what the address looks like without actually posting it completely in public, please do. Some addresses need a little reworking, such as those in Puerto Rico, but as long as you're not changing the actual delivery location, you can make minor alterations or corrections to the shipping address in order to get it accepted.

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Most real websites verify the shipping address when submitted, considering how easy it is to do.

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Heh...  Indeed they do, although I have seen more than a few that make the USPS site barf, with no correction coming back at all, just a big red error, and it might be that the OP has got something like that.

[retrose1]

I get one of those at least once a month.  The address is real, but the PO doesn't recognize it in their computer yet.  Maybe because the routes have rearranged or something has changed, but the addresses are there.

I ship everything at the PO.   When there is a bad address, the clerk will stop, tell me the address is not registering and then ask if I want them to ship anyway.  I say yes and they over ride the stops and slap the postage on the package and a few days later, it gets delivered.

[zoeydog78]

Ya, thanks, the address is in Los Angeles. The address is what came through when they paid via PayPal. It also said AIRFAST before Los Angeles, CA. I had never seen AIRFAST before, no idea what that is.

[femmefan1946]

New suburbs are the biggest problem for me.

Canada Post may not have the addresses yet.

And Google Maps may have last year's photo showing an empty field!

If the buyer is not responding, I would cancel too.

If nothing else, it might get his attention.

Some sales are not worth having.

[dtexley3]

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@zoeydog78 wrote:

Ya, thanks, the address is in Los Angeles. The address is what came through when they paid via PayPal. It also said AIRFAST before Los Angeles, CA. I had never seen AIRFAST before, no idea what that is.

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Ahhhhhh, most very likely a shipping forwarder.  

[a_c_green]

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@dtexley3 wrote:

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@zoeydog78 wrote:

Ya, thanks, the address is in Los Angeles. The address is what came through when they paid via PayPal. It also said AIRFAST before Los Angeles, CA. I had never seen AIRFAST before, no idea what that is.

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Ahhhhhh, most very likely a shipping forwarder.  

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Absotively, yes. They're a Chinese company (hey, there's a surprise) with a Los Angeles location, among other places. It sounds like the buyer has to embed his membership number in the mailing address, and possibly the AIRFAST name as well (although you'd think the street address alone would be enough to get the package to the right building).

Somehow the extra membership data that has to get plugged into the address has corrupted the rest of it to the extent that the ZIP+4 validation lookup can't make any sense of it, at least the way the buyer typed it in. If he doesn't know English very well, it would be easy for him to muck it up.

I would suggest sticking everything that clearly isn't a street address onto the second line of the street address by itself (where you'd normally put an apartment number or something), and see if that will go through. Thus you'd have something like this (which I am completely making up as an example): 

Ching Liu 

1234 Industrial Blvd 

AIRFAST 6544362

Los Angeles, CA  90005

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

If the address is, indeed, that of a mail forwarder, the information that identifies the specific customer is NOT part of the address.  Treat these extraneous details as a company name or as part of the buyer's name.  I definitely would NOT place the information on the line before the city, state zip code!

For example, can you fit the extra" stuff on Line 1, separated by a slash?  As a buyer, I do this with my own name and company name when I provide a ship-to address -- which conserves space and does not intrude on the Address 1 and Address 2 lines.

Bottom line: Keep the actual mailing address separate from the non-address information.  Remember that the line above the city-state-zip code must be identifiable by USPS or UPS as the delivery location.

~~C~~