What happens to undeliverable international mail? UK to USA

[dragonfly]

I purchased an item on Etsy. The seller shipped to an address that does not exist. Will it be returned to seller as undeliverable? I am in the USA. The seller is in the UK. It didn't not have a tracking number. I assume the seller used whatever is standard international post. If it is returned, how long should it take?

[tulagirl]

It may be returned and it may take a while to go through that process.  How is it they didn't have your correct address if you paid online?  So weird.  I would think it would take several days for them to figure out they can't deliver it and then it will begin the process of being sent back. It takes a week to travel from a post office to the customs in USA and then basic slow service back to the UK could be 3-4 weeks fingers crossed nothing is lost.  If you have the address it is supposed to go to you could call the post office that serves that zip code and let them know a package is not labeled correctly and will hit their post office could they hold it for you so you could pick it up...provided its in your area at all.  There is no guarantee it will be sent back though.  With no proof on the package there is just no way to know.

 I had major problems with a UK seller.. They shipped my item item to me with the wrong address (no state, no zip just a mess) and it was a month before they got it back.  Then they claimed they sent it to me again but they still didn't have the address right and it was another month. So, I figure from this with the UK involved plan on a month for it to be resent.  There was no tracking on my package either.

[Galactica]

First it will go to a "dead letter" site- where such mail is collected. It can take a week or two to process. Then, if you are lucky, and if the seller checked the right box- the package will be returned to them.

[hathorcat]

I have had a couple of things sent all the way back over the years (once from Canada and once from the US) As long as your seller has remembered to put a return address on the packaging, it should make its way back....although it could be a long time in transit.

[lunar_scythe]

It honestly depends on how wrong it was, and who the individual postal person is, I think? Li ke, if the street name is misspelled, but everything else is right, you might still get it.  If the town is wrong, but the zip code is right, or the opposite, you still have a chance of recieving it.  Another thing you might try is ask your postal workers if you can fill out a forwarding request for the address, you never know!

[LadySatine]

I have had a couple of things sent all the way back over the years (once from Canada and once from the US) As long as your seller has remembered to put a return address on the packaging, it should make its way back....although it could be a long time in transit.

This recently happened to me. I shipped to Russia and never saw it delivered, sent a message to the buyer and never heard back. So I figured it was delivered and not scanned. Last week of July I get a package back. It was the one I sent to Russia! So I tried to get in touch with the person and eBay says it's been too long since the original transaction.

Basically it could take a few months, but maybe less time. It's hard to tell.

[Taffeta]

Because UK addresses are different from the US (we don't have state or zip codes) it probably is worth mentioning to a seller when you buy that those parts of your address are really important. Mind you, I think USPS is also understandably very keen on accuracy. A friend of mine in America made an error giving me her new zip code after she moved to Indianapolis and the system didn't know how to cope with it so sent the item back to me. In the UK, a mixed up post code will probably be ignored if the rest of the info is all right, but we're not such a big country as the States. So I imagine the seller probably didnt realise the level of chaos it would cause if she wasn't exact.

I would think a month is right. Sometimes longer, sometimes less. It all depends if she clearly wrote the return information on the package. If she's not used to shipping to the US, there's the possibility she might have put the label to return on the back rather than on the front - and that might delay it. Our post office won't let us send anything to the US if the return address isn't on the front of the package, nor Canada . But in the UK it's normal to put it on the back.

In any case, it probably will get back to her safely. In spite of random incidents of sending stuff to god knows where, usually returned mail does arrive back at sender. If you're not happy with that, though, I suggest you ask the seller to refund you...or find someone in the UK for her to send it to that you can trust to send it to you without mishap.