International Shipping Problems

pickelhaube · Post by **pickelhaube** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 11:24 am

Well it finally happened.

There is a possibly a lost package that has been sent abroad.

This has never happened to me before. The package went out Dec 9 and has yet to meet its destanation in Europe.

Also I sent a package to Canada and it has yet to get were it has to go. That has only been 2 weeks. Things do take a long time to get to Canada for some reason. I shipped a pckage to Japan and it took only 3 DAYS !!!!!!

I send all my over seas stuff and foreign countries first class.

I have never lost a package.

When you send things first class the only thing that they give you is a goofy custom number. This is usless. You can not get tracking or insurance sent first class out of country.

The only other option is go Global Priotity. This meens that a package sent first class at $10 is now going to cost $30-$40 Global Priority.

IF YOU WANT TO ADD TRACKING AND INS. IT WILL COST MORE.

I have sent packages to ,

Canada
Japan
UK
Belgium
Spain
Italy
Germany
Austria
Mexico
Brazil

and have never lost one. So this kind of upsets me.

These are the options ,

Send first class at a reasonable cost and there is a 99 % chance the package will get there.

OR

Send it Global Prority 3-4 times the cost and probably the same chance the package will get were it has to go.

You guys abroad please chime in on this .

coreystinson · Post by **coreystinson** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 11:56 am

I'll chime in as a U.S.-based retailer who ships a lot of packages abroad. All of your observations are correct in my experience. I have very, very seldom had anything go missing outside of Mexico and Philippines (where mail is rampantly stolen). I also don't ship to other backwaters unless I have guaranteed funds in hand due to the higher possibilities of fraud.

First-class airmail mail works really and at a low cost. It isn't trackable of course. Registered first-class mail is a good option for high-value, smaller items and is generally the most secure way to send anything.

True that 1st class mail to Canada, on occasion, will get tied up for weeks. I believe 1st class mail to Canada is quite quick unless Canadian customs decides to stop something to inspect it, at which time it will be delayed for a couple of additional weeks in my experience. Seems totally random. Never had anything lost in Canada, but have had these occasional nuisance delays.

I also have had similar problems with sending 1st class packages to Brazil. In fact, I don't recommend it at all. Priority and Express Mail is very reliable there, but 1st class mail can vanish for 6-8 weeks before either finally getting to recipient or being returned to sender w/o explanation.

King O' Fools · Post by **King O' Fools** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:02 pm

Are you sure the package is not being processed by foreign customs?

I've never had any problem with USPS Priority Mail International before.

pizzaguy · Post by **pizzaguy** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:22 pm

Have the customers go to their postal office. I had a package that sat at the customers postal office for two weeks until I asked him to go there and check. Sure enough it was there. They just didn't want to deliver it.
Worth a shot.

Fritzkrieg · Post by **Fritzkrieg** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:29 pm

I ship internationaly almost every day. In my experience, you have a 98% chance of your item arriving safe and sound, without any loss in most countries. However there are a few, that have some serious issues, with their postal system. Italy is rediculous if your item does arrive, it's been 3-6 weeks since it was shipped. There is also a lot of lost are stolen packages. Israel is another messed up place, I've stopped all shippments to Israel because of the rampant theft in their postal system. Any place in Africa has about a 50/50 chance of arriving to it's destination. I do have a package right now, that is being disputed that was sent to Brazil, just before the hollidays. But I don't think the buyer took the Hollidays into acount.

Post by **aferguson** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:20 pm

i have done a lot of international shipping too, including to the US. And have this to say. It is VERY rare for a packge to be truly lost.

However, it is not uncommon for some packages to take an excessive amount of time to arrive. This is especially true of items i have shipped to the US. Customs delays, packages being wrongly routed, remoteness of location. package being delivered to neighbours by mistake (or tenants in basement apartments), delivery notices not being sent out or overlooked and so on. Also, some people lie.

Virtually nothing i send has a tracking number and the number of problems i have had have been miniscule. I've probably shipped over 4000 packages by now and have had maybe 3 get lost. Some were super duper slow (eg 6 weeks to New York City which is about 600 miles away) but lost is rare.

Tell people to check at their local post offices in case a delivery notice was overlooked or not sent out, it may be waiting for pick up. Custom delays can occassionaly take weeks, for whatever reason. Wrong routing is common too (eg a package for Alabama ends up in California and sits there for 2 weeks until someone notices it and sets it back on course).

Tell your buyers to check their local post office and continue to be paitient.

You don't have to use Global Priority. Priority International also has a tracking number and is half the cost. In virtually all cases First Class Mail is just as good....albeit without a tracking number.

I never ship to Italy anymore.....too many times i've been cheated on stuff i've sent there, otherwise i've had no problems with other countries.......but tons with Italy.

Fritzkrieg · Post by **Fritzkrieg** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:24 pm

aferguson wrote: I never ship to Italy anymore.....too many times i've been cheated on stuff i've sent there, otherwise i've had no problems with other countries.......but tons with Italy.

Those damn Italians

gouchy · Post by **gouchy** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:29 pm

I'm very surprised you've had no problems sending to Italy Brazil and Mexico as these are the usual horror locations mentioned on ebay feedback.

Most of my items are shipped to me internationally and failure to receive rate is maybe 1-2%.

Small and low cost items I'd go 1st class and higher value items priority. The tracking & insurance of priority gives me peace of mind.

