USPS delivery service

[JamieB]

Hi Guys,

I purchased something through the ebay in the US. The person sent the item USPS which states the item has been delivered. I have not received the item. I’m trying to find out for sure, but does anyone know if this information simply means the item has been delivered to a UK based carrier/courier for delivery and I will receive the item in the next few days.

I have ask the seller to try and find out more information but feel this is being pushed back to me to sort. I have tried to contact USPS through their site but it appears that is for US people only.

Just wondering if any of you lovely people have any experience, is there a chance this will arrive or do you think its lost? The tracking says it was delivered two days ago.

Thanks

Jamie

[tamiyadan]

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[bjammin90]

edit: ^^^ what he said.

The company I work for only uses USPS at the customers request... Usually when UPS/FedEx is too expensive.
The problem with USPS is there is no real tracking information once it leaves the US border. UPS/FedEx have international tracking hence the increased cost.
Your best bet would be to file a claim with USPS and PayPal.

[JamieB]

Thanks guys,

so to clarify, is it my responsibility to file the claim? I don't mind doing that but would have thought the sender would have some sort of receipt and have to at least start the process.

In my head I am shouting a swear word, really need these items.

I'm going to continue discussion with the seller and hope the tracking info just means the items are with the UK delivery service.

[tamiyadan]

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[klavy69]

when the usps tracking says its delivered to an overseas address it means to the overseas postal company.

At that point the usps is done with their job and its up to the shipping company of the country it lands in to take it over and get it to you.

Just as mentioned above, there is no usps tracking once it is out of their hands. So essentially you have the package delivered to your country 2 days ago.

No need to even worry about a claim from the usps end since they did their part and it won't get you anywhere.

Give your country's postal service some time to process it and deliver it. More than likely it'll be there soon but not sure what your customs office does once it crosses their desk.

Good luck and update us when it arrives

Todd

[Fred19K]

International tracking has gotten much better than it was just a decade ago, but is still lacking. Tracking in general can also vary within your locality/town. At least in the USA, you have to consider the "Amazon factor". Tracking my packages got fairly interesting a few years ago when I lived in a rural area. Big online stores would contract with a major shipper like UPS who would then turn around and contract with USPS. To meet terms of the contract, UPS would hand off the package to USPS to deliver on a certain day. Being a rural area, things like Bob called in sick or the truck broke down meant that your package is not getting delivered the day it was scheduled to. Online tracking would indicate that it was delivered and the local branch of USPS would crudely write on the package "not [tracking delivered date]". It would come within 2 days of tracking saying it was delivered; I guess I am supposed to give them points for scribbling on the package that it was not delivered on the day it was supposed to be because they scribbled "not [tracking delivered date]" on the package?

From my experience, I am guessing that someone paid to send you a package with an expected delivery date and it did not make it by then. CYA mentality/policy by the last leg carrier and they hit the override "mark as delivered" button as a matter of "best practices". If I were a betting man, I would place money on 5 business days max for your package to be delivered.

Totally off topic, but my recent shipping horror story at work involved a vendor who shipped an order containing a ORM-D product to us in the same box as some regular office supplies without properly labeling the package. The item in question was not only improperly shipped, it was also poorly packed and got punctured in transit by other things in the box on the UPS truck (no fault of UPS). It got quarantined or whatever UPS does when things get messy when vendors improperly package stuff and it bursts for 2 weeks. This means it goes off tracking and customer service cannot help you locate your package (I had no idea what happened at this point and I do not fault UPS at all for making sure the package was safe to send back). This was all because some idiot vendor decided to loosely toss a can of spray adhesive in with 26 pounds of office supplies in a box with minimal padding. Took me about 2 months to get a refund. One careless person at that vendor cost their company around $1200 because they improperly packed a $9 can of spray glue.

[ron]

I have had a similar experience 2yrs ago, only difference, I was the seller, luckily for me, shipping was done through eBay, and eBay takes full responsibility after the package that you send domestically arrives at eBay, from there they ship it, if it gets lost domestically, on its way to eBay, you bare the cost. So eBay paid the buyer after a case was raised through eBay, tracking said that the item had been delivered after some delay, buyer claimed otherwise. Just know that if it's through eBay, they cover the international side of things, but I have sent packages to Singapore germany UK France Australia directly through USPS and have heard no problems, buyers prefer that way since eBay charges customs and duty charges

[JamieB]

Well guys, maybe I got worried a little early. Thing is the tracking did say it was delivered on the 19th, however I have now received the item today. Thanks for the advice guys. These are for my Astute project, when I get round to it.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Gu9hsa]

On a side note:

Last year I sold an item through ebay, it was a signed postcard by Donald Campbell who died while attempting the water speed record in the UK. I sent the item through a UK courier company that I had used a large number of times. I booked the delivery online and printed the label. I couldn’t find the option to pay for extra insurance so didn’t. Very very big mistake.

A few days later the tracking information requested I call for an update. I had never seen this before. I called and was told the package had been destroyed. Apparently another package had leaked onto my one so my one was deemed not fit for further transit and destroyed. The postcard was packed so well it would have survived a fall from the Eiffel Tower and then survived under the sea for a week. Believe me it was so well packed.

Any way in the end I claimed back a small portion of the value of the item and refunded the buyer the full amount. I took the hit, it was my fault I didn’t get extra insurance. By the way I didn’t try and short change the guy by not buying extra insurance, I only thought about that at the time of paying for the postage which I had passed on at basic cost level.

Lesson learnt, unfortunately for a 2nd time. Always get the extra insurance.. the other time was a van hire, I turned down the extra insurance as I was in a rush and didn’t want to spend time filling out forms. Ten mins down the road I found myself in the side of another vehicle having slid on black ice. The excess I had to pay was more than double what I would have had to pay had I of completed an extra form and paid £3 (shaking head). It was purely the form I didn’t want to complete, not the issue of the extra premium. I guess we learn these things the hard way.

[tamiyadan]

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[klavy69]

Well guys, maybe I got worried a little early. Thing is the tracking did say it was delivered on the 19th, however I have now received the item today.

Yep, usps delivered it to your country's postal system that day. From that point on they have no way in tracking it...or care to. Glad it turned out.

Todd