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"Return to Sender" + language barrier. What now?

I recently had a purchase from Puerto Rico fail to be delivered by USPS, resulting in the following exchange of messages with the buyer (see attached images).  I'm pretty new to this, and I'm not sure what my obligation is at this point, much less what a best practice would be.  Any advice?

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"Return to Sender" + language barrier. What now?

I would just show your post office a printout of the buyer saying that the address is correct & ask them to put it through again for no new charge. I had to do that a couple of times at my PO in the past and they were good about it and didnt charge anything more. Both things made it on the second attempt.

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"Return to Sender" + language barrier. What now?

Did you check the address on Usps site to verify?

Everyone has options. Just be sure the best option is right for you.
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"Return to Sender" + language barrier. What now?

I don't know if your buyer will understand that they have to submit more money to have the item reshipped. You've tried to complete the sale but sometimes - it's not going to work. I would inform the buyer that you are cancelling the sale due to an insufficient address - refund them and get your FVFs back.

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"Return to Sender" + language barrier. What now?

I did just now to check, and it appears the address exists.  I got a single result anyways, but I don't know what all the info it shows when you click on the address means.

 

It gave me the extra 4 digits for the zip code, if that may help?

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"Return to Sender" + language barrier. What now?

I would just show your post office a printout of the buyer saying that the address is correct & ask them to put it through again for no new charge. I had to do that a couple of times at my PO in the past and they were good about it and didnt charge anything more. Both things made it on the second attempt.

Message 5 of 12
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"Return to Sender" + language barrier. What now?

Yeah, I guess I may have to.

 

In this event, do I just have to eat the shipping cost?

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"Return to Sender" + language barrier. What now?

I didn't realize there was a possibility to resend without additional cost.  I'll definitely ask!

Message 7 of 12
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"Return to Sender" + language barrier. What now?

Are all the post offices opened down there yet after the hurricane?

Everyone has options. Just be sure the best option is right for you.
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"Return to Sender" + language barrier. What now?

If they are unable to deliver a second time, they will charge you for it.

Everyone has options. Just be sure the best option is right for you.
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"Return to Sender" + language barrier. What now?


@theknightsreserve wrote:

I didn't realize there was a possibility to resend without additional cost.  I'll definitely ask!


Yeah - I dont know how official that policy is - but I can say that both times this happened to me I just took the returned package back to the PO and said look - I have contacted with the buyer and they said that this is the correct address and do not know why it would be returned - so can you please just send it again? Both times they were good with that and the package arrived. Just be polite and make it clear that you did your homework to verify the address with the buyer.

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"Return to Sender" + language barrier. What now?

This may not be a language issue at all. I understand because it is Puerto Rico that would be a presumption but I expected the reply you posted to be written in broken English and answering you incorrectly. This may just be one of the many people, everywhere these days, who simply do not read entire messages. Your replies are excellent but very wordy to the current climate. People now abbreviate even when they are speaking, "LOL that was funny", "OMG I didn't know that", "GTK thanks" (that's good to know).... so I'm thinking they didn't really "read" your entire lengthy second reply and that's why they responded what they did. Maybe try again with a shorter reply, or if you already did and didn't post that then I am incorrect.

I prefer the advice from tunicaslot- you've tried your best but I would just cancel now and refund. The mail system is still recovering from the Hurricane. The damages done will be there for several years to come. The infrastructure for that island is minimal at best so you may run into the same issue the second time.
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"Return to Sender" + language barrier. What now?


@theknightsreserve wrote:

Yeah, I guess I may have to.

 

In this event, do I just have to eat the shipping cost?


Why don't you just speak to the postal supervisor and tell her the address DOES exist and they failed to deliver it.  I have had to do this a few times and I've never had to pay to reship it... Heck, one item went round 3 until it finally got delivered.

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