What should I do if an Etsy buyer enters the wrong shipping address?

Hi! The cleanest way to protect your profit on wrong-address orders is: only ship to the address shown on the Etsy order (or on an Etsy shipping label), and if a buyer tells you it’s wrong before you ship, cancel and have them reorder with the correct address. That keeps you covered and prevents the “I messaged you a new address” situation that can turn into a loss (or a fraud risk).

If you want a simple, low-stress process, here’s what usually works best:

1) If they message you BEFORE you ship

• Tell them you can’t change the address once it’s in the order, and you only ship to the address on the Etsy receipt.
• Cancel the order and ask them to repurchase with the correct address.
• If you buy Etsy shipping labels, you can edit the address while purchasing the label, but for low-cost items it’s often safer/easier to stick to “cancel + repurchase” so there’s no confusion later.

2) If you already shipped
At that point, you typically have two outcomes:

• Delivered (to the address they entered): You can politely explain that the order was shipped to the address provided at checkout. If they want another one sent, offer a paid reship (new shipping charge) or a new order.
• Returned to sender / undeliverable: When it comes back to you, you can offer either:
  • Refund for the item price only (or item price minus your original shipping/packing costs, depending on how you structure your shop pricing), after it’s returned, or
  • Reship if they pay a reship fee (I’d do this as a custom listing for “Reshipment Postage” so it’s tracked in Etsy).

For low-cost bracelets, the “refund when returned” or “reship with paid postage” approach is usually the only way to avoid repeat losses.

Should you add a policy / reminder?

Yes—add it. It won’t stop every case, but it sets expectations and makes your responses feel consistent and fair.

You can put it in two places:

• Shop Policies (Returns/Exchanges/Additional info)
• A short note in your order message / listing description (something like “Please double-check your shipping address at checkout.”)

Here’s wording you can copy/paste and tweak:

• Address responsibility: “Buyers are responsible for entering the correct shipping address at checkout. Please double-check your address before submitting your order.”
• Before shipment: “If you notice an incorrect address, message me ASAP. If the order hasn’t shipped yet, I can cancel it so you can reorder with the correct address.”
• After shipment / delivered: “If an order is shipped to the address provided on Etsy, I’m not able to refund or replace it if it’s delivered to that address. Reshipments require a new shipping payment.”
• Returned to sender: “If a package is returned as undeliverable, I can refund the item cost after it’s returned, or reship it to a corrected address with a reshipment fee.”

A final tip that helps a lot: when someone asks for a change, reply with a quick “To confirm, would you like me to cancel so you can reorder with the correct address?” and don’t create exceptions. Consistency is what keeps wrong-address orders from eating your margins.