Hey @miriama8780 . This is a situation I've never seen before. Typically when a buyer has an address line over 40 characters, eBay will spit out an error message when you try to generate the label which gives you the chance to move the unit number down to the 2nd address field. I've never heard of eBay cutting off address info as you're describing.
Can you go to your order details page and check to see what address is showing there?
1. Is the unit number included? If there's no unit number, see below (1.a.) for more info.
2. If the unit number is included, then can you select the option to reprint the label (reprint, not purchase a new one)? Reprint is available for 7 days and will show you a copy of the label. Does it show the unit number?
2.a. If the label shows a unit number, then this is a USPS issue and you should contact USPS to see why it's being returned.
2.b. If the label does not show a unit number, but the order details does, then this is an issue worth contacting eBay CS about. I'd take a screenshot of the order details with the unit number, then a screenshot of the label without the unit number, and send both to eBay CS via social. Send a DM to one of eBay's social CS teams: ebayforbusiness on facebook, ebayforsellers on insta, askebay on X
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1.a. If the unit number was not included on the order details page, that means the buyer submitted an address at checkout missing the unit number.
In that case, 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
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