Seeking input on item returned by USPS

[Mummmers]

I sold an item on July 8 and and shipped it priority mail to the buyer. I paid for shipping — about $20. The buyer paid me for the item and the money is in my PayPal account. Today the package was returned by USPS with the label: “Return to Sender, Vacant, Unable to Forward.” The address is just a PO Box. I sent the buyer a message through eBay telling them I got it back and asked how they want to proceed. I plan to tell him he needs to pay for shipping if he wants the item. Any advice you have on this one?

[mickdog]

I had two similar cases recently but both through Fedex.

1st case: I got an item back unexpectedly. looked up tracking and saw that they tried to deliver it repeatedly and then it sat at an office to pick up for a week. Person never did and they returned it. It had already been close to 30 days and I’d never heard from the person. So I waited for them to contact me. They haven’t yet and we are aprroaching 45 days. So this is unresolved and I won’t relist until I get contact or the returns period ends. My guess is the person moved, are dead, or are in the hospital for an extended time.

2nd case: I got an item back also unexpectly a few days ago. Looked at tracking and it said an undeliverable address. Looked at the address and it looked fine except “Street” was spelled “SAtreet”. Could this be why it got returned? That would be stupid, don’t humans look at the address? So yesterday the person emailed me and opened a missing package case saying why did it get returned, didn’t you use this address (they gave me their address without a typo).

So I had two choices: I could call ebay and see if they’d close the case since they were the ones with the undeliverable address, or I could just refund them and take the loss on the shipping. I decided the later as it was $13-14 and it the long run that is fine with me. I messaged them that they should double check their address in ebay and paypal.

Side note: I was surprised when I refunded I didn’t get the option to withhold shipping and provide a reason why. It was only the total price or nothing. I will eventually relist this item, but I decided to block that bidder since they obvious screwed up their address and are liable to do something else silly in the future.

So in each of these cases, I waited for the person to contact me. My reasoning is I did everything right, they supplied the address. I shipped it correctly, provided tracking, it got there okay, and something on their end was wrong that was out of my control.

You already contacted them so if they open a case in the future they will be entiled to a refund which maybe if you want to take the time you could call ebay and fight for the $20. If you do this, call support (or use that Facebook ebay support people have mentioned) before responding to the buyer. If the person wants the item and it willing to repay shipping you can try this, but if it is done off ebay you might run into seller (and buyer) protection issues. I probably wouldn’t do this personally. If it was me, I’d just do what I did in case #2 above, refund, take the loss and move on, unless the shipping was alot out of my pocket, then I might call ebay first and see if I have other options to contest.

[Timo]

@Mummmers:
I think you handled this correctly so far. Do not send more than one message to the buyer. Right now you have both the item and the money.

If and when they finally reply, make buyer pay again for re-shipping. Be careful and do some research before offering buyer any refund. As it may not be possible to deduct the original shipping if you try to do so via eBay.

[WBird]

When this happens, I take the added step of photographing the “Return to Sender” label and attaching it to my ebay message that their item has been returned. If they respond, I request they pay for shipping again. In my experience, they rarely respond.

[Author]

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