@modulok! wrote:
$125 item. Ebay shipping label (didn't change anything). Purchased on 1/24/23 and I shipped via Priority Mail on 1/25/23. First time buyer (created account same day as purchase) gave a very insufficient address (incomplete street name and house number is their zipcode). I didn't notice the bad address at the time (how am I supposed to know the buyer's address). The USPS is currently in the process of doing a Return To Sender due to Insufficient Address. I have not received the package back yet.
If tracking shows that the package is being returned to you, then don't refund until you receive it back.
That said, I'm wondering how you could print an address through eBay that's as far off as you describe. The Ship-To: address received with the payment IS validated against the USPS database at the time you attempt to purchase the label. This is how, for example, a 5-digit ZIP shown with the payment becomes a 9-digit ZIP+4 when the label appears.
The buyer's eBay account address (i.e. what they type in when setting up their account) might be botched or incomplete (e.g. you're seeing a street number in the ZIP code field), but if their Ship-To: address was that far off, it would not validate through USPS, and thus the system would not know what to charge for the label since the address could not be verified.
Given the length of time that the package has been traveling, it sounds like the address might have been valid but incomplete at the buyer's end, such as providing a valid street address but not an apartment number. The carrier isn't going to squint at every name on every mailbox in the lobby; he's just going to scan it as Undeliverable and send it back to you.
