Item sent Special Delivery but returned undelivered

daveboy

I need some advice on this one - last week I sent an item using Special Delivery, and two days later it was returned as the address was apparently incomplete.

The person I sold it to asked me to send it to another address, something to do with an outstanding order (must have a shop on there). I think from checking the Royal Mail website that the postcode was wrong (why that meant they couldn't look at the rest of the address I don't know).

The item cost £18.50 to send, due to the weight. The purchaser has given me positive feedback, and the item shows as delivered on the Royal Mail website, although it doesn't give a time and from which delivery office.

I have had no contact with the purchaser, and am not prepared to send it again without being paid the £18.50.

I charged £15 postage to send it originally, so took a loss of £3.50 first time around. Am I justified in this case to ask for the £18.50 before I do anything?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

soolin

daveboy wrote:

I need some advice on this one - last week I sent an item using Special Delivery, and two days later it was returned as the address was apparently incomplete.

The person I sold it to asked me to send it to another address, something to do with an outstanding order (must have a shop on there). I think from checking the Royal Mail website that the postcode was wrong (why that meant they couldn't look at the rest of the address I don't know).

The item cost £18.50 to send, due to the weight. The purchaser has given me positive feedback, and the item shows as delivered on the Royal Mail website, although it doesn't give a time and from which delivery office.

I have had no contact with the purchaser, and am not prepared to send it again without being paid the £18.50.

I charged £15 postage to send it originally, so took a loss of £3.50 first time around. Am I justified in this case to ask for the £18.50 before I do anything?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

In the circumstances I would email the buyer again and ask for payment of the second lot of post and packing fees, plus paypal charges and explain that once you have those you will send item to the address he requires. Also offer the buyer the opportunity to make other arrangements for the parcel, at his own cost and at no inconvenience to yourself.

The buyer sounds like a bit of a wally anyway, leaving positive feedback before getting the item!

The only thing I don't understand is that for the item to show as delivered on the RM website it needed to get a signature at point of delivery. IF the Royal mail website shows that then someone must have taken in the parcel originally, otherwise the website would show parcel returned or redirected.

Anyway, assuming you copied down the address exacttly as it showed on your payal notification then you are in the clear, it is up to the buyers to ensure that their paypal addresses are accurate.

Soo

Altarf

If the person has given positive feedback before the item has been delivered, they sound like ebay is all a bit new to them.

Assuming that you sent it to the address provided by the buyer, if it was incorrect and resulted in its failure to be delivered that is their problem.

However.....

If you are paid by Paypal NEVER send anything to anywhere other than the address on the Paypal account. It is too easy for a dodgy buyer to claim you failed to send the item and do a chargeback.
Personally I will never send to anywhere other than the buyers ebay address if they pay by any other means (if they don't like it they can change their ebay address).

How wrong was the postcode? Are we talking a London postcode, but an address in Manchester, or are we talking a couple of streets away. If the latter, I would take it up with the Post Office and would be surprised if they didn't see sense (especially if they have messed up and shown it as delivered). I always stick the postcode of the buyers address into Multimap just to make sure things look OK before sticking the item in the post.

I would:
a) check that the post code and address match or don't match
b) depending on how different take it up with either the post office or the buyer.
c) if vast difference or the post office won't play ball, contact the buyer and explain that by giving you the wrong address the package got returned. If they want it sent again, they will have to pay again. If the P&P was only £15 in the auction, I would stick to that and swallow the £3.50 loss (hard though it might be) otherwise you will end up with two arguments.
d) if the buyer paid by Paypal, be prepared for a chargeback for failure to deliver (move that money now).

daveboy

I wasn't that clear earlier. The item has been returned to me at my local delivery office as I was out at the time it was attempted at my home. I signed for it to take it back as it wasn't delivered.

The purchaser has a rating of 77 at present and has no negatives at all. The address was in Bolton and the postcode was a Bolton postcode (not sure how far away as I obviously don't know the area).

I realised that tapping the postcode in to the Royal Mail site would have avoided this, but it's too late for hindsight. I have the package back at the moment - so the only reason I can see the RM site saying 'delivered' is due to me signing to take it back.

You may have noticed from using it that it says it was delivered before a certain time, on a certain date, from a certain delivery office. All it says when I put the code in is that the item has been delivered - if you haven't received the item, please check with the mailroom, your colleagues or neighbours.

I am sure, as I gave the tracking number to the person who purchased it, that they have checked it, seen it as delivered, then given me positive feedback.

I have already moved the money out of PayPal, I did that earlier in the week as I am aware of the chargeback issue.

The item should have been delivered on 2nd Feb, and I've had nothing from anyone. I am a good eBayer, have a 55 rating with no negatives, but am not prepared to be out of pocket on this one. I am tempted to wait for someone to contact me, as it is inevitable.

I am close to not bothering with it in the future as it's either full of scams or you get issues like this.

Altarf

daveboy wrote:

The address was in Bolton and the postcode was a Bolton postcode (not sure how far away as I obviously don't know the area).

Why not stick the address into Multimap without the postcode, then stick in just the postcode and see what the difference is?

daveboy

The item was sent to a postcode starting BL2 whereas the correct address started BL4.

Altarf

I would take it up with the post office then. Their webpage http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=15500181&mediaId=15500182 indicates that misaddressed mail will be delayed, but doesn't say they won't check it before sending it back. After all the postcode should help the delivery, not stop it.

LongDongDave

daveboy wrote:

The item was sent to a postcode starting BL2 whereas the correct address started BL4.

Keep the original Special Delivery packaging and take this to the PO. I sold a phone before xmas and sent it Special Delivery in one of their silver bags. The buyers address was [......] Ireland. I took the package to the PO, the lady weighed it and gave me a stamped receipt. The next day the parcel arrived back at my address with a label saying i couldn't use this service for "International" parcels. I went to the PO and at first they tried to blame me, but i stuck to my guns and instisted they should not have accepted the parcel for a service they couldn't provide (Special Delivery is for UK only). Anyway, ended up sending the parcel International Signed with a refund for the original £5.20 i had paid... they kept the original packaging.

daveboy

The item is quite large so it wasn't in a Special Delivery bag. It was wrapped adequately, and just has the special delivery label and the big white postage label in the corner. Whilst I can see in the above situation they didn't have a leg to stand on, with my situation, the address was wrong so it may be me without the leg to stand on.

I think the best thing to do is to ask for postage again - as if I get that I am willing to send it again.

Sybarite

I agree with the advice given. I only dispatch to the address listed on the paypal payment invoice, if the item is above £28 I get the buyer to confirm that details are correct before dispatch can take place, so there is no room for confusion

The buyer should pay the second postage charge as it's their mistake, but you can't really increase it by the appropriate £3.50 as this will rub salt into the wound of a 100% postal charge increase - see it from their point of view. If you slightly misjudged the postage I think you'll just have to live with it - we've all done it - so think of it in term of postal Karma, you've lost slightly this time but might pay under the going rate the next time you make a purchase.

I would also offer a refund less the initial postage and then simply re-list the item - email the buyer and state that you appreciate their position and are therefore offering them as many alternatives as possible. You will be making a small loss but you will be saving a lost of hastle and at least you can charge the accurate postage rate the second time around.

HairyHatMan

What I find odd about this is that if you send something by standard parcels, the PO have to enter the post code on their system and confirm that it relates to the address on the package. Why can't they apply the same process to their most expensive service?