For myself, I've encountered missed notification, small mistake on address label and delay when package was routed around the world (no idea why but tracking says so)

I'd say if its not there in 4 weeks, you probably have got a problem. The weathers been acting up, give it a little more time

pickelhaube · Post by **pickelhaube** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:33 pm

I here a lot of shipping problems come out of Italy. Nock on wood I have never had issues.

I even sent $350 in cash and it made it !!!!!! But I was scared because of all the horror stories I have heard. Of course it was about 10 years ago. But they had horror stories back then as well.

The guys was a collage proff. so maybe he had some clout , who knows ?

But this is the first time . I have not given up , maybe a week or so more.

Why does it take sooo long to ship anything to Canada ? It took only 3 days for a package to get to Japan that was unbelievable.

Post by **aferguson** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 4:05 pm

why does it take so long to the US sometimes? It just does. Probably it got wrongly routed and has to wind its way back to the proper location. Can happen anywhere but the larger in size the country the further it can get steered of course.

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 7:27 pm

I guess you just can't really be 100% sure a package will reach its destination. I bought a car part from a local auction site, but never received it. The shop I bought it from was really helpful and tried to track the item down. When he talked to the postal company they said it had been delivered...had even been signed for! (unless there is another Jay who lives at an identical house number!). Goes to prove the postal companies, or at least the individual courier drivers, don't consider themselves responsible and feel they've delivered a package - no matter who signs for it (and yes, I did ask my neighbours and all).

I also noticed that with most of my purchases from the states. it takes about a week for the item to be processed, leave the store, arrive at the sea port/airport, arrive in New Zealand....and then another full week to get from the port/airport to my doorstep (8km port - doorstep. 15km airport - doorstep).

Dauntless · Post by **Dauntless** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 7:30 pm

I ship most everything USPS Priority International. It has at least some automatic insurance up to a certain amount and is trackable.

First class small padded envelopes always seem to get to their destinations ok, and I've shipped those almost everywhere. Even places like St Petersburg, Russia.

I sometimes ship large packages up to a certain size USPS Priority Int. The Pacific rim has a smaller package limit except for Japan which is like Europe's larger size limit.

I do believe some XD if not most of it is under the size limit in their original boxes to go USPS Priority Int.
I haven't tried that as I can't part with any of my XD. Though that is an option.

pizzaguy · Post by **pizzaguy** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 10:59 am

Anybody have problems shipping to Taiwan. I have a guy that wants some stands shipped their and I am a little lairy.

hworth18 · Post by **hworth18** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 10:40 pm

pizzaguy wrote:Anybody have problems shipping to Taiwan. I have a guy that wants some stands shipped their and I am a little lairy.

I shipped to Taiwan once and had no problems other than the mailman delivered the package where it was supposed to go and the receptionist decided to hang on to it for a week..

I will only ship out of the country by Priority International as it gives me some peace of mind that they will try to find the package if it goes awry.. If I use that little green card (1st class), and it gets lost, they could care less. (And that has happened twice)

pizzaguy · Post by **pizzaguy** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 10:51 pm

Thanks hworth18.
I want to sleep at night knowing the packages are not lost and no one cares. Priority International it is. Thanks

bananapirate · Post by **bananapirate** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 10:36 am

Fritzkrieg wrote:
aferguson wrote: I never ship to Italy anymore.....too many times i've been cheated on stuff i've sent there, otherwise i've had no problems with other countries.......but tons with Italy.
Those damn Italians

France is pretty bad too in how they handle the packages

pickelhaube · Post by **pickelhaube** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 4:22 pm

Well good news I guess my package came back

It said insufficient address.

Well at least it is not lost.

scwarlord · Post by **scwarlord** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 4:30 pm

I just picked up a package shipped from Canada. The Canadian Postal Service handled it fine. I just had to deal with my usual indifferent and disrespectful local US postal worker/clerk when Ii picked up the package.

I actually used to like to go our Post Offices.

ostketten · Post by **ostketten** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 6:48 pm

France is pretty bad too in how they handle the packages

Yeah, no doubt about. Except for Canada I simply will not ship outside the US anymore. For all of you guys that have had wonderful experiences shipping overseas that's great, but my experiences overall have been less than satisfactory to say the least, and I've long since made the decision to discontinue overseas shipping entirely. For me it's been very "hit or miss" and just not worth the potential headaches.

snake · Post by **snake** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 7:55 pm

It can be very frustrating sometimes when a seller in the US will not ship to Canada.
I am literally 30 miles from the border,and can see the US.

The only extra thing to do,is ti fill in a short Customs declaration form.

But this is the sellers perogative.
Just means that they will have less bids though.

lightning2000 · Post by **lightning2000** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 6:05 am

Hi,
While I concur that some postal agencies dont go the distance when it comes to getting a package to its destination, we've found that other mitigating factors help to contribute to the problem and cant be blamed on the postal service. Here's a few:

- Language barriers: if the recipient doesnt speak or understand English, that's usually the first tip off that the transaction may go awry. Make sure to use an online language translation utility to ensure you're on the same page as the recipient
- Incomplete or inaccurate shipping address: several times, the recipient took short cuts in their posted mailing address, thinking everyone knows that "Lancs" is short for Lancashire, etc. We had one instance where someone listed "Oxon" for "Oxford". When an address doesnt make sense, its always a good idea to confirm the address with the recipient before putting the parcel in the mail
- Shipping methods: We've found that First Class Mail is more likely to run into problems than Priority Mail. Having said that, the US Postal Service recently changed the First Class Mail format, now requiring multi-page customs forms be filled out just like their larger counterparts. Hopefully, that will help to cut down on the number of errant mailings.

Cordially,

Lightning2000
www.themotorpool.net