[Royal Mail] Buyer redirects package to a different address then opens an INR case?

[birmi.2015]

Hi I'm a novice seller on eBay and occasionally sell things, mainly gaming stuff. I recently posted an item worth about £100 via Royal Mail 48 last week. It was supposed to be delivered on Thursday last week, anyway considering the bank holidays, it still hasn't been delivered I was a little perplexed it didn't get delivered yet, but didn't really think much of it until now.

Anyway this morning I find the buyer has opened an INR case. However what's more is the buyer has seemingly re-routed the parcel themselve as the tracking now shows 'Advanced Redelivery Request - Deliver to Neighbouring Address' over the weekend too, which shows a specific nearby address and after a bit of Googling I think it's something the buyer must have done themselves?

It's a buyer with no feedback and we even had a brief conversation before I posted it (ironically I told him I'm a bit wary of no feedback users being scammers and he told me he's heard all about it and said he has seen it with his own eyes). I assumed good faith and posted it to the original address they provided anyway.

Other key information:

• I added the tracking the same day I posted it off
• Their original address provided was to a Click and Collect outlet
• The rerouted address seems to be a residential one

What are my rights now as the seller and the likely outcome of the ongoing INR case? I'm not really wanting to point the finger at them being a scammer but after finding them reroute the package and open the case a couple days later it's got alarm bells ringing in my mind...

[cobwebcottage]

Your best bet is to call CS and ask them to look at the tracking and make sure they understand that it has been redirected. They should then close the casein your favour.

eBay Customer Service

[birmi.2015]

Thanks for the reply, that's reassuring.

It's worth noting that the parcel is still in transit so I'm going to give it a couple days to at least to update the tracking see if it gets delivered. I think I'll also put a message in the INR case just so eBay doesn't automatically close it in the buyer's favour (I've heard they do this after a few days of inactivity).

Another question that came to mind - has the buyer relinquished their buyer protection MBG? I read somewhere eBay void it if the buyer redirects it from the address that it was originally sent to. So even if it does arrive, they won't be able to guarantee their money back now if it's not as described etc.

[birmi.2015]

Here's what they put in the INR description...

"Hey There Buddy, It’s been atleast a week now & I still haven’t recieved the item, contacted Royal Mail just now along with a couple days ago aswell & they’ve said i’d have to get in contact with the seller to either get a refund or a replacement as the item hasn’t moved at all so would just like a bit of help on your end possibly to get this issue resolved as I haven’t recieved anything & it’s been atleast a week now."

Yet they don't mention it being redirected which is a little odd since they say it hasn't moved. Hmm... well I replied saying I was unaware it was redirected and hopefully it arrives soon.

[m25jet]

Although I gave up selling on eBay quite a few years ago, if I remember correctly eBay's view of this kind of thing was that if the buyer made an attempt to have the item re-routed to a different address from the one provided at Checkout, then they automatically invalidated their Buyer Protection, and any Item Not Received case would be decided in the seller's favour as a result of the buyer deliberately trying to get the parcel delivered elsewhere.  Therefore, unless eBay have changed the rules since I last sold anything on eBay, the case ought to be decided in your favour.  However, when you provide the buyer with any updates in the case, make sure that you state where the item is now according to the tracking, not just for the buyer's benefit but also for the benefit of eBay so that they can read the correspondence between you and the buyer, as it would appear that the buyer has pulled this stunt on you to try and win an Item Not Received case so that he/she can get the item for free at your expense.

If you have not already done so by the time you read this reply, add the buyer's User ID to your Blocked Bidders List.  That way he/she will not be able to purchase anything else from you in the future and cause you any further aggravation.

Finally, if the buyer leaves you negative feedback in the meantime but you end up winning the case, get onto eBay Customer Service as soon as possible and point out that given that the case was decided in your favour the buyer's negative feedback should not be allowed to remain.  Under such circumstances eBay would more than likely remove the negative feedback, along with the associated defect resulting from the negative feedback, in which case your selling account would not end up being adversely affected by anything that this buyer has either done or said.

[cobwebcottage]

Just keep an eye on the timeline for the case as they can ask Ebay to step in and refund them. I would still call CS so they can put a note on the case and/or close it if the tracking shows the parcel has been redirected.

[birmi.2015]

Appreciate the responses, great advice given. I think I've been armed with enough information to see out this case with a sense of optimism. 

I'll get in touch with eBay CS tomorrow and make sure they're aware of the buyer redirecting the parcel elsewhere in the tracking to note it in the case, hopefully that is enough for eBay to side with me when they do step in.

A small part of me thinks this is just a rookie buyer who was unfortunate to buy something the same week that had two bank holidays and is just a little flustered that their parcel hasn't arrived yet. I know some sellers are very paranoid about people with 0 feedback are out to get them and rip them off, but in my view we were all rookies at one time. If we simply blacklisted them all eBay wouldn't thrive at all. Wishful thinking I suppose...

I'll keep the thread updated with eBay's response, hopefully helps other sellers in the same predicament in the future.

[birmi.2015]

Just been in touch with an eBay CS agent... he was in full agreement that as a seller I was correct in sending to the address provided in Checkout and the buyer redirecting the parcel then opening the INR case, I'm not at fault.

