The USPS said it will now place a 2-week hold before refunding customers for unused labels. It issued the following alert on Saturday (October 18, 2025):
Unused Label Refund Processing
As part of our ongoing efforts to protect the United States Postal Service and our customers against fraud the United States Postal Service Commercial System will hold requests for unused label refunds for 14 days before processing. As a reminder, labels that have been refunded are not to be entered into the mail stream. Per USPS policy (USPS DMM Reference 604.8.4 Counterfeit Postage) any items mailed with counterfeit postage will be considered abandoned and are subject to being opened and disposed of at the Postal Service’s discretion.
We appreciate your cooperation as we work to maintain the integrity of our mailing systems.
Many sellers encounter issues when printing shipping labels. It’s not clear from the alert if marketplace sellers (on Etsy or eBay, for example) who print a label and void it will be impacted, so sellers are advised to keep a watchful eye on their accounts.