USPS Delivered Buyer's Item To Wrong Address/PO Box, What Can I Do to Fix This...(?)...

[midwestdistributors]

Hi everyone, looks as though USPS mistakenly delivered my buyer's item, to a PO Box in the buyer's hometown, and for some odd reason did not deliver the item to the buyer's home address a/k/a the home address the buyer actually has on file with ebay.  What (if anything) should I do/can I do on my end to try and help my buyer recover their package(?)  My goal, of course, is to protect my 100% perfect ebay seller score at all cost.  Any help/suggestions, regarding this issue would be greatly appreciated - Thanks!  

(If there's a better place/ebay forum to post this message, please let me know/ty) 

[mtgraves7984]

Does the P.O. Box belong to the buyer?

[klhmdg]

Did the buyer complain about it going to the PO Box?

Im just asking because my PO will hold packages for me.

I use the PO address and my box #.

If there is just my physical address, they will hold at the PO, per my request.

[soh.maryl]

So the PO box to which it was delivered did not belong to the buyer?

Think, if I were the buyer, I'd begin with asking the USPS why this happened.

Hard to believe that a package addressed to:

Mr. Smith 

40 Any Street 

Littletown, OH

would have been delivered to

Mrs. Jones

P. O. Box 67

Littletown, OH

[midwestdistributors]

Yeah, it's an interesting/odd issue for sure and a first for me in 600+ ebay transactions. The buyer actually mentioned the issue to me and asked, "why the item was shipped to a PO BOX, when he has a residential address(?)"  I replied back saying I would do everything I could (from 800mi away) to try and help resolve the issue, and also sent him a copy of the USPS receipt so he could use it to show his local post office and possibly claim the item directly, or maybe get the item redirected.  Other than that, I don't really know what else I can do to help the situation. 

[mtgraves7984]

Other than that, I don't really know what else I can do to help the situation. 

@midwestdistributors 

The only other help you could offer is to have the buyer check all of the addresses on file with his/her account.

[midwestdistributors]

The worst part of this issue... is wondering what the owner of the PO Box will do with the item, considering the item doesn't bear their name and isn't something they were expecting(?) 

[buyselljack2016]

The item would "ship" to the address provided at checkout.

Does it show PO box  as the address that you shipped to?

[soh.maryl]

So it was, or it wasn't, a PO box belonging to the buyer?

Because if it did belong to the buyer, then doesn't it seem like he got his package?

And what address did the seller see on the invoice where the buyer paid? 

[soh.maryl]

So the PO box is not the buyer's? 

Where would that address have come from then?

Has anyone asked for a photo of the label on the package?

Am just as much at sea here as I was at the beginning.  

[midwestdistributors]

So far, based on the buyer's most recent comments, it appears that the buyer does not have a PO BOX. 

[midwestdistributors]

USPS Tracking # says the package was delivered to a PO BOX in the buyer's town/state. The USPS shipping receipt only shows the town and state.

[fm2000 · Accepted solution]

Tell your buyer to contact his local post office ASAP and see if they can retrieve the item before the owner of the PO box takes it. Hopefully it is still in the PO Box (or there is just a slip telling the owner to pick up the package from the counter), or the owner of the PO Box found it and turned it back in to the post office.

[wastingtime101]

Have you called the buyer's post office and asked? That would be my first step after the buyer contacted me.

[soh.maryl]

Since we have had to pull all the information out of the seller piece by piece, this could go on forever.