Did USPS make a mistake or not?

[iamalwaysright]

I have a package that got returned back to me with the RTS sticker saying Unable to Forward, with UTF written by hand over the postage label. The buyer messaged me asking if their package got returned to me saying they've been having problems with their mail.

I checked tracking on ebay and oddly it said it was delivered successfully to the buyer in OK (at their mailbox). But I checked USPS and they said the package was RTS because the recipient moved and the forwarding address expired. Buyer asked to ship to a different address now, and admitted that the address on the payment IS in fact their old address and they moved.

But they still own the old house and don't see why they couldn't have just delivered it to that house rather than RTS. I don't know if this is USPS' mistake or not. Would I be able to put this package back into the mail stream and see if it delivers to their old address on file so they don't have to repay the shipping to have it go to their new address?

[wastingtime101]

If you stick it back in the mail stream it will probably come back again since the old address has expired forwarding.

[aproudparent2010]

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@iamalwaysright wrote:

I have a package that got returned back to me with the RTS sticker saying Unable to Forward, with UTF written by hand over the postage label. The buyer messaged me asking if their package got returned to me saying they've been having problems with their mail.

I checked tracking on ebay and oddly it said it was delivered successfully to the buyer in OK (at their mailbox). But I checked USPS and they said the package was RTS because the recipient moved and the forwarding address expired. Buyer asked to ship to a different address now, and admitted that the address on the payment IS in fact their old address and they moved.

But they still own the old house and don't see why they couldn't have just delivered it to that house rather than RTS. I don't know if this is USPS' mistake or not. Would I be able to put this package back into the mail stream and see if it delivers to their old address on file so they don't have to repay the shipping to have it go to their new address?

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Uh no you can't put it back into the mail stream, that forwarding address has expired so it would just come back to you again. 

[mtgraves7984]

Buyer asked to ship to a different address now, and admitted that the address on the payment IS in fact their old address and they moved.

@iamalwaysright 

Isn't it right to cancel and refund, then relist for the buyer to properly purchase? I mean, I'd want my seller protections...

[wastingtime101]

No need to jeopardize seller protections @mtgraves7984 . OP can easily ship to the new address if they do it the right way. See more below, Miss M.

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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 final value 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. Use PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, etc. This is post-sale so it's OK to exchange email and phone. It's also OK to ship to a different address because it's technically not tied to the original transaction. You will not purchase the shipping label through eBay or upload tracking to the original transaction. You will purchase the label from an alternate site like pirateship.com 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 in the services category, bumping it up to factor in eBay fees, and have the buyer purchase it, entering their correct address at checkout. You can purchase a shipping label through eBay for that transaction.

• You can cancel the transaction selecting the reason problem with buyer's address which will trigger a full refund to the buyer and your final value fees will be credited.

• You can do nothing. The buyer's Money Back Guarantee protection is voided when there's a package delivery attempt to the address on the order. 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

[iamalwaysright]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

If you stick it back in the mail stream it will probably come back again since the old address has expired forwarding.

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But as the buyer said, "Wouldn't expired forwarding just mean the package gets delivered to that address rather than return back to sender?"

I personally moved 3 years ago and my forwarding expired since it only goes to 2 years. The owner of the house texted me recently about an important looking letter that got delivered to her house (because forwarding expired).

[wastingtime101]

How long ago did the buyer's forwarding expire? I think for a lengthy period of time the system still reads the official move/forwarding and defers to the fact it expired.

[12345jamesstamps]

Have to find the right clerk at the counter of your post office.

Usually the clerk you know will do it as I have done it before without any problems.

The clerk will post mark it again.

It does help to be friendly to some clerks at your post office for this to work.

[iamalwaysright]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

How long ago did the buyer's forwarding expire? I think for a lengthy period of time the system still reads the official move/forwarding and defers to the fact it expired.

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No idea. Right now I'm just waiting on the buyer to give me the extra shipping or I'll probably refund minus cost and fees soon. Sadly my usual kickass mail carrier just retired so there's goes my inside track.

[iamalwaysright]

Yea sadly it's my mail carrier who used to do this for me as I never go into the PO. But he just retired. Every customer on his route is sad because no one will measure up to how good he was. We know this because every time he went on vacation it was like a dystopian mail era with his replacements.