What's the correct way to invoice a buyer so I can re-ship an item that was returned?

[georgestobbard]

A month ago, I shipped an item to someone, using the address provided by her at the time of payment.  It didn't arrive because the buyer forgot to put her apartment number and apparently her mail carrier didn't know the route well enough to know which apartment she lives in.  So the package was marked as "insufficient address" by the postal service, and it is now being sent back to me.   

The buyer realized her mistake, and she contacted me about it very apologetically.  She said she is willing to pay the shipping and handling again so I can re-ship the item when I receive it, but how do I invoice her for that?  I'm on Managed Payments now, and I don't see any way to send her an invoice just for that amount.  

I am thinking of creating a Paypal invoice and sending her a link to that invoice via eBay messaging, but I'm not sure if that's the correct way of doing things according to eBay.    I don't want this to be perceived as a transaction that was illegally taken off of eBay.  If there is a way for me to bill her on eBay officially, I would do it, but I'm not sure how.  

[lamber9347]

@georgestobbard I'm glad you have worked this out with your buyer and she is willing to pay the second shipping. There is no way on eBay to send another invoice without another transaction but yes you can send her an invoice via PP. It isn't a second transaction outside of eBay, they can read your messages if need be. You will need buyer's email address to send her the invoice, which you can get off the label page by selecting to reprint label. Buyer can also send you her email as transaction is completed. Best of luck to you....

[dryophelia]

@georgestobbard 

I would create a new listing for it. That way you are both given the protections of an eBay transaction. 

[netwizz760]

You really should get the address corrected, so you have seller protection is the right answer.

If it is a minor item that is not worth much, and you are confident the buyer is honest, and it is something trivial shipped First-Class for like $3 or $4, I would just get the address from the buyer and pay to ship it then upload the tracking number, so eBay's system shows the item delivered.  Truth be told, the USPS tracking system does not show the full address as far as I can tell when you look up a tracking number, so eBay's system does not really know you did not ship it to the original buyer's address.  They DO know it went to the appropriate town/city, so it is probably okay... unless the buyer starts complaining then you probably lose by default anyway.

Otherwise, if you want send a PayPal invoice because once you get that money outside of eBay at least that money is theoretically safe.  Obviously, immediately pay for a shipping label and get it going out to the buyer.  Add it to eBay as another tracking number, too, so the buyer can watch its progress in eBay, so it shows at least one package getting delivered to the buyer.

If you are both good, honest people this will work out regardless of how you do it.  If not then it becomes crucial it go through eBay's system as a fresh transaction.

[allthingssurplus]

Here is what is being missed.  If you ask for a persons PayPal ID which you would have to in order to send a PayPal invoice you have violated eBay policy and can be subject to a 7 account suspension first offense.  This is one of the basic things that was not taken into consideration in MP.  eBay is collecting fees on the shipping.  If you send a new listing to be in policy, you will pay fees on the monies the Buyers is giving you for the return.  This is part of the money grab of MP.  Also if you request the Buyers email through the eBay messaging system, that would be another violation of policy.  lamber9347 has given how you should really do this however being right in the eBay system is usually doing the wrong thing when eBay might miss collecting a fee.  Be careful.

[pjcdn2005]

What exactly is a '7 account suspension first offense' ?

Requesting the buyers email through the messaging system would not be a violation in this case because they are already in a transaction.  Also, I don't know for this for a fact but I don't think that ebay would expect to collect fees on a second shipping fee. They have already received their fees for that transaction so I don't think that there is anything wrong with sending an invoice through Paypal.

[georgestobbard]

Thank you. The email address is visible on the transaction page only for 14 days.  It's too late for that, so if I decide to go this route, I will have to ask for her email address directly.  

[georgestobbard]

Thank you, I was thinking of doing that, it's just that the logistics are confusing.  

When I get the item back, I can't cancel the transaction because you can only cancel transactions that have not yet shipped.  But  it's not exactly a return either, since the buyer hasn't filled out a return request and I would also hate for her to have to fill out that form.  

So if I make a new listing for it, would it be only for the price of shipping and handling?  That way, I don't need to refund her anything, and I am charging her only what I need to re-ship the item using the address she provides, and she would have the opportunity to correct the address herself during checkout.

Unless I'm missing something crucial re: seller protection, buyer protection, and seller fees, this seems like a safe bet.  The only annoying aspect of this is the whole rigamarole of setting up a listing that is not really for sale to the general public, but specifically for one person.  I know how to do that via auction format (by agreeing to end the auction only when the designated person is the current high bidder) and by BIN format (by setting a ridiculously high price and then rejecting all Best Offers from people other than the designated person).  But it's always bothered me, because sometimes other buyers see the listing and it gets their hopes up that the item is truly up for grabs.  

[georgestobbard]

Thank you.  The buyer seems to have made an honest mistake, and she's been very polite, so I'm comfortable working with her as soon as I figure out how best to proceed for her protection and mine. 

[georgestobbard]

The weird thing is, before I posted my question last night, I tried to research the answer myself on the eBay forum, and I saw different anecdotes from sellers about how they'd handled the problem.  It seems that some customer service staff members on eBay will actively encourage the seller in this position to go ahead and work things out on Paypal, which surprised me immensely because it seems like the kind of thing that eBay would NOT want the seller to attempt, for the fee-collecting reasons you cite.  Then again, since Managed Payments has no easy fix for this problem, maybe Customer Service is okay with letting sellers use Paypal as a workaround.  

In an ideal world, the Managed Payments team would create a button for the seller to click so that a new shipping and handling invoice can be sent.  And on the buyer's end, there would be a button to click so that an updated shipping address can be provided.  

[georgestobbard]

Thank you.

[allthingssurplus]

I had this exact thing happen on my site.  Because we were working out a return payment by the Buyer eBay's big time computer caught the email and made the decision that this was selling outside of eBay and took down my 4000 listings stating we were selling outside of eBay.  I knew a VP in eBay selling and made a call, still took over a day to get the listing back up.  You are correct when you call customer service you will get conflicting info.  Logic says this is no big deal.  Policy is in place that does not agree with logic.  I have asked for this exact problem be clarified in writing however to date  that has not happen.  Yes, eBay can and will charge fees if you create a listing for the Buyers return shipping in their eyes it is a sale.

[georgestobbard]

I am so sorry that happened to you.  I can only imagine how much income a seller could lose in a day's time when there are 4,000 listings in the store and someone pulls the plug.  

I am definitely leaning toward re-listing my item on eBay but pricing it just for the cost of shipping and handling, as I said to dryophelia earlier.  I just hope that when I do this, the buyer will purchase it quickly so I can avoid the potential awkwardness of other people trying to buy the item.  

As someone who is a buyer as well as a seller, it's incredibly disappointing when I lose an auction or forget to place a bid, then see the exact same listing reappear the next day, only to sell within minutes, before I can inquire about it or place a bid.  When that happens, it's sometimes because the item wasn't really available to the general public. It was just relisted as a formality so that the person who bought it earlier can update an incorrect address.  (The other possibility is that someone negotiated a Best Offer successfully.)  

[lightlily_arts · Accepted solution]

A seller can access the buyer's email address on the seller's order page through the drop down menu on the left of that purchase.  You select:  Print Shipping Labels and Invoices option which brings up the next page.  On that page you select All (address label, invoice / packing slip, invoice for your own records)  and then click continue.  The next page will have the buyer's email address toward the bottom on the left side.

[lightlily_arts]

Just remember when you go to print the new shipping label to edit the label and add in her Apartment number.  That is only a minor change and will not affect your seller protection.