Package Undeliverable on Amazon: What Does it Mean?

Ordering goods from Amazon has become so easy that you just have to get on the e-commerce platform, search for what you want, add it to your cart and head straight to checkout. However, as easy as it gets, sometimes, users may have issues with their orders that may end up making their packages to be undelivered. This leads to Amazon sending them a message that says “package undelivered”, leaving the user to wonder what exactly this means.

When you get the “Package Undelivered” message from Amazon, this means that some circumstances made it impossible to deliver your package to your doorstep. There are several reasons that may lead to your package being undelivered, but when you receive this message, your order is canceled by Amazon. 

As said earlier, there are a lot of reasons why your package may be undelivered by Amazon. Hence, in this article, I’ll elaborate on the meaning of the “package undelivered” message you’ll get on Amazon and the reasons you may receive this message in your Amazon dashboard. I’ll also discuss what happens when you receive this message and the next steps to take to get your package delivered.

What Does “Package Undelivered” Mean On Amazon

When you receive the “Package Undelivered” message from Amazon, this means that your package wasn’t able to be delivered due to certain circumstances. These circumstances may be avoidable and unavoidable but as long as you receive the message, it means the circumstance was great enough to affect your package to be undelivered to your doorstep. 

Getting this message may lead to you panicking, especially when your account has been debited and you’ve been anxiously waiting for your package to arrive, or you need the package instantly and the package fails to deliver.

Your package may fail to deliver due to a lot of reasons which may and may not be related to you by Amazon, however, whenever you get the “package undelivered” message, it means that whatever happened was great enough to make your package be stalled and not be delivered to your doorstep as planned. 

You need to know the reasons why this happened so you’ll be able to understand deeply what the message means whenever you receive the message from Amazon. Hence, the reasons why your package wasn’t delivered will be discussed in the next section of this article so read on. 

If Amazon has made a debit from your account before the package gets delivered and you get the package undelivered message, you may be worried about your funds and if it’ll be refunded or not, however, you need not worry because your money will be refunded to you instantly. But if Amazon hasn’t charged you for the package, Amazon will not further go on to charge you for an undelivered package since the fault is either from the production, packaging, or delivery section of the company. 

So, if you’re worried about your money not being refunded or you further being charged for an undelivered package, worry not as Amazon will either make a refund to your account or not charge you for the undelivered package. 

Why Does Amazon Say Package Undelivered?

This message is usually sent whenever a circumstance obstructs a delivery process. This means that an event led to your package being undelivered, making Amazon cancel your order and refund your money. The nature of these circumstances may come in many forms hence why I’ll be discussing 7 causes that may lead to your package being undelivered.

The following are the reasons why your package may be undelivered:

Incorrect Address

In this case, if you accidentally enter the wrong address for your order on Amazon, the package will simply be delivered to the wrong location. This doesn’t mean the package is undeliverable, instead, this creates an issue where the package is delivered to the wrong location. 

If Amazon figures that the address entered is the wrong location, the package will be returned to the factory and you’ll receive the package undelivered message. You’ll also need to make your order again and this time make sure to enter the right address so the package won’t wound up at the wrong address. 

In some cases, if you receive a message that your package is undeliverable and is tied to the wrong address, it is usually because the address entered is out of date. This implies that some information in. 

The shipping address has been altered (maybe an update with the postal codes), preventing Amazon’s delivery system from being able to deliver the package to the proper location. Whenever this happened, most courier services will hold onto the package for a period of time depending on who did the delivery, but after some time, if the package cannot be delivered, it will be returned to the Amazon fulfillment center. 

Unrecognized Address

Amazon reads addresses and coordinates shipping by using an automated system. If the address entered isn’t recognized by Amazon’s system, this may create issues that will prevent the system from working as supposed and identifying your entered address. The most common issue that leads to this is mostly caused by postal codes as some people mostly enter the wrong postal codes into the system. 

Most people only remember small postal codes for their area (for instance, a five-digit zip code), but full postal codes may be a lot longer than the usual zip codes. Amazon’s digital shipping form usually auto-fills the longer form of the postal code for users, but this doesn’t always work as sometimes it may lead to errors. A postal code that doesn’t reach the required number of digits may confuse the automated system. 

Address formats may also be a problem. For instance, if there’s a new address that isn’t yet in the system, this may create issues as the address may be unrecognizable by the automated system. Hence, it’s very important for users to enter the correct address format so it’s easier for the system to read and identify the address. 

Rejected Delivery

This happens when the package is delivered to the right address but the recipient refuses to accept it. This may be due to the wrong package being delivered or the recipient refusing to sign for the package. 

If a recipient refuses to sign for the package to be delivered, the package can’t be delivered and this may lead to the package being returned to Amazon’s fulfillment center because a package that is delivered and rejected ultimately has to be returned back to Amazon. 

Depending on the circumstances for rejection, some couriers may make a few attempts at delivering the package. Whenever it’s established that the package can’t be delivered, the package will be returned and rejected delivery will be the reason and you that placed the order will receive a notice that the package is undelivered. 

Failed Delivery

Failed delivery is very similar to rejected delivery the only difference is the premise. A failed delivery happens when the courier is unable to get the package to the required destination. 

A popular example is a courier delivering to a gated community that denies entry and has no sufficient delivery system in place to get the package across to the recipient. Another example is when a package to be delivered requires a signature and there’s no one available to sign for it. 

Courier services may make more attempts to deliver the package by sending it for delivery more than once, but once it’s established that the package cannot be delivered no matter their efforts, they will register it as failed delivery and you will receive the “Package Undelivered” message. 

Restricted Address

These addresses are locations where courier services are not permitted to access. This reason ends up being registered as a specific type of failed delivery. Examples of restricted addresses may include prisons, government facilities, and locations of similar nature. 

Usually, if you enter a restricted address, you will be prompted that your package will be undeliverable before you even place an order but due to some reasons, you may not always be prompted. 

Illegible Address

This may sound very ridiculous especially because we’re in a computer age, but some addresses cannot be read sometimes for some reason. It’s not an uncommon situation, however, printers may fail and print out. Errors in the system may also lead to legibility problems so this isn’t really an uncommon situation. 

In some particular cases, shipping addresses or labels may be handwritten. Now it’s understandable why legibility matters. Whenever a barcode can’t be scanned, or a label cannot be read, the package cannot be delivered and you’ll receive the “package undelivered” message. 

Damaged Goods

This is a very common reason why a package is registered as undeliverable. Amazon and its affiliated delivery companies put a lot of effort into making sure that goods aren’t damaged in the process of delivery, however, it still happens as this situation isn’t entirely avoidable. And since Amazon is a large-scale business, you can trust that this happens on a daily basis. 

If an item in transit is clearly damaged, it will be registered as undeliverable and be returned to the Amazon fulfillment center. What happens next usually depends on the store of purchase’s policy. Usually, a replacement item may be shipped or a refund is issued for the order.