Shipper's Address

Which address do you use to ship things to your buyer? The one from Etsy or Paypal? I use the Paypal one (they have their verification system and I know I'm more prone to keep my info up to date on there) and if there's a discrepancy, I'll try to contact them to ask.

I'm asking this because I recently had a customer buy a Cherry Blossom pendant. When I saw the purchase from Etsy I noticed something about Hong Kong, but when I went to ship it, I check the Paypal invoice for her address and found one in Oregon (USA). I must have been in a rush because it didn't dawn on me that she had 2 different address and I sent it to Oregon. USPS delivery confirmation says it was delivered there almost a week ago. What do I do? I offer free shipping in my store (I factor it into the cost of my pieces), so I already spent my "shipping costs" when sending it to Oregon. Do I have to send her another one in Hong Kong? Then I'm not only out more shipping costs, but another whole necklace for free! I feel a little obligated to do this because I didn't check to find out the right address, but is it her fault for not having matching addresses and/or not notifying me that she did have different addresses and giving me the right one?

I asked her what she'd like to do because this is the first time it's happened to me. If she knows someone who can get the package from her Oregon address, I suggested that they either send it to her or they send it back to me to send to her. If she can't get that package, I guess I'm out a necklace and will send one at no cost to her to Hong Kong. I'd just like to have some feedback from you ladies so I know what to do if/when this happens again.

I try to remember to check the addresses and if they don't match, I contact them as to which is correct. I hate having to do this but I have had some instances where the Etsy address is correct and some where the PayPal address is correct. If you have to change to the Etsy address, you lose at least some part of the PayPal protection so I have added this to my shipping policies, "Also, if you want something shipped to an address other than your "ship to" address in PayPal, we will, if you add the insurance option." I seem to get a fair number of people buying as gifts and expecting me to ship directly to the recipient by giving me that address in the notes to seller instead of checking with me first or instead of changing the ship to address in PayPal. (some know how to do this thankfully)

I had a customer once that lived in Singapore, but had an address on the west coast that she wanted her purchases shipped to. Hopefully this is a similar situation.

Good luck. Situations like this are never any fun, but I believe that good customer service is important and unfortunately providing it sometimes feels like we are bending over backwards for someone else's mistake.

Some people put in their shop policies that they will always ship to the PayPal address if there is a discrepancy, but I think trying to be vigilant and contacting the buyer if there is a mismatch is the best way to handle a mismatch.

Do you have the policy on which address you check and ship to listed somewhere in your shop? If so, link her to the policy page and let her know that while you are sorry that this happened, you only followed your proper store policies. PAYPAL will also go with the PAYPAL address and side with you.

HOWEVER if you do not have anything stated, I think you should reship her the new pendant. This will save your feedback and also give you a reminder to check the addresses more often.

Hope it works out for you!

I saw an interesting link in the forums this morning on shipping, http://www.auctioncope.com/guide/unauthorized-payment-chargeback-and-item-not-received-dispute-what-ebay-and-paypal-seller-protection-policy-really-covers/ . I haven't followed all of the links in the article for things like international shipping.

I wrote to her yesterday to let her know that I had shipped it and what happened. She was very understanding. I guess she is only in Hong Kong temporarily and will be back in the states for the summer. She's rented out the Oregon address and said she will contact her tenants. If they have it, she'll just wait. If it's been 'returned to shipper', she'll send me a correct address to ship it to her once it gets back to me. So, it seems that this mix-up is going to turn out fine for both of us and it's definitely given me a reminder to check the addresses!

I hope it all turns out like it sound like it should from your customer's reply.

Did you have delivery confirmation on the shipment? If so, you can check to see if it was delivered.

EDCCollective wrote:

I hope it all turns out like it sound like it should from your customer's reply.

Did you have delivery confirmation on the shipment? If so, you can check to see if it was delivered.

I did have delivery confirmation. That's how I know it's been delivered to the Oregon address.