Thread: custom for "undleriverable as addressed" ebay failutres?

I bought a couple of razors on ebay from one seller for a little under a hundred bucks. The razors have not arrived, and when I run the tracking number that the seller gave me on usps.com, it says the razors were undeliveralbe as addressed and that they are being returned if appropriate information was provided. I spoke with my post office branch and they said that means the seller put the wrong address on it, and they will get it back if they put a return address on the parcel. I'll mention I've received four other deliveries from ebay before and after this order from different vendors (and received them very promptly), so there is no issue with the address I'm receiving the razors at (it's my office).

It's been a couple weeks now and the seller hasn't gotten it back. The seller has a 100% positive feedback rating and has done plenty of sales, and has been fine in communicating back and forth with me on this, so I don't at all think there is any funny business going on, and I think this is a "good seller". I do however think they just made a mistake in addressing the package based on what the post office tells me.

Is it typical for me to get my money back in this situation? Since the only objective evidence I have is that the post office says the address was wrong, I don't think I should be eating my money order in this circumstance. If the post office had broken them that would be different, but this looks like simple sender error. I haven't demanded my money back yet (and the seller may well volunteer that eventually) but I wanted to check my gut on this. I haven't left any feedback yet either as I want to let it play out, and give the post office time to get the package back to the seller and give the seller time to resolve this. But was curious what is good custom on this before I start making demands.

Any thoughts?

Edit Update: produt just resurfaced in the usps tracking system so it is probably on its way here or on its way back to sender. That's good news.

Aha, a fellow Bostonian with a similar issue!

I am awaiting a similar occurance with a razor as well. In my case the adress was undeliverable as my new office shares an adress with 3 other businesses, and I had not put a "c/o..." on my address, so it was returned to the sender.

The tracking shows that it has already been returned to the sender, but I have not heard back from him since!

Contact the sender, see if you can find out what's going on, etc. I've even offered to pay for the additional shipping costs, since teh address isue in my case was indeed my fault, but I have not heard anything since...

Keep me/us posted!

Originally Posted by Seraphim

Aha, a fellow Bostonian with a similar issue!

I am awaiting a similar occurance with a razor as well. In my case the adress was undeliverable as my new office shares an adress with 3 other businesses, and I had not put a "c/o..." on my address, so it was returned to the sender.

The tracking shows that it has already been returned to the sender, but I have not heard back from him since!

Contact the sender, see if you can find out what's going on, etc. I've even offered to pay for the additional shipping costs, since teh address isue in my case was indeed my fault, but I have not heard anything since...

Keep me/us posted!

That stinks that your seller isn't staying in touch. I have to say mine has been solid on communicating, which is so important with ebay since we are all relying on good faith.

Well, no sooner do I reply to this thread.....


My razor just arrived! A keeper by the looks of it!

OK, so one Boston undeliverable has been delivered...now it's up to Loudeedacat to get his stuff!

..here's hoping you get it soon. The USPS is a real b*tch to deal with in trying to get a refund.

Originally Posted by iron maiden

..here's hoping you get it soon. The USPS is a real b*tch to deal with in trying to get a refund.

If he gave a correct address he shouldn't have to deal with USPS should he? I was thinking it's the seller's responsibility to get the goods to you. Start with ebay, then paypal or credit card. Just make sure you don't let it go past any cutoff dates for filing a dispute. Always a good idea to pay with a credit card, even when using paypal.

Originally Posted by Quick

If he gave a correct address he shouldn't have to deal with USPS should he? I was thinking it's the seller's responsibility to get the goods to you. Start with ebay, then paypal or credit card. Just make sure you don't let it go past any cutoff dates for filing a dispute. Always a good idea to pay with a credit card, even when using paypal.

That's exactly what I thought. I suspect given the volume (thousands of sales) of sales by this seller and her good rating, I wouldn't need to do more than demand fair treatment, because to maintain a 100% positive rating over thousands of sales my guess is she takes responsibility. But I didn't want to make the demand if doing so was out of line, so I'm glad to hear you agree with my view. Good news is the item has reappeared on the Usps tracking system, so hopefully it's on the way (though annoying the seller didn't tell me that) and hopefully this is all moot.

The way I see it, the seller has proof that he has shipped the item, the purchaser has proof that the item was not delivered due to faulty addressing. If the return address is not on the package or the package is not returned, a refund to the purchaser would be the ultimate outcome. If the package IS returned to the seller and indeed it is the sellers fault that the address was not complete or illegible, it should be shipped again at n/c. If it can be determined that the seller DID use the full address provided by the purchaser but that address as supplied was not complete then the purchaser should be willing to pay the additional shipping costs for the second go around. And lastly, if the package was correctly and fully addressed in a legible manner and USPS screwed it up... then.....sigh.... the fairest settlement would be a 50/50 split on the new shipping costs.

The only thing I did not account for would be if it were shipped with no insurance at the request of the purchaser in which case all risk of loss would be transfered to the purchaser, seeing the seller can prove that it was sent as requested.

Hopefully the razor will turn up in short order.... I've never lost one yet.

Regards

Christian

Originally Posted by kaptain_zero

if the package was correctly and fully addressed in a legible manner and USPS screwed it up... then.....sigh.... the fairest settlement would be a 50/50 split on the new shipping costs.

I'd agree with all but that last part. I see delivery as part of running an online business. The seller hasn't completed their part of the transaction until the goods are in your possession (delivered). Even if the seller offers delivery options that you choose from. If the seller specifies that failure on the part of the carrier is the buyer's responsibility then there may be room for argument.

update: my razors arrived back at the seller, who had left one of the four lines of my address off the package. Oy. Hopefully I'll get this next week.