As per my request he's added a note to the INR case just making it clear the tracking evidences that the buyer attempted to redirect the parcel and this likely means the case will be resolved in my favour.

First time I've been in touch with eBay CS and it was rather smooth, he also reassured me in that for now there's nothing else I need to do with the INR case. Fingers crossed the eBay person who reviews the case is also straightforward like this.

[*vyolla*]

Hopefully this will be found in your favour but as the system is mainly automated I think you'll find that this may well swing in favour of the buyer. Not wishing to rain on your parade but eBay CS always say that they've added a note, but as its an automated process it makes no difference. If they had the incliniation to do something they would have taken action there and then and closed it.

Have you responded to the buyer in the dispute to make it clear that you've checked the tracking number and it shows that they have requested that the package be redirected to a neighbour? 

I'd add that short response just to make sure it's on record. 

[birmi.2015]

To be honest my exact query to CS was to add a note to the INR case so I suppose I could just get in touch with them again and actually ask them to review (and hopefully close) the case there and then with the information citing eBay guidelines and noting the tracking etc.

I did explain the latest tracking to the buyer in the case, copy pasting what the RM information says and explaining it to them in Layman terms. Don't think there's much more point engaging with them now, I also noticed they are only responding once a day to the INR case whereas the conversation we had before they bought my item they were very quick to message.

Let's assume I do lose the case, I can appeal the decision right? I saw somewhere there's 30 days to appeal it with new information, surely if it was an appeal there would be a human reading it and not a machine.. 

[papso22]

Yes you should be able to appeal if you lose, and that's when a human gets involved.  

[birmi.2015]

Update... so I got in touch with another eBay CS member. They said the address the parcel is being redirected to is not the buyer's home address (it's a click and collect), which could mean the store rejected it and/or is using the 'Note for you' card for themselves (as in someone who lives or works at the store). They made me aware of a technicality that because it's a store and not a residential address it's sort of a loophole?  That I now need to contact Royal Mail and see where the parcel is at.

I can see the tracking says it hasn't been delivered yet.

Part of me thinks the buyer is in cahoots with the store owner and I'm being taken for a mug as he'll probably get a refund from the INR case and then pop over to the store for the parcel. Why would he knowingly use a store address that doesn't accept parcels?

Sigh...

[papso22]

If the store rejected it that's what the tracking would say.

[*vyolla*]

I can't see why eBay CS think that this is your problem.

You sent the item via a trackable postage method to the delivery address given to you by eBay, and it was the buyers choice to arrange for redelivery to a different address. It doesn't matter if it's a residental address, a store or Number 10. 

I'd contact eBay and ask why the ball is being thrown in your court here when the buyer should not covered by eBay's Money Back Guarantee.

[hazron-games]

hope you get this sorted to be honest, like other comments state, best bet to involve cs and if you have proof that this was redirected by the buyer, your covered as that is something that they control not you so cs should show due diligence in that you have done everything that you should do on yourside and if they redirected it and it now misplaced thats on the buyer not you as the seller.

[4_bathrooms · Accepted solution]

Another similar recent thread leads me to suspect a loophole exists when sending items to a Click & Collect point when Royal Mail are the carrier. The buyer only needs the reference (tracking) number to arrange redelivery to another address that is served by the same Delivery Office should the original delivery attempt fail. Even worse, the buyer could also arrange to collect the item from the Delivery Office using just a debit or credit card showing their name on it as proof of ID. I certainly won't be uploading Royal Mail tracking to anything I send to a collection point in the future.

If the buyer opens an INR request and the collection point hasn't scanned the eCP code the seller loses by default - a delivery attempt won't cut it with Click & Collect.

@birmi.2015 - are you sure you included the unique eCP code on the address label you purchased? If you purchased the postage via eBay it definitely should be on there. Note the buyer is automatically protected if the collection point doesn't receive the item:

  

[birmi.2015]

I think you're exactly right. This is the first time I sent something to a store/click & collect, and completely missed this eCP thing off as I get the label outside of eBay so it wouldn't have been included. So, I might as well stop worrying now and chalk it off as a lesson learnt. Probably £100 lighter.

I guess now I have two possibilities, RM just sends back to sender (fortunately I was smart enough to put return address on the parcel) at some point or another, or I can somehow get hold of someone who works at the store and kindly ask them to tell RM to return to sender.

That's assuming that the buyer isn't in cahoots with the store owner banking on me missing off the eCP code.

[birmi.2015]

I've issued the buyer a refund as I think I'd rather not take the negative seller hit if I'm just going to end up forced to refund in a day or two anyway.

Now I've read up on the eCP stuff and the shops aren't meant to accept parcels without them on because they don't make any money on it (apparently they get commission for every eCP parcel delivered). But sometimes they do accept them when they shouldn't.

Best case scenario now is for the parcel to get returned to me, that's assuming all the redelivery attempts fail.

[eastern-lights]

Problems with Click and Collect seem to be a regular subject here. Noting that, I deselected Click and Collect several years ago, I doubt I loose much business.