@vintagenorth wrote:Last week I mailed 2 items (1 LetterPost, 1 Lt Pkt) to a US forwarding company in Portland, Oregon. The address was correct as per PayPal. The items were to be forwarded to NZ.
My NZ buyer has just informed me that the forwarding co. address has changed. Evidently they moved and she gave me the old address. I have no way of knowing if they left a change of address with USPS. Of course she has asked me to resend once they are returned to me. Some questions:
1. Will I ever get these returned and how long does this take?
If they don't get delivered they will be returned, it can take a long time (weeks at least, 1 or 2 months would not be unusual
2. Will I have to pay to get them back?
Probably not for the LetterPost, maybe for the Light Packet
3. I have no way of knowing if they will ever get back to me or get to her in NZ. (No tracking, of course))
You'll know if the buyer tells you they never showed up.
Because of the new defect system I am thinking I should just do a cancellation for incorrect address (can I even though item has been shipped?) and take the loss. If she does get them and wants to repay that's fine, if not it's only about $35 US.
Not sure what the defect system has to do with anything?
Any helpful suggestions appreciated!
If this is a legit forwarding service (instead of just a friend/relative thing) I can't image that they would not have thir mail forwarded from the old address (unless the change took place a very long time ago).
@vintagenorth wrote:Sorry recped, I should have said new delivery standards, not new defect system. If it takes a long tome for these to get back to me for sure I will miss my delivery dates through no fault of mine. Well, other than I guess I could have charged a ridiculously high shipping fee and included tracking. I don't think so, not for a couple of knitting patterns.
i have researched and I think I have the name and new phone no. for the forwarding company (isn't Google maps great) so will give them a call tomorrow. Sure hope their CS people are in the US!
Since you didn't use tracking you can only get a shipping time ding if the buyer answers No to the "did you receive on time" question. Since you shipped to the US and I assume that's the address the buyer used paid it's almost certain that going through a forwarder and then going to NZ it's going to be late no matter what additional delay there might be due to the incorrect address.
Of course if the buyer doesn't leave feedback they won't get the question and thus it won't count even if it is late.
Get used to it, if you are shipping from Canada to the USA via Canada Post AND without any tracking you are going to have some late shipment dings. For the rest of the world the delivery time estimates may be sufficient.
@vintagenorth wrote:I think this is going to end up as a big(ger) headache. I may actually have to call eBay about the incorrect shipping addresses if all else fails. Just as a heads up in case of late deliveries.
i wish eBay shipping preferences allowed us to say no shipping to these forwarding companies. There are too many problems shipping to them, it's always a gamble.
Why is shipping to a forwarder problematic? Buyers who don't use them are just as capable of failing to update their address.
Although I ship worldwide I'd rather ship to a forwarder in the USA than to a buyer in NZ, certainly it's going to be faster and easier to get delivery confirmation if that's important to you.
