Getting a buyers email address to ask for additional payment.

[inhawaii]

A buyer gave me the wrong shipping address and package was returned.

He has since corrected his address and is asking me to re-ship his item.

I just tried to send him a message asking him for his email address so that  i can send him a paypal money request to pay for the second round of shipping, but ebay blocked my message.

I thought once you conducted business with someone that ebay no longer blocked those types of messages.

Other than contacting ebay, can you think of any way to remedy this?

[iamalwaysright]

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@inhawaii wrote:

A buyer gave me the wrong shipping address and package was returned.

He has since corrected his address and is asking me to re-ship his item.

I just tried to send him a message asking him for his email address so that  i can send him a paypal money request to pay for the second round of shipping, but ebay blocked my message.

I thought once you conducted business with someone that ebay no longer blocked those types of messages.

Other than contacting ebay, can you think of any way to remedy this?

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Too many replies to read. But I'll either give my two cents if no one else mentioned it already, or I'll just repeat what someone probably already said here. As far as I know, you are correct that you should be allowed to exchange email address with this buyer. But bots can always mess up. It's risky but you can try exchanging phone numbers, but the bots might catch that too.

An agent once told me I can make a listing for shipping and handling and have the buyer buy that listing. Downside is that it will get charged ebay fees, you'd have to adjust the listing price for that. I've even heard of some sellers leave these "shipping and handling fixed price listings" active all the time because things like this happen so much for them. To add, some sellers also have these listings as "shipping upgrades" for buyers. You know how when a buyer pays for the cheapest or free shipping then 1 hour later asks you to upgrade to Priority or Express and offers to pay you extra for it? That's when the shipping upgrade listing goes into play.

I've told agents that there HAS to be a way for you to request additional payment or something through ebay payments. The buyer can accept or decline it. But if ebay is so hung up on us not taking sales out of ebay, then give us better resources to do so.

[hewamadu-0]

If you have already listed this item, let your buyer know that you can purchase it now with his exact address. You will have to eat that $ 6.00 simply and simply. Do it elsewhere, but settle this current deal and get it behind you.

[inhawaii]

I might get one of these once a year.

Today I just got another one.

That's two in one week.

When it rains it's pours.

[duffy4444]

   Like I showed in post #45, do a partial refund AFTER the item gets returned to you, and before the buyer opens an INR. Send a courtesy message explaining he'll get a refund when you receive the item, which will most likely prevent an INR.

   It should work out fine, and the only money you will be out is eBay's FVF, which is a lot better than having to eat the shipping cost due to the buyer's own fault. 

Cheers again,

Duffy

[velvet@ebay · Accepted solution]

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@dhbookds wrote:

velvet@ebay 

What is the correct thing to do in this situation?

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Thanks for the tag @dhbookds. There have been a number of suggestions made but I wanted to ensure we're giving the best option, especially considering the email with the PayPal email address was blocked. I reached out to our trust and safety team and they said the message was blocked because we don't want PayPal info being shared since we aren't able to help should a problem arise. They also provided me with a few suggestions as to how @inhawaii can best proceed from here.

The first is to see if you can still send the buyer an invoice. If so, you could invoice them for the shipping cost of the second shipment. The next option would be to have the buyer start a Return and then partially refund them so you're not out the original shipping cost. If the transaction is canceled then the entire amount will be refunded to the buyer. Which is another option if you're ok with that. You could then relist the item and let the buyer know what the item number is, and they could repurchase it with the correct address. 

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Edit to add: The OP had exceeded the timeframe allowed to exchange contact information. While we still don't encourage the sharing of other payment methods outside of eBay, contact information like that can be shared if within the given transaction window. If you're outside of that timeframe, then you'll get a message letting you know it's outside the approved window. It's important to keep in mind though, that any monetary transactions that take place outside of eBay, do not qualify for protection under the Money Back Guarantee, seller protections, etc. 

One additional option that was shared, and missed in my original response, is that sellers can also partially refund a buyer via the eBay payment they received.  

[iart]

I understand about trying to send an invoice.

The rest of your note confuses me.

[lonebuck-books]

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@inhawaii wrote:

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Gee thanks but you're not the one who screwed up and sent me the wrong shipping address.

Are you saying I shouldn't charge the buyer for shipping it twice?

Is my request greedy or unreasonable?

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Not it isn't greedy or unreasonable but at some point you have to decide what your time and aggravation are worth.   To me, anything more than a few minutes isn't worth the $6 you are working to try and get.  Sometimes you just gotta take your lumps and move on.  It's how online sales sometimes pans out.  Fair, no but it is what it is.

[lonebuck-books]

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@duffy4444 wrote:

   Aloha!

   I've had this happen occasionally over the years. I do not cancel the order, but instead just let it ride out.

   I simply do a partial refund (which is less the shipping charges), after sending a message thru eBay to the buyer explaining the partial refund, and letting the buyer know that the item will be relisted, and please be sure the shipping address is correct when he purchases the item again.

   I do the partial refund by going into my Seller Hub > Orders > Paid and Shipped > find the sale > click on the drop-down box > Send Refund > Other Adjustment > Deduct the shipping cost > Send 

   Then I relist the item or do a "Sell Similar".

   I have not had any repercussions from doing this, I get my shipping money back as a result of simple math, and the buyer gets a fair refund... I haven't had any neutral or neg feedback in such cases, as the buyer is usually apologetic, understanding and embarrassed.

   No need to go thru a PP payment request, contact eBay's Customer-No-Service, or go thru other gymnastics.

   I have not had to do this in about a year, so I hope that procedures and rules haven't changed.

Cheers, Duffy

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This.....

I've done this a few times myself.  Never had a buyer with a bad address complain, leave a neg or re-buy for that matter.

