posted on January 14, 2013 12:24:29 PM new
Shipped an item to the UK December 17. Guaranteed delivery of December 21 if item shipped by December 18 according to post office. Item arrived December 27, but the recipient was no longer at the address for the holidays. UK still has the package and is attempting to collect fees from recipient.
So, I file a Guarantee Claim on 12/28 and requested package be forwarded to London where recipient lives. UK ignores the delivery claim and sends back a general response regarding the status of shipment (already shown on tracking). US Post Office resends the Investigation request. This time UK apparently refuses the Guarantee Delivery Claim refund because UK Customs held the package longer than 24 hours. Tracking shows it was 4 days in Customs.
US Post Office refuses to cover the guarantee even though I purchased the postage through their website and there was no mention of any disclaimers regarding Express Mail Shipping Guarantees. No mention any disclaimers that the claims are subjected to decisions by a foreign country.
Hmmm.... so, Priority Mail UK doesn't provide tracking anymore, Express Mail to UK guarantees delivery date, but not really.
Nice eh?
[ edited by shagmidmod on Jan 14, 2013 12:26 PM ]
posted on January 14, 2013 05:20:34 PM new
What is the content?
4 days in UK customs?They are pretty tight with security.
I learn my lesson ,if you have some serious business to conduct,try Fed Exp.
USPS works best for low priced items,if you are or your buyer is not in a hurry,ditto with pick up service,they may not show up to pick up the packages if they are new or it is getting too late or too dark?
[ edited by lostmymojo on Jan 14, 2013 05:22 PM ]
posted on January 14, 2013 05:59:49 PM new
It was a set of 4 glasses valued at $80, so I wouldn't consider it high value. With that said, the website made a guarantee of delivery by 12/21 with no disclaimers regarding this guarantee. The item was not delivered by 12/21. If it could not be delivered by 12/21, then they shouldn't make a guarantee that they cannot keep OR they should issue a refund for this shipping fees I was charged.
This customer purchased the item as a Christmas gift. She should get a refund for it not arriving before the holiday when the Postal service guaranteed it.
By the looks of things, it appears that she still has not received it. With that said, I will end up probably having to issue her a full refund for the item and shipping... and probably will never see the item again.
I will file an insurance claim if it comes to that, but I suspect that the claim will be denied because the UK lost the Revolution in 1783.
posted on January 15, 2013 06:20:16 AM new
PO certainly does drop the ball on shipping. I shipped an item to Germany on 12/18. It just arrived today!!
Not sure if customer is going to ding me, but he can see I shipped it the day after he paid. Tracking does not even show it was delivered, just that it was still in NY on 12/26.
This was priority mail, but still, that is ridiculous!!
posted on January 15, 2013 07:27:58 AM new
I get emails from International always complaining about the shipping fees, wanting it shipped for less. My first sentence every time is "I completely agree that shipping fees are expensive, but Paypal/eBay requires it be trackable and this is the least expensive method that meets these requirements for fraud protection."
With the outrageous shipping fees, you think we'd get better services... but just like everything else out there, what we get are budget cuts and inferior service.
posted on January 15, 2013 07:47:02 AM new
Going to Europe and UK,it has to go thru Northeast -NJ and NY.
Hurricane Sandy did enough damage,package going from Houton to NY was rerouted to Puerto Rico,so it takes longer and who knows how they reroute packages from OR to UK?
I have domestic shipments which were not tracked once arrived at Houston sort facility,some arrived at destination,some are lost or in transit?
I dont know why they guarantee arrival of overseas packages since neither USPS or local post office have control over how long it would take to clear customs.
May be Global express,express and priority envelopes will clear faster,as they are mostly documents?
Fed Exp,UPS and DHL have their own customs brokers near airport and they would expedite clearance by filling out any missing information on your customs form,bring them to customs,and take them out of customs once they are cleared,
Ebay does not help when it tells the buyer how long it would take to arive on your item page,without taking into consideration seasons and weather,and Ebay sure does mot own the customs office in foreign countries!
posted on January 15, 2013 07:51:08 AM new
For any item over $250 going overseas,we need online trackable signature confirmation and the only way we can be sure there will be online trackable signature confirmation is either USPS Global express mail which is handled by Fed Exp,Fed Exp ,UPS or DHL and they are all over 100 dollars to ship a small package,and who wants to pay that much?
These overseas buyers should really find a forwarding service to save money.
[ edited by lostmymojo on Jan 15, 2013 08:01 AM ]
posted on January 15, 2013 08:10:03 AM new
Forwarding Service - great idea.
I have often suggested to International buyers that they contact friends in the US to see if I can ship to them and have them forward it, making sure the shipping address is listed in the payment. Since I offer free shipping, there is really no additional cost to them. The beauty is that many International Buyers soon find out that my pricing for shipping is accurate. Some do that, some don't.
posted on January 15, 2013 10:52:48 AM new
Ebay and /or PAypal have something to say about forwarding service,make sure you read and understand it,just like they have something to say about accepting western union payments.
Some of these services do not just provide ship forwarding,they also buy for you.
Once I have a Chinese buyer who used such service and when the item arrived damaged,the forwarding service urged her to take up this issue with me the seller.
Of course I am not responsible,I dont know her from Jack.
posted on January 15, 2013 01:57:15 PM new
That is my point. They can have the item shipped to someone else if the address is approved. After that, it is between the two parties, otherwise they would have to return it to the person I shipped to and then that person would have to return it.
I know I wouldn't do it, but I have had several buyers do exactly that so that they don't have to pay all the extra shipping for Priority Mail.
posted on January 15, 2013 06:48:54 PM new
They usually get a cut ,but it could save the overseas buyer some money if she buys a lot.
Some are overseas retailers,they buy a lot,back then digital cameras are expensive,so they buy used ones from different sellers,same with pre banned ivory figurines,lots of nice stuff they buy and resell in their own country.
