Letter bounced back for "no such address"

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Third time having something bounced back to me. Good that I do always put a return address on my packages... 

1st time, it was a hand-made paper craft that I sold for $3.50 probably 8 years ago, someone wrote "refused" on there, contacted the US buyer, they never responded, I shrugged and kept the $3.50 (which is only $2 after fees and postage lol).

2nd time, the US buyer put a fictional character's name on the envelope and her family refused it with "no such person" lol. I asked her to tell me her real name and to let her family know not to refuse the next letter from Canada, and I charged her postage to remail it. Arrived just fine.

This time, it's "no such address" for a Canadian... so I just googled the address and indeed, it looks like there is no such street number on that street address. There is an address with the same street number and postal code but different street name on the same block. 

Now, this buyer also bought two more books last week and it was shipped to the same address ("confirmed" on Paypal...) so I think the other two books will probably bounce back to me within a couple weeks. The buyer initially did message me about buying other books, but never responded to my messages. So I just messaged them and e-mailed them about the book that bounced back but haven't heard back yet...

What can be my next course of action if she doesn't reply again? Does eBay allow partial refunds to be sent, and do I get part of the FVF back? 

[tyler@ebay]

Hi @zee-chan-jpn-books - what an odd situation to have happen, on three items to the same buyer no less!

You are able to issue a less than full refund, though you would need to do that entirely through PayPal. 

In order to avoid an 'out of stock' defect, make sure you are messaging them on all three transactions, and that when you do issue a refund that you are refunding at least 80% of the total amount they paid. 

If you follow that process you should automatically receive a partial Final Value Fee credit within 7-10 days (it runs every week). If you run into any trouble let me know!

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Hi tyler@ebay , thanks for your reply. So even if I do a partial refund Paypal, eBay will somehow register that refund and refund part of my FVF? 20% is just about enough to cover the shipping and Paypal fee so if that's case at least I wouldn't be out as much money... I assume if I refund 80%, I'll get 80% of my FVF back?

[tyler@ebay]

Oops - I missed a step there, sorry for my mistake @zee-chan-jpn-books!

Best process for this will be:

• Send message to the buyer on all items you get back
• Refund 80% of the transaction through PayPal
• Send cancellation notice on eBay
• Final Value Fee credit will automate within the next 7-10 days

Sending the message before issuing the refund will prevent any 'out of stock' cancellation, refunding before you send the cancellation will prevent an 'automated' refund of the transaction through us, and also initiate the partial credit review. 🙂

[reallynicestamps]

What reason would be used for the cancellation? Problem with address?

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Thanks tyler@ebay , that sounds straightforward.

Is there a deadline for initiating this cancellation process to get FVF back? I don't plan on doing the partial refund and cancelling until I get the other two books back, but since they are mailed two weeks apart, would I end up missing the deadline for getting fees back with the first book?

[tyler@ebay]

Good question @zee-chan-jpn-books - you have 30 days from the sale date on eBay to send a cancellation. Hopefully that gives you enough time to be able to get them back! 

To @reallynicestamps' question: the proper cancellation would be buyer request/problem with buyer's address (since it was returned because of address issues). 

[pjcdn2005]

If it is past the 30 day, you 'may' be able to get your fvf by phoning ebay but I'm just guessing on that. 

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

tyler@ebay

Eeek, so that's less than two weeks left for the first book. Well, I hope the buyer will reply soon... The three books together are like $60 CAD so it's not exactly a small sum to do nothing about. I don't really want to call the buyer either since I only have one phone and it's for work+family.

On an unrelated note, I have questions on some of your responses to other sellers on the weekly chat, should I just make a new thread here about them since it's locked now?

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

lol, in that case I'll just incorporate the FVF and refund less to the buyer... I hope they are physically okay, not in some sort of accident, but if they're okay then it's their responsibility to 1. Provide right address 2. Respond to messages and emails. If they don't reply to messages then they can't complain about the refund amount they get. I checked her feedback and she also bought a few books from two other Japanese sellers between the first book she bought from me and the last two books she bought, so I'd imagine that those books are also going to be undeliverable but will take another month to be bounced back to Japan...

It's not worth my time to call eBay customer service unless it's more than $10, or if it's a wide spread issue affecting multiple listings.

[tyler@ebay]

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@zee-chan-jpn-books wrote:
tyler@ebay

Eeek, so that's less than two weeks left for the first book. Well, I hope the buyer will reply soon... The three books together are like $60 CAD so it's not exactly a small sum to do nothing about. I don't really want to call the buyer either since I only have one phone and it's for work+family.

On an unrelated note, I have questions on some of your responses to other sellers on the weekly chat, should I just make a new thread here about them since it's locked now?

---

Hi @zee-chan-jpn-books - hoping that you get all of them back quickly! 

And yes, please make a new thread and give me a tag when it's done so I get the notification to give it a review. Thanks!

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Finally the buyer replied. Her address is indeed the other address I found on Google, which is the perpendicular street on the same block. I'm actually surprised that the postie there didn't know or wouldn't try the tall building there... I think this buyer is an international student since the building looks like it's on campus, so that might be why she wrote the "wrong" street name.

Anyhow, I wrote back telling her that I'm gonna wait until her other books get bounced back (or if she does get the them then let me know), and I'll send her a new Paypal invoice for reshipment cost.

Problem solved!... for now. I hope the books get bounced back soon. I'm gonna be busy with work again next week (this week is my Staycation) and might not be able to answer the door... the postie almost mis-delivered that book to my neighbour but I happened to be home so I caught it.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Funny, the second letter (the 2 books) arrived at her building. I guess the postie that delivered that day realized the buyer is an international student who was confused about the street address and delivered it to her building. So now I have remailed the bounced back book to her correct address as she paid shipping to remail.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Bumping my own zombie-ish thread instead of starting a new one!

Well, got another international student buying from me. Not that I'm complaining about having a sale... but this time I was smart enough to google the address, and low and behold... part of the street address was missing... they included the university's street address, but not their dorm building's street address

Just messaged the buyer with what I think would be the correct street address, and waiting for her to verify it...... 

[reallynicestamps]

Kids away from home for the first time, eh?

Amazing that they can feed themselves sometimes.

Glad you caught it in time.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

To be fair, the address format in Asian language vs English is quite different. They did include the university's street address, which most people would assume is adequate...

For example, Japanese address starts with postal code, then prefecture, city, district/block code (or whatever it's called in English), building name, then room number... Confusing as hell. I was glad GPS existed whenever I traveled there.