[albertabrightalberta]

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velvet@ebay wrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

velvet@ebay 

What is the correct thing to do in this situation?

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Thanks for the tag @dhbookds. There have been a number of suggestions made but I wanted to ensure we're giving the best option, especially considering the email with the PayPal email address was blocked. I reached out to our trust and safety team and they said the message was blocked because we don't want PayPal info being shared since we aren't able to help should a problem arise. They also provided me with a few suggestions as to how @inhawaii can best proceed from here.

The first is to see if you can still send the buyer an invoice. If so, you could invoice them for the shipping cost of the second shipment. The next option would be to have the buyer start a Return and then partially refund them so you're not out the original shipping cost. If the transaction is canceled then the entire amount will be refunded to the buyer. Which is another option if you're ok with that. You could then relist the item and let the buyer know what the item number is, and they could repurchase it with the correct address. 

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velvet@ebay 

You suggested, "The next option would be to have the buyer start a Return and then partially refund them so you're not out the original shipping cost" 

How would that work? 

How can the buyer start a return if the item was never delivered to the invalid shipping address? Neither the the buyer nor the seller can supply a return shipping label. And wouldn't a "return" have to have its own unique tracking number? 

IMO, the best option would be for @inhawaii to issue a partial refund, deducting the shipping and making the buyer whole (except for the shipping error or buyer's own making) and include a note (so ebay can see why there's a partial being issued) and be done with it. 

And if neutral or neg feedback were left, that should be removable, no? 

[dhbookds]

I guess my answer would have been wrong then..........you do (perhaps for not many days) have an email for a buyer.....on the order page.......( see more buyer info)...xxxx@members.ebay.com

I thought, but wasn't sure, that could be used in Paypal to send an invoice to that email......  It would be routed thru ebay email, but still go to the buyer's email.........

[a_c_green]

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@dhbookds wrote:

I guess my answer would have been wrong then..........you do (perhaps for not many days) have an email for a buyer.....on the order page.......( see more buyer info)...xxxx@members.ebay.com

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It's visible for 14 days, if I remember right.

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@dhbookds wrote:

I thought, but wasn't sure, that could be used in Paypal to send an invoice to that email......  It would be routed thru ebay email, but still go to the buyer's email.........

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I'm not sure if the buyer could send payment back to the seller's encrypted ebay email address, though. At minimum, he'd need to add his own encrypted address to his PayPal account, and although I understand that the encrypted address remains active for up to one year from its last use, I don't know how one can view one's own encrypted address, only that of the buyer. (I can think of a workaround to reveal it, but I haven't tried doing so as I haven't had a need for it yet.)

I would say the simplest solution would be to simply phone up the buyer and ask. His phone number is found next to his encrypted email address in the Purchase Details section of the View Order Details action, and that phone number remains available indefinitely, as long as the sale itself is visible on-line.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Since the item you originally sold now did NOT deliver (returned); why not just relist 1 of the items (assuming you have more than 1) with a $12 shipping cost (the extra $6 covers you) and then give that listing number to the buyer (you can discuss this with them before creating the listing?) 

[velvet@ebay]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

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velvet@ebay wrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

velvet@ebay 

What is the correct thing to do in this situation?

---

Thanks for the tag @dhbookds. There have been a number of suggestions made but I wanted to ensure we're giving the best option, especially considering the email with the PayPal email address was blocked. I reached out to our trust and safety team and they said the message was blocked because we don't want PayPal info being shared since we aren't able to help should a problem arise. They also provided me with a few suggestions as to how @inhawaii can best proceed from here.

The first is to see if you can still send the buyer an invoice. If so, you could invoice them for the shipping cost of the second shipment. The next option would be to have the buyer start a Return and then partially refund them so you're not out the original shipping cost. If the transaction is canceled then the entire amount will be refunded to the buyer. Which is another option if you're ok with that. You could then relist the item and let the buyer know what the item number is, and they could repurchase it with the correct address. 

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velvet@ebay 

You suggested, "The next option would be to have the buyer start a Return and then partially refund them so you're not out the original shipping cost" 

How would that work? 

How can the buyer start a return if the item was never delivered to the invalid shipping address? Neither the the buyer nor the seller can supply a return shipping label. And wouldn't a "return" have to have its own unique tracking number? 

IMO, the best option would be for @inhawaii to issue a partial refund, deducting the shipping and making the buyer whole (except for the shipping error or buyer's own making) and include a note (so ebay can see why there's a partial being issued) and be done with it. 

And if neutral or neg feedback were left, that should be removable, no? 

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A return can be started at anytime @albertabrightalberta and then the seller could offer a partial refund. The buyer would accept it, and that would be it. If @inhawaii has the ability to partially refund directly then that could be an option as well. 

[otow_18]

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velvet@ebay wrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

velvet@ebay 

What is the correct thing to do in this situation?

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The first is to see if you can still send the buyer an invoice. If so, you could invoice them for the shipping cost of the second shipment.

The next option would be to have the buyer start a Return and then partially refund them so you're not out the original shipping cost. 

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Unfortunately, both of your answers are incorrect.

The buyer cannot go through Checkout again to pay an/a second invoice.

The buyer cannot start a return, as they have lost MBG coverage due to an invalid delivery address.

[pjcdn2005]

I agree that there is no way to send a new invoice to a buyer and I don't understand why a rep would suggest that.

But I don't understand your comment as to why a return couldn't be started.  I don't think the system is set up to stop a request from being opened just because an item couldn't be delivered. For example, the buyer could still open an inr although they would lose it when the seller entered the tracking information.  But...the request could still be opened.  A return request can be opened even if it has been after the time limit for the mbg is over  so I'm sure that a return could be opened even if the buyer didn't qualify for the mbg because of the wrong address.