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Incomplete Address?
 

A couple of weeks ago I sold an item to a buyer in the U.S.

I printed off the label and put it on the parcel and Took a photo of the parcel and the label with their address on it. The address on the label of course matches their shipping address registered on ebay. The buyer messaged me yesterday to say they called up ''their post office'' and the post office (usps) said that the address is incomplete. I then called up USPS myself where they said the same thing, the address is ''wrong'' but the city, state and zip code are correct. I asked what address did they have on their end and they said they are not allowed to tell me,And they told me to call up the my shipping service in the UK, (Royal mail)

Tracking shows it is still located in Miami, in customs on USPS website, but on the RM tracking website it shows that it has enetered the city of my buyer, that is in the state of Indiana. Tracking shows that the parcel has yet to be delivered

Im just wondering what could have gone wrong, and how? Has anyone else had this situation before and could it be a scam somehow on the buyers side??

Re: Incomplete Address?
 

if the address is a legit physical address and your buyer has no problem getting his mail at that address,then the only possible reason why address is wrong is IF Someone has tempered with your package !
What is the item,US customs could open the package to examine the item and seal it back!

Re: Incomplete Address?
 

A T-shirt, value £30.00

Re: Incomplete Address?
 

Tell the buyer to pick it up from USPS.

And tell the buyer to fix his address on eBay.

Another thing you can do is ask USPS to return the parcel to you and you refund the buyer.

Re: Incomplete Address?
 

Deff thinking about th 3rd option if things go south. Not sure if the buyer can collect the parcel as It might be in Miami. My buyer is about 1,000 miles away.

Im just wondering what happened, so I guess my buyers address didnt show up with USPS database, is that how it works?

Re: Incomplete Address?
 

If it can't be delivered because the address is so incomplete that a property cannot be identifies then it will be returned. Obviously collection is unlikely to be an option - if the address is that badly wrong how can you prove it was meant for you! It could also be sat hundreds of miles away.
Having said that, have you run the address you've got through google, it should be possible to determine what part of the address is so badly wrong/missing.

I sell so little outside of the EU that I used to check the completeness of worldwide/non-EU address anyway before I posted it, maybe if you only have a few too it might be worth introducing it into your routine.

Re: Incomplete Address?
 

Yeah I dont send many outside of the UK, maybe only 1%

I did look up their address on Google maps, did show up as a property, But im not sure what to take from that,. I will call RM today, id be happy just to get the parcel back, I have had alot of drama with this parcel. I felt that I had less probelms when I shipped using the ebay global shipping program, this parcel was sent myself. Think I will stop shipping international myself, too much BS involved

Re: Incomplete Address?
 

I've started getting a huge number of orders like this in the past couple weeks. The postage software tells me the address is ambiguous but eBay tells me it's the buyer confirmed address. I have no idea what's going on. :noidea:

Re: Incomplete Address?
 

Your best bet is to allow GSP to your listings. That way ebay are responsible for all shipping once it leaves their centers

Re: Incomplete Address?
 

Yeah, so contacted RM, so far it looks like USPS will return the parcel, good thing I put a clear secure printed out return address on the on parcel.

Re: Incomplete Address?
 

It's all orders within my country (USA). I actually logged back into aspkin just now because it just happened again.

What I've been doing is using eBay shipping labels for those orders since the postage software refuses to print a shipping label with an address it sees as ambiguous. Unfortunately that doesn't matter at all if the shipment reaches the destination and is still undeliverable.. I'll be on the hook for the refund once it makes its way back to me. :(

I really don't get it. This was never an issue for me until stamps.com updated their software a couple weeks ago. :mad2:

Re: Incomplete Address?
 

Oh I see. I dont know anything about the U.S. system, been out of the country for 15 years. Never had any shipping probems until my first shipment to the U.S. in a awhile. Weird

Re: Incomplete Address?
 

If the package comes back to you,it would take a long time and you may be asked to pay return postage.
Your buyer is in a better position to find out,there is also a 1-800 USPS customer service number he can called ,if he gives them the tracking number,they can see more than we can .
They can also forward his inquiry to his local post office .

Re: Incomplete Address?
 

Spoke to Royal mail about that, and they said it will take about 2 weeks for the parcel to get back to me and there wont be an extra charge. Royal mail is the originating courier that I sent the parcel with, and was told to contact RM by USPS

well see though at the end of the day, but USPS and RM gave me the impression that there are no other options but to return the parcel. Plus my buyer has had abit of an attitude from the day I sent it, so I just want a clean cut right now.