I sold a smallish music item (a DI box) on eBay.

After I sent it the buyer emailed me to say it had gone to the ‘wrong’ address, as he’d recently moved but not updated his eBay details.

It appears the new resident then refused the delivery and it has been sent back to me, but that was over a week ago and nothing has turned up yet.
RM tracking just says ‘item returned’ so no help there.

If it never gets back to me (I’m still hoping it does) and as I did nothing wrong, and the buyer was at fault by not updating his address, will I have to refund him?

Should I just refund him anyway and try to claim from RM?

He says he still wants the item (if it eventually gets back to me) but I’ll have to charge him the postage again, and hope he’s changed his address on eBay or I won’t be covered.

Frankly, it’s a ball-ache, and I’m tempted to see if it’s returned, then if it is refund and block him in principle!

I’m tempted to see if it’s returned, then if it is refund and block him in principle!

This for me, and I’d make him force the refund through eBay.

I had a similar issue recently with an item being returned to me, although Royal Mail were partially at fault there due to -seemingly – a confusing address, though the buyer didn’t exactly help matters by then refusing to go to the sorting office. I managed to get a refund (in the form of a book of stamps) out of Royal Mail, but I don’t imagine that would work in your case if the buyer just gave you the wrong address.

You don’t live here do you OP? You’re not the very angry looking young’un up front are you?
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/apr/16/villagers-frustrated-after-royal-mail-deliveries-stop-for-almost-three-weeks

Nope, rural Devon 😆 he looks very annoyed. Grrr!

Not sure why you’d go down the blocking route, simple mistake perhaps and if the item domes back to you no harm done. If they are happy covering second lot of postage I would just go with that.

On a more useful note, I’d get him to claim it back as item not received, let ebay deal with that, I expect they’ll refund the buyer and tell you to claim from RM, not sure how well that will go mind. Given it’s the buyers fault though ebay may side with you.

If it does come back, relist it, bin with correct postage and have the buyer rebuy it. Don’t do that off ebay.

Assuming it’s all above board,

It’s the responsibility of the sender – ie, the OP – to arrange successful delivery of the goods. The goods were rejected so RM are returning the delivery to the sender. It is here that the process has seemingly failed, so any ‘fault’ is on the part of RM.

Therefore as the one with the contract with RM, the OP needs to chase them for compensation. Ebay – rightly – should reimburse the buyer due to non-delivery.

It’s the responsibility of the sender – ie, the OP – to arrange successful delivery of the goods.

So it’s my fault he was a **** and didn’t update his details?

Ebay – rightly – should reimburse the buyer due to non-delivery

But he gave me the wrong address? So he’s at fault…though I know eBay often side with the buyer as a default.

Cougar that just ain’t right

Assuming it’s all above board,

It’s not. The wrong address was given which makes the remainder of your post irrelevant.

RM will usually limit their liability to something like £20, unless you declared the value and paid extra. I don’t understand how they can exclude liability for their own negligence but they used to be part of the Post Office (who were able to prosecute innocent Postmasters).

So it’s my fault he was a **** and didn’t update his details?

I didn’t say it’s your fault, I said it’s your responsibility. Fault has no bearing here, why it wasn’t delivered doesn’t change the fact that it wasn’t.

Should you get the delivery back, you’d need to resend it to the correct address (updated on eBay of course, and he should be paying postage) or cancel the sale. If you don’t get the goods back then you obviously can’t resend them so you as the seller need to lodge a compensation claim with the courier which you booked and paid for. That is your recourse here, you wouldn’t just go “oh well, it’s his own stupid fault, sucks to be him” and dance off into the sunset with the buyer’s money.

It’s not. The wrong address was given which makes the remainder of your post irrelevant.

“Above board” as in, it was a genuine mistake rather than some sort of scam.

Is it Spurious Argument Sunday again already? How time flies.

RM will usually limit their liability to something like £20, unless you declared the value and paid extra

It was sold for £35, and i sent it 2nd class signed for, so hopefully…

From the RM site:

Every Signed For 2nd Class item is covered against loss or damage up to £50 or the value of the item, whichever is lower.

Alternatively you prove you posted it to the address on eBay’s file.

That’s not your fault that it’s wrong. . it’s not your responsibility to retrieve it from that address either.

If it comes back to you then that’s good luck nothing else.

The whole **** up here is on the ebay buyer no one else.

Disagree too. Without the RM ‘returned’ detail it all sounds like a classic scam.
If you buy something off me on ebay, I’ll check your postage address and your paypal address. If they are different I will message to ask which address – if there is only one address I won’t check, I’ll just message and say it’s on its way. Comms these days is so frickin easy, if the buyer doesn’t respond with ‘oh I’ve changed my address’ then its totally their fault if it goes to the wrong place.
In the OP’s shoes I’d wait a week and see if the return arrives. If it doesn’t I’d treat it as a scam and report it to ebay, see what my options are. If it does, refund and block the ****.

