eBay

lunadimiele22 · ‎08-11-2020

I shipped out an item about a month ago. Shipping was free for the buyer; it cost me about $5.50. When I tracked the package, it said "Moved, Left No Address" and was returned back to me a few days ago. The buyer just messaged me and said it was returned due to a postal mistake, and asked if I can re-ship it back, although she didn't provide a new address. She has 100% positive feedback so I don't know what happened.

I'm not going to pay another shipping fee. But if I don't ship it, and I refund her the original amount that she paid for the item, I lose out on ebay and Paypal fees that have already been taken out (plus the original $5.50). I could just ask her to pay the shipping amount separately through Paypal, but I'd rather not because I don't want to give out my personal email address. If I create a new listing just for her with the shipping amount, I'll be paying ebay and Paypal fees again.

What is the best course of action here? Thanks!

anneecakes · ‎08-11-2020

I ship 1st Class 99% of the time, so my business model is such that I usually just re-ship to them as a courtesy, but I know that doesn't work for everyone. I might say, "I will re-ship to you, but I can't use the same postage and will have to re-purchase postage, so I am going to cancel/reverse/refund your transaction and then I'm hoping you can/will quickly repurchase the item so that we have fresh tracking and a fresh transaction to work with." (It's rare, but a re-ship can get lost and then you get an Item Not Received on top of paying extra postage :).)

If the amount is such that I'm not comfortable paying for shipping again I usually let them know that I will have to repurchase postage, but that I will share the pain with them and only charge them half (or whatever). I usually send them a custom Paypal.me link and they usually pay right away. In these cases I DON'T create a fresh transaction and just take my chances that the newly-labeled parcel won't go missing. It's definitely a time-drain when this happens no matter how you slice it:). Good luck & best wishes.

mam98031 · ‎08-11-2020

I've had a few of these over the years and I send them a response something like this.

I received the package pack with a note from USPS stating "moved, left no address". So I do have it back. I would be happy to reship the item to you. I will however need a couple of things from you. First the correct address in which to ship it to and then payment for reshipping the item. I can invoice you through PayPal for the additional shipping and associated fees. The invoice will only represent my costs and nothing more. Once I receive the correct address and payment for the reshipment, I wold be happy to get this remailed to you.

Just let me know how you'd like to proceed.

Sincerely, XXXX

If postage cost you $5.50, you then need to add your 30 cent PP fee and about 20 cents for your PP processing fee, so you would need to charge them at least $6.00. There is no reason why you should eat those fees to reship this item. You are doing them a favor for doing it without a handling fee.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

slippinjimmy · ‎08-11-2020

If it's being reshipped to the same address then this is a USPS error and you should pay to reship.

If the failed delivery was the fault of the buyer making an error such as failing to change the address then they should pay.

If it's the later and you don't want to reship then you should just refund the payment and cancel the transaction, "problem with address".

No matter what you will probably lose some money, win some and lose some that's business and that is why you have a profit margin that will cover these relatively rare events.

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep

myboardid · ‎08-11-2020

If you send her an invoice for the 2nd shipping charge via Paypal, you will not be giving her your email address. And do include the fees you are paying over the actual cost of the postage.

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Successful and experienced seller since 1997, over 70,000 feedback, boardie since the boards were begun.

postingid7659 · ‎08-12-2020

If it's a USPS error shouldn't they be responsible to re-ship?

bigdeals.etc · ‎08-12-2020

You need to verify and confirm with the buyer why it was a “postal mistake”. Buyers tend to jump to conclusions without any actual valid reason. The buyer could just be saying that... we don’t know yet. I often get buyers jumping to a conclusion and accuse me of sending it to the wrong address they provided because tracking shows delivered and they don’t have the item... but every one of those was addressed correctly as provided.

If your buyer confirmed it as a postal error, you may be able to convince a postal employee to resend (retry) it for free saying the recipient did not move. I’ve been successful a few times telling the PO to try again for free because they likely made a delivery mistake. But then again, that was pre covid.

rschissler · ‎08-12-2020

Awhile back, I was able to resend a package that was sent back to me, at no additional cost. Still in the original packaging and label. The problem on the buyer's end, was that the name on the package didn't match what was on the mailbox.

borisk2000 · ‎08-12-2020

First cancel this order & you get back ALL of the selling fees. Than decide , if you want to start over or not. You can also file USPS claim for the $5.00.

I lived in an area, where postmen were simply unable to read addresses. Makes you wander who hired them.

There is no guarantee, that delivery will be successful second time around, probably not. Especially nowadays with subcontractors, etc.

Once I received a "building does not exist" message. That building takes up an entire city block by the way. Delivery truck just did not make it in time and package was returned to me.

In short, USPS message means one thing only: we make our problem, your problem.

Best of luck