Buyer indicates they gave the wrong address to Amazon

[anon33]

Good Evening,

For those who are experienced in selling on Amazon I have an interesting situation which probably happens daily.  A few days ago buyer purchased an item and I shipped the item expeditiously.  The item is set to arrive on Monday to the address provided by Amazon.  The buyer just contacted me twice in a 30 minute period indicating they provided the wrong address and the item will not be delivered because the address is nonexistent.  I attempted to intercept the package (USPS Priority Mail); however, at this point this is not an option.  I checked the address which I am sending the item and the new address provided by the buyer.  There is no dwelling/building on the address provided originally and the name for whom the package should be sent matches the new address.  In this case, is it safe to assume the only I will have is to refund the buyer 100% and in theory it is my option not to refund shipping?

Thank You

[tyclin]

First, you would want to wait until you receive your package back before you refund the buyer and of course, explain to the buyer that they will need to wait for refund until the package returns. 

I had experienced the following: one buyer provided "some" address that USPS stated the package was not deliverable, so the package was returned to me. The buyer told me that they were there at the address signing for another package sent by UPS and stated that they did not receive the one from me and sort of blamed me that I did not provide tracking information "to notify them", so they could be there receiving the package. And said that they usually had their package sent to PO box for security reason.

So, I told them that I would refund the amount they paid minus shipping cost. The buyer went rude and said that they did nothing wrong, demanding me full refund. (seriously, you provided some undeliverable address in amazon account and of course, that would be where the package would go, isn't it?)

From the bottom of heart, I would like to fight... but then I felt that was just some shipping cost, really not worth my time arguing; so I decided to let go and gave them full refund.

Then, a few moment later, I messaged them again nicely that since the item was still in the original package, it was available for them to buy it again if they were still interested in. But I reminded them of adding the PO box address in their amazon account before they repurchased the item. I even guided them how to add the address. And Surely, they bought again with proper address. I messaged them about the tracking number and estimated delivery time for them to watch out for the package.

They received the item and built it.

And they gave me 5 star feedback with good comment.

I think that worked out much better than spending time arguing, feeling upset in the process of arguing and probably amazon would not even stand by my side.

So, it is up to you what you want to do about shipping cost. Hope that would help!

 

[Lego_Monsters]

if you shipped to the address indicated on the order page and tracking shows it was delivered you do not need to refund. Not your fault buyer put wrong address on their Amazon account. Even if they were to dispute it as not received, your tracking shows delivered. Therefore Amazon will let you win in case of a dispute. Just ignore the buyer.

[cladner]

I have had this happen before with a box of 2 creative towers that I sent out.

I explained to the buyer that they could only be sent where amazon authorized them to go.

I told them to just not sign for them and that they would come back to me - i was prepared to eat the shipping.

They ended up just signing for them, keeping them, never heard from them again.

Ignoring the buyer is not a good idea.  I would just cut and paste the same response.  You have response time metrics and if you get a super antsy buyer, they'll ask for a refund because you didn't respond to them even though you sent it to the address they asked you to.  amazon doesn't pay attention to those stupid important details and will bend over backwards for the customer,  ignoring their own rules of waiting for the returned item to be received before issuing a refund.

Edited November 22, 2015 by cladner