Alternatively you prove you posted it to the address on eBay’s file.

And it wasn’t delivered.

That’s not your fault that it’s wrong. . it’s not your responsibility to retrieve it from that address either.

Agreed. But again, it wasn’t delivered.

Had the old address accepted it then I’d agree 100%, tough titty, the OP has fulfilled their part of the contract and it’s now the buyer’s problem.

Morally you may well be correct, but as with Who’s Fault Is It Anyway? it doesn’t matter. The problem isn’t that it hasn’t been delivered to the correct address, the problem is that it hasn’t been delivered anywhere.

This is exactly what the Royal Mail redirection service is for.

I’m not sure that you should be held responsible for what’s happened after it arrived at the incorrect address tbh, you did everything you were supposed to up until that point.

Can’t say I put any of this on the OP at all. Whether it was delivered or not isn’t down to him. He sent it to an address as per terms of sale.

The fact it was wrong is 100% on the buyer and he has no reason to do anything more.

If it comes back, then of course it’s a nice thing to send it again, but if it doesn’t, then personally I wouldn’t be chasing RM for it.

Erm, I may be missing something here but it it was taken to the correct address and refused, as the buyer provided incorrect details. the seller has fulfilled his obligation. It’s the buyers fault from there on.

“I’ll check your postage address and your paypal address. If they are different I will message to ask which address.”

(sorry, quote function refuses to work)

This is getting trickier due to eBay’s new managed payment system which is direct debit, rather than PayPal.   Also, they now have an annoying habit of hiding members email addresses in an attempt to prevent trading outside of eBay.

Turn it round.

The OP is the buyer. They moved house, forgot to update their details (easily done, it happened to me with an Amazon order cueing a mad sprint across town to intercept the delivery). The new owners of the old house understandably rejected the delivery, now the seller is saying “it’s got lost, sorry, not my problem pal” despite the tracking saying it’s been returned.

Are y’all going to be telling me you’d be singing the same tune in that scenario rather than screaming ‘scam’ and assembling the angry mob? I don’t think I believe you.

Royal Mail has – seemingly for the moment at least – lost the parcel. Unless the RM offer compensation for the loss then however you slice it either the buyer or the seller is going to be out of pocket. And the only party RM is going to be (hopefully) compensating is the party who employed their services in the first place.

now the seller is saying “it’s got lost, sorry, not my problem pal” despite the tracking saying it’s been returned.

Not returned/delivered though…
RM Tracking says “Returned to Sender – We’re returning the item to the sender.”
Hasn’t changed in a few days.

I’ll check your postage address and your paypal address. If they are different I will message to ask which address.”

Not something I’ve ever done 🤷‍♂️
I just go to print label on eBay, and assume that’s correct!
Not my job to forensically research addresses.

Not returned/delivered though…
RM Tracking says “Returned to Sender – We’re returning the item to the sender.”

Ah, that wasn’t clear to me, I thought you said they were claiming they’d returned it. In which case all you can do is sit and wait. RM will insist on this (14 days? maybe) before you can make a claim anyway.

Not my job to forensically research addresses.

Agreed. That’s part of seller protection.

With eBay everything is the sellers fault even when it clearly isn’t. I had a case where a buyer tried to return a bike I sold him 2 months after taking delivery. Ebay still demanded I accept the return

Annoying as it is, the good news is that of RM have lost it, and you’re insured, they pay out without fuss very quickly. I sold a jersey on ebay that went walkabouts. The tracking went nowhere beyond collection and I got a refund for the proven value of the item (link to ebay page) and the cost of postage.

Honestly I think by the point I’d had something shipped to an address I didn’t control I’d have given it up as lost, and anything else is a bonus.

It can be up to 4 weeks for an item to be returned through RM. Just tell him he’ll have to wait and pay to have it resent.

Not my job to forensically research addresses

Well, as I say, its no effort to email someone really. You can call it forensic research if you find it complicated, I guess 🥴

Difficulty aside, it’s entirely the wrong thing to do.
If you’re unsure, cancel the sale, never send it to an address other than the one that came through eBay on the confirmation of the sale. (which in the old days would be the one which the buyer put on their PayPal payment not necessarily the one they put out at checkout on eBay.)

Well, as I say, its no effort to email someone really. You can call it forensic research if you find it complicated, I guess 🥴

I guess I was being a bit facetious 😉
Just not something I’ve normally done.

I do normally email buyers to say thanks and it’ll be in the post asap.
I did in this case, and it was only after I’d posted it that I got a message saying “wrong address”.

Was very much too late by that point.

And actually, I’d have probably cancelled the sale if I’d seen the msg, cos it would have meant sending it to a non-ebay registered address.

Just a lot of ball-ache for £35 (minus fees!)