Somewhat unique eBay situation, advice needed

kodave

kodave

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So my sister is out of town and I picked up her mail since she's out of town. Inside was a torn up package that was marked return to sender. My sister apparently sold an old health class textbook on eBay. It was addressed to some guy at a PO Box with some other initials and numbers after the PO Box number. It was marked with a sticker saying delivery was refused, and then there was a stamp next to it that said "Could not identify recipient without prisoner identification number."

I haven't had a chance to talk to my sister yet, but I'm guessing she didn't Google what the initials and number after the PO box number were to realize it was going to a prison. I'm also going to guess the prisoner didn't include his prisoner identification number in the eBay address field that eBay gave to my sister.

I've never had any problems as a seller on eBay so I don't really know what the options are, but I'm assuming one option would be for her to message the prisoner and ask him for his prisoner identification number so she could send it again. But then she's out another $5 on shipping. And I assume the prisoner could still give her negative feedback for whatever reason.

Would it be possible for her to just refund the guy's money through PayPal or whatever and not bother sending it out to the prison again on the off-chance it gets rejected again, or worse, accepted then destroyed by the prison mail staff for some reason (I've watched enough Lockup: Raw to know they've done that from time to time!)? eBay would just call it even, cancel the sale, and the guy couldn't leave negative feedback for her, right?

Thanks for any help and advice.
 
[quote name='kodave']So my sister is out of town and I picked up her mail since she's out of town. Inside was a torn up package that was marked return to sender. My sister apparently sold an old health class textbook on eBay. It was addressed to some guy at a PO Box with some other initials and numbers after the PO Box number. It was marked with a sticker saying delivery was refused, and then there was a stamp next to it that said "Could not identify recipient without prisoner identification number."

I haven't had a chance to talk to my sister yet, but I'm guessing she didn't Google what the initials and number after the PO box number were to realize it was going to a prison. I'm also going to guess the prisoner didn't include his prisoner identification number in the eBay address field that eBay gave to my sister.

I've never had any problems as a seller on eBay so I don't really know what the options are, but I'm assuming one option would be for her to message the prisoner and ask him for his prisoner identification number so she could send it again. But then she's out another $5 on shipping. And I assume the prisoner could still give her negative feedback for whatever reason.

Would it be possible for her to just refund the guy's money through PayPal or whatever and not bother sending it out to the prison again on the off-chance it gets rejected again, or worse, accepted then destroyed by the prison mail staff for some reason (I've watched enough Lockup: Raw to know they've done that from time to time!)? eBay would just call it even, cancel the sale, and the guy couldn't leave negative feedback for her, right?

Thanks for any help and advice.[/QUOTE]

No, you cant just refund and be square. Best to just try to message the prisoner? To get his PN. If it is a prisoner and they have access to an ebay account, yes they will be able to leave a neg.
 
[quote name='*Deathblade2']No, you cant just refund and be square. Best to just try to message the prisoner? To get his PN. If it is a prisoner and they have access to an ebay account, yes they will be able to leave a neg.[/QUOTE]

Why can't you just refund and be square? The buyer loses nothing and gets his money back. What if an item is destroyed before it can be shipped? Refund is the only option. Are you actually speaking according to eBay policies, or your own feelings on the matter?

Especially in this instance, the buyer already fucked up by not including his entire address if a prisoner identification number is necessary to get an item mailed in. If I only give a seller half of my address and they lose money shipping only to get it returned to them, why should they have to foot the bill to ship it again when the seller did nothing wrong?
 
[quote name='*Deathblade2']No, you cant just refund and be square. Best to just try to message the prisoner? To get his PN. If it is a prisoner and they have access to an ebay account, yes they will be able to leave a neg.[/QUOTE]


Untrue. I've refunded a few times prior to the buyers knowledge without a problem. Just simply said in the refund message the reason why, generally because the item was no longer available. Have never had a problem.

On a side note. In this situation though I'd personally message the guy and try to get all the right information to send it. Just because he's in prison doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to read ... or have a nice solid weapon :D But seriously, whether or not you try to send it again you're out the same 5$ if it was to be sold again anyways.
 
I would call the prison itself and speak to the head staff. There may be rules and regulations that may not allow them to order online
 
[quote name='kodave']Why can't you just refund and be square? The buyer loses nothing and gets his money back. [/QUOTE]

Because refunding before even contacting the buyer might make the seller look like someone that won't honor the sale & backs out of it. If your sister tries to contact him and at least explain the situation. Then find out if a refund or resending it with new info would be best.

As for resending on the seller's dime, that's part of selling on ebay(or any site you can sell on for that matter). Occasionally, you'll get an idiotic buyer that forgets to include/update a part of the address. Then the buyer gets angry & demands you send again because you were supposed to know that the info was wrong before you sent the first time.
 
[quote name='mrspicytacoman']wtf prisoners can order off of ebay....? that doesnt sound like good use of my tax monie[/QUOTE]

Like any of our tax money goes to good use these days.:lol:
 
[quote name='mrspicytacoman']wtf prisoners can order off of ebay....? that doesnt sound like good use of my tax monie[/QUOTE]

I am assuming in this case it is probably a friend of the prisoner ordering the book online and send to the prison. If the prisoner made the order himself he would know to include the number.
 
I highly doubt any prisoner ordered the book, it was probably somebody he/she knew out of jail that ordered it for them. Was this address PayPal verified?

I've delivered to a bunch of jails/prisons and they must always include the inmates name and ID number. One of 3 things happened, the guy is no longer there, the name/ID number are wrong/don't match, or the CO/Delivery Person just didn't care and refused it. Prisons/Jails can be a hassle to deal with when you are delivering there.

I would just leave it as it is for now, maybe leave a message and see what happens.
 
