Unresponsive customer - average wait time?

HeartlandBrix

Question for more experienced stores out there, as this is a first for me.

I shipped an order to a new user, which is common for my store. The purchase amount was very small (<$1.00 USD), also not uncommon for my sales to new users. I used the shipping address the customer provided (different from the PayPal address customer used for payment), and sent it on its way. Shipping took longer than normal, but I had tracking and it was the holidays, so I didn't stress too much.

Suddenly, poof!, package is back in my mailbox: "Insufficient Address, Unable to Forward, Return to Sender".

I didn't mis-type the address, so I either have a bad address or the buyer moved. I've left a couple messages for the buyer requesting a confirmation of the original address or a new address, but no response yet. Buyer has no feedback from other stores, making me think this order is the only thing they've done on the platform.

If this has happened to you, how long do you wait for a response before writing the customer off as lost and refunding part/all of their order? I'm curious what other sellers have done. I know I'll make at least one more attempt.

Papa Pearson

In the future, when you see mismatched addresses, you should ask before you ship. I've had several orders where the addresses didn't match. I have always sent a message to ask which is correct. I'm about a 50/50 split on which one they tell me is correct. So don't assume the Brick Owl address is correct.

Papa Pearson

I would wait a week from when the package was returned to you. If the buyer doesn't respond by that time, you would be able to cancel and send a refund with an explanation sent to the buyer.

tons_of_bricks

I'd give them 2-3 reminders over a course of a week, stating in each that if you don't hear from them by a specific date, you will cancel the order and refund them.

nita_rae

@HeartlandBrix A couple of months back, I had an order on another site. Payment was via PayPal and everything looked good, so I shipped it. Then, maybe 3+ weeks later, the package came back to me with markings similar to what you described. When i reached out to the buyer, the wanted it shipped to a different address (same zip code). I refunded the payment and asked them to place a new order, which they did. As best as I could sort it out, they moved, and never filed a Change of Address with the post office. So USPS bounced it around for a bit, then sent it back to the shipper, because they didn't know where the customer moved to.

I don't blame PayPal as their payment card might have been in transition at the time of the order. This morning, I received another order (over yonder) with different email addresses on the order, and on the payment. The email's domain on the PayPal payment is bogus, but PayPal marked is as eligible, so I'm still meditating about how to handle it. For express payments, I don't think PayPal does any verification of email addresses. They are there mostly in case the seller needs to contact the buyer and/or PayPal wants to them it shipped. Obviously neither is going to work in this case.

HeartlandBrix

Thanks, everyone!