eBay

shoppergurl08 · ‎03-27-2023

Hi,

I shipped a low value item ($8) within Canada, untracked. Buyer opened an INR after a month of not receiving the item. Upon further investigation the buyer had an incorrect shipping address on their profile. Buyer is requesting a refund even though they supplied a wrong address. I contacted ebay help and it wasn't much help at all, lol. Their advice is to wait until the 4 days to see if the buyer asks ebay to step in, which I already know is horrible advice as they will probably side with the buyer as I don't have tracking on the item. Then I'll get a strike on my account. I was asking if they offer seller protection if the buyer has clearly shown that they provided an incorrect shipping address, again I couldn't get a response. So, anyone out there have luck having a case closed in your favour for an incorrect address provided by the buyer with no tracking ? In the end I'll probably refund as it's only $8, it just bothers me that buyer is clearly at fault here yet I have to eat the loss.

reallynicestamps · ‎03-28-2023

When we ship without tracking (about 95% of my shipments) we are taking a gamble that we will have a Claim for non-delivery.

The only defence against such a claim is to provide a tracking number.

Perhaps your buyer got the item and is faking it.

Perhaps the incorrect address means the shipment is slowly on its way back to you.
Perhaps the shipment is at the bottom of a bag at the Gateway Terminal under fifty other bags waiting to be needed.

Their advice is to wait until the 4 days to see if the buyer asks ebay to step in, which I already know is horrible advice as they will probably side with the buyer as I don't have tracking on the item. Then I'll get a strike on my account.

What we do is refund. With an apology to the buyer for their disappointment.

Even if the dimwit buyer gave the wrong address.

Then we don't lose the Claim, which is not the same thing as losing the payment.

We do lose the payment.

Because not using Tracking is a gamble.

It's a good gamble, in my opinion. As I said, 95% of my shipments are not tracked.

The money I save on untracked shipping plus the likelihood of getting some sales because of low shipping charges, pays for the odd refund.

What you lose on the coconuts, you make up on the roundabouts.

When we refund voluntarily we don't get the Defect, which is much more expensive in terms of our business.

And keep in mind that you are risking higher fees and restrictions on the number and value of your future listings for the sake of eight bucks. A latte and a butter tart at my favourite coffee shop.

needsmorerobots · ‎03-28-2023

Refund and apologize, there is no other way unless you want to start shipping items tracked in future.

Look up in the forums (it's too early in the morning to get a link out of me) about Cookie Jar insurance (yes I capitalized it) for days just such as these.

And last but not least, I check every address via Google Maps to make sure the address at least exists. It's not 100% protection but if they give an address for their home and it comes up as a parking garage somewhere in downtown Chicago, then you know something smells fishy.

shoppergurl08 · ‎03-28-2023

Thanks for the reply. Yes, my intention is to just refund and call it a day. I'm just surprised some buyers don't own their mistakes. If positions were reversed and I was the buyer making that mistake (buyer had a Toronto address with province and postal code as British Columbia) I would not be expecting a refund for my error. Anyway, there's a chance the envelope gets kicked back to me at some point in time, I already wasted too much time on this for $8.

brettjet38 · ‎03-28-2023

You shipped without tracking, not much you can do but refund...

...that is the risk when shipping via Lettermail.

reallynicestamps · ‎03-28-2023

(buyer had a Toronto address with province and postal code as British Columbia)

Well that is pretty dim.

Any explanation from them about why?

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎03-28-2023

Refund, block the buyer, and move on.

You're right that waiting for the buyer to ask eBay to step in is bad advice.

Your only recourse is to discuss the issue with the buyer, and hope that they are reasonable about the error being their fault. Possibly offer to re-send the item if/when Canada Post returns it to you.

If you contact the buyer, they verify the error was their fault, and they still exploit the INR system for a refund, you can report the buyer after you resolve it with a refund. eBay will sometimes take action against buyers who abuse the INR coverage. This doesn't really help you. It only helps possibly remove the buyer from eBay if they continue to order things with an incorrect address and more sellers report them.

If the buyer insists on following through with the INR, you can politely ask the buyer to refuse the package when it arrives. The buyer can write "refused" on the package when it arrives, and drop it back into a mail box.

Or, if they still want the item, they can re-pay you for it when it arrives, either through rebuying it on eBay, or through Paypal or e-Transfer. You're allowed to exchange Paypal info for the purpose of a buyer re-paying for an item that was refunded.

It is a toss up over whether the item will be returned to you by Canada Post, or whether they will manually correct the province. Either way, it could take weeks. I had an item where the buyer supplied the wrong address, it was returned to me by Canada Post nearly 2 years later.

reallynicestamps · ‎03-28-2023

Good point @ilikehockeyjerseys

Undeliverable mail is usually returned to the sender eventually.

But that event may be over a month away since returns are never a priority with the postal system

The buyer should try to understand that.

flipistics · ‎03-28-2023

@shoppergurl08 wrote:
Thanks for the reply. Yes, my intention is to just refund and call it a day. I'm just surprised some buyers don't own their mistakes. If positions were reversed and I was the buyer making that mistake (buyer had a Toronto address with province and postal code as British Columbia) I would not be expecting a refund for my error. Anyway, there's a chance the envelope gets kicked back to me at some point in time, I already wasted too much time on this for $8.

Tell the buyer you are sorry they didn't get their item and refund them. Politely ask them to fix their address in eBay to prevent future problems. There's a decent chance it'll eventually work its way back to you.

I check untracked addresses in Canada Post's Address Complete https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/ac/ which allows me to fix formatting easier as well as check for any problems like that. Not every address is there, but most are. The Try It Now box doesn't seem to have any usage limits.

rocketscollectibles · ‎03-28-2023

Ebay will never side with seller about delivery when it's untracked. The reason is simple, shipping is seller's responsability, and you have no proof that you shipped the order. The only accepted proof is tracking. Think about it in this situation a dishonest seller could keep the package (don't ship), and then the buyer's money.

If they opened a case, just refund. Don't wait ebay to step in, it will be an automatic loss and a defect for a case closed without resolution.

electronicifycanada · ‎03-28-2023

You're at least sounding smart and handling it better then others have.

I know it sucks, it's happened to me a couple times to and I had to refund.

Yes the buyer does lose buyer protection if they used a wrong address according to eBay policy. The issue is the automated bots that handle all requests aren't coded to handle buyers using wrong addresses.

Personally, I'm kind of surprised news articles hasn't picked up on this issue yet as it's really breaking their own policy.