Prisoner? fuck, man. I'd just try to accommodate him and make sure he receives it. Who knows what he's in for? If it's long enough to need a text book for a study course, he ain't inside for jaywalking.
 
Well, after doing some Google searching, the prisoner doesn't appear to be in there for nothing. He ranks in at level 3 facility (i.e. not white collar, low level shit) in the California state prison system (meaning felonies) in a prison that's at 3 times its max capacity (so if he was in there for some small beans shit he would have been cut loose). There are also two prisoners with his name in this facility, one which has been in since 1989 and one since 2008. I'm not saying this person doesn't deserve to be able to read books, but like skiizim said, there's no guarantee that the book will even get to this guy the second time if she includes the prisoner identification number.

And yes, it makes sense that someone else ordered this book for him, although apparently this prison offers a lot of recreation and vocational classes, so who knows if any of those involve a computer with internet access.

At any rate, the prisoner never even saw the package. I assume my sister could send a message and say that the package was refused and not say why it was refused, so here's a refund. Then she could at least re-list the text book for $5 more or whatever and try to make up what she lost on this deal already.

Come to think of it, I won an eBay auction some time ago, paid immediately, then the guy refunded me immediately (since I actually got a deal on the game), and that was the end of that. Couldn't even leave feedback. Maybe she could do the same.

At any rate, I just wanted to be able to let my sister know her options since I doubt she knew what she was getting into anyway. She may want to resend it or she may just want to refund and not deal with the hassle. And maybe she should just refuse PO Box addresses in the future.
 
I faced a similar situation on Amazon with a prison being a non-deliverable address--in my case I refunded their money minus the actual cost of shipping and pretty much said they could try purchasing it again if they could provide all the needed info for it to pass inspection.

This prison was pretty nuts though, imagine not being able to a send a CD in a bubblemailer because the edge of the mailer could be made into a weapon. XD
 
[quote name='Indigo_Streetlight']I faced a similar situation on Amazon with a prison being a non-deliverable address--in my case I refunded their money minus the actual cost of shipping and pretty much said they could try purchasing it again if they could provide all the needed info for it to pass inspection.

This prison was pretty nuts though, imagine not being able to a send a CD in a bubblemailer because the edge of the mailer could be made into a weapon. XD[/QUOTE]

Actually, they were probably more worried about the CD. A broken (shattered) CD could be as a very nice shank.:whistle2:k
 
[quote name='Vinny']Actually, they were probably more worried about the CD. A broken (shattered) CD could be as a very nice shank.:whistle2:k[/QUOTE]

You would think, but the package was unopened. According to the [girlfriend?] of the convict the prison would only take cardboard boxes, not mailers. Plus I'm pretty sure all the guy wanted was a Tool CD to work through his anger issues. :cool:
 
Damn all this over a potential $5 loss. Just refund the guy his money and risk negative feedback or pay the $5 to reship the book and move on.
 
[quote name='Mikocouch']Damn all this over a potential $5 loss. Just refund the guy his money and risk negative feedback or pay the $5 to reship the book and move on.[/QUOTE]

Are all of your posts this helpful? Can we mod you?
 
I haven't seen a correct post yet.

Regardless of the outcome the buyer can leave negative feedback for any reason that he pleases without any recourse up to 60 days from the date of sale. He can leave negative feedback if you refund and he could also leave negative feedback if you reship.

You could refund and still ship (meaning give him the book for free) and he STILL could leave negative feedback.

That is how eBay operates. Just because a transaction is cancelled or as the seller you decide to refund the buyer does not mean that the buyer can't neg a seller.

Once an item has been purchased the only way a buyer can't leave feedback for the seller is if the buyer does NOT pay and an Unpaid Item Dispute is open. If the buyer doesn't pay within four days of the Unpaid Item Dispute being opened then the Dispute can be closed and the buyer can no longer leave feedback. This is to prevent retaliation. If however the buyer does pay for the item then he can leave feedback.


In my opinion you should try to contact the buyer, regardless if it is an inmate (doubtful) or a person buying on behalf of the inmate, explain the situation and try to come to a resolution that leaves both parties happy.

Remember, a buyer has 45 days to open a claim (SNAD or INR) from the date payment is made and 60 days to leave feedback from the date payment is made. Nothing you do will change that.
 
[quote name='GBAstar']I haven't seen a correct post yet.

[/QUOTE]

try post two ;)

No, you cant just refund and be square. Best to just try to message the prisoner? To get his PN. If it is a prisoner and they have access to an ebay account, yes they will be able to leave a neg.
Click to expand...

I havent sold on ebay in a while, but all this stuff about refunding after a closed sale and not being able to leave feedback sounds like a bunch of hooey to me. If that was the case any seller could back out of any sale that wasn't high enough for them, with no consequence.
 
[quote name='*Deathblade2']try post two ;)



I havent sold on ebay in a while, but all this stuff about refunding after a closed sale and not being able to leave feedback sounds like a bunch of hooey to me. If that was the case any seller could back out of any sale that wasn't high enough for them, with no consequence.[/QUOTE]


You are right. I stand corrected
 
I haven't read every post, but you have essentially two options:

1.) Inquire about the correct address and mail it again. You can request additional postage (perhaps offer to split the cost to be friendly?) since it's clearly the buyers fault here, not the seller. Since it's a book, it really won't cost much to send it via Media Mail (use delivery confirmation)

2.) Refund the money AND Cancel the transaction. Cancelling the transaction allows you to get your final value fee back. You have to be very nice about this of course as they can still give you a negative feedback over it, which is why simply refunding the money doesn't always mean everything is cool. I would first talk to the buyer before refunding the money as well, as the act of doing so without communication could piss them off.
 
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