Undeliverable package

Canadafirst

One of the packages we sent was undeliverable because the address the customer gave us was incomplete.

We sent them a message saying so and asking for the correct address. They provided it. We asked them to pay for shipping again and they are refusing and saying it looks like a scam.

Since we did nothing wrong we don't want to refund the order in full and if push comes to shove we'll ship it back out and blacklist them since this would be less expensive to us than refunding in full and losing the shipping on the way there.

Is there a mechanism to reinvoice shipping or some way to get them to understand? We sent them an image of the order showing that the address they gave us is incomplete as well as the envelope with the postal service sticked on it saying it's an incomplete address so we're a bit stumped here. They're a first-time buyer on here.

Malnaborg

Well for starters, if the address from brickowl/shipping field and or paypal is wrong.
And it is the buyer who have written it wrong. Then i do not see either way that it is their own fault.

Apart from that, can you not use the same shipping again? Maybe just place a new address piece over the old written one?
If not, it is a nice gesture to give back some of the cost to the buyer, but i would properly, do the same as you have done. Asking for a new shipping, or maybe ask the postoffice what to do.

Canadafirst

The address we used is the one they gave to brick owl as their shipping address.

We cannot re-use shipping.

nita_rae

Was the address undeliverable, or a valid address but not the intended address ?

In the US, I can usually spot a patently undeliverable address because Pirate Ship (via Pitney Bowes) will not be able to convert the address into a Zip+4 (aka 9-digit zip code).

Customer has to supply a valid address, and PayPal or Stripe should be able to validate it (at some level).

As to how to deal with this, what percentage of the payment was shipping ?

tons_of_bricks

How messed up was the original address? We had a similar issue where the buyer accidentally put a non-existent house number in their address. The package was returned to us, and we were able to merely cross out the incorrect house number on the package and write the correct one above it without having to buy another shipping label. Sent the package back out; it arrived to the customer.

Emporiosa

@firestar246 In Canada, they cross out the stamp on Lettermail sized packages as the postage has been used for the delivery attempt and tracked parcels have unusable labels as well Ironically, I just received one back yesterday for a BrickOwl member - first in a couple of years for any platform. Wonder if it's the same person. Was Stripe also, so it doesn't seem like they can check if units are needed (as the base address will look correct).

Canadafirst

@nita_rae Address was incomplete, and it was the same on brick owl and paypal.

It's a 10.00$ish order with 4.20$CAD shipping so around 14.xx$

Rather than refund the 14.xx$ we're better off biting the bullet and sending it back.

Buyer ended up responding that once he receives it he will pay for the additional shipping. Pretty insulting but hey, we'll take it, better than nothing. The very idea that he thinks we'd scam him for his 10.xx$ is both insulting and ludicrous.