Buyer had a wrong address and now package is returning to sender! Buyer wants it rerouted!

[incrediblefinds199]

So i cant believe i have never had to deal with this before. I sold a item a couple weeks ago and buyer sent me a message last night giving me instructions to have them hold the package at a certain facility and he will pick it up and also sent a address and asked for the address to be changed to a different one.  He also gave me so much personal information, multiple phone numbers, emails! I just talked through the message system and did not use any of that contact info. Also i should note i think I'm his 1st sale, I left his 1st feedback anyway. i have it so it auto leaves feedback when people pay. he got great feedback so there is no confusion. 

So i guess my question is how do others handle the situation and what protections i have.

I did talk to the PO and they said i would have to intercept it and then also repay for shipping to the new address. the cost for just the intercept is 17 dollars plus whatever the new shipping charge is. the item was only like 20 dollars. Also to the best of my knowledge we need to ship to the address on file to keep seller protection. 

I also read last night on a recent post on the community was that all things that get returned to sender actually go to a eBay facility. now i understand that happens on international orders. i have had that happen a couple times. This transactions was from New Hampshire to Florida!! Item says return to sender but no other info, they did try to deliver 5 times and says insufficient address! 

[bonjourami]

The buyer lost buyer protection with the multiple delivery attempts.Idk why you would consider an intercept, then remail to the buyer. The pkg will be returned to you,you can just tell the buyer you will refund when it does. I would block this buyer for sure.

[wastingtime101]

First @incrediblefinds199 check to see if the messages came from your buyer and not from a scammer.

If they came from your buyer then tell them they will need to file mail forwarding with USPS or call the local PO for the address they provided and ask them to hold the package so the buyer can pick it up.

In the event the buyer does not deal with their own mess and the package gets returned to you, 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
• If you don't want to reship or resell to that buyer you can add them to your blocked list after dealing with the current transaction. Note that will automatically block all messages from them.

[incrediblefinds199]

I do not plan to intercept i just mentioned what they said when i called USPS, it is 100% unrealistic option but the buyer is requesting it so i looked into it but like i said we loose protection from eBay if we change the address. I'm def not going that route and not considering but put the info up because its unrealistic to do so. 

[inhawaii]

I just had one of these the other day.

I politely notified the buyer that I have to follow ebay protocol.  He would get a refund (less shipping) as soon as the item was returned to me and that he could buy another one, this time with the correct address.

[incrediblefinds199]

i think i am going to do the same, i messaged eBay last night on Facebook but they took a long time to get back to me so i posted on here.  of course as soon as i did that they got back to me. 

They just told me to wait for it to come back and refund him the money for item not the shipping but i can refund shipping if i want to. They said i would be protected from any Negative feedback if its in relation to the shipping or something of that nature, i am always super polite even when people are clearly super rude and mean but i bite my tongue and continue to be polite!! 

Been getting a lot of pain in the but buyers the past 6 moths or so!!