Advice needed on possible lost item *Item arrived!*

[Tancho]

On the 24th September I won an auction in the US for a piggy pony. I paid straight away and the seller posted out to me pretty much immediately! She posted it via priority mail international with tracking and it was registered on their system the 25th September but it hasn't turned up yet
The same day it was sent I also had other US ponies from another buyer and a pony from Buenos Aires sent the same day and these have all arrived now.
The other odd thing is that on the tracking it shows the parcel leaving the depot, going to another local depot and then appears to go back to where it started. Don't get me wrong, I'm no expert in how tracking works but this is how it appears.
As you can imagine I'm getting more and more concerned as time goes on. My eBay app reckons delivery between 4th and 11th October but the USPS site reckons a maximum of 10 business days which would be today I think.
What I would really like to know is am I panicking too early? When should I expect to receive it at the latest? Ie when should I claim for the item not received?
The seller has been lovely, don't get me wrong, and she shares my concern for my piggy not being here yet - she contacted other buyers and said all of their items turned up. I just feel like I need to vent my niggling feeling that this piggy is lost, and to get some advice

[Maniah]

I think it may be a little too early to tell.. Give it a few more days. You could always try calling the company that is handling the shipping of your item, and give them the tracking number and see what they say.

If indeed it shows it going right back to her home, then she may have labeled the box wrong so they sent it back to her. I bet you will hear something in a few days if this is the case.

[Sarahlacewing]

It's possible it was not addressed correctly and went back to them where it is being held at the post for them.  Sometimes if you miss a notification it can sit at the post office for a long time  before you notice.  Might be a good idea to mention it to her in case this is what has happened.  It's also possible it is en route and they just didn't scan it properly.

[michelle53]

Where is the pony being sent from?  I've had ponies take up to 3 weeks to arrive from overseas.  The mail has been terribly slow lately:(

[Galactica]

Definitely give it more time-

There could be a problem with the postage or address- and when packages get returned, they go into a separate area to be sorted and processed- it takes WAY WAY longer once this happens-

Also- sometimes stuff just inexplicably takes forever to get overseas.

[khyron]

Another voice for "give it a little more time."   

[Dyzarktarzk]

Where are you?  Ironically, sometimes being registered could take a little more than without tracking number =S

Give it a little more time.

[Ringlets]

I also dont think you need to worry just yet ( even though that is easier said than done )   At least it does have tracking, so its possible for you , or your seller to give USPS a call and find out whats going on /where exactly your parcel is  . I had to do that once with a tracked item from the US - the tracking showed it went somewhere else and then said that it had the wrong addy. Turned out when i actually spoke to someone on the phone, that the PO had stuffed up and sent the item to the wrong depot, so it had to be sent back to the original one, before it came to me.
You have 45 days to make a Paypal claim should you pony really be lost, but I dont think it will come to that. Hopefully your pony should arrive soon. It can take around another few weeks if its international though, even though they say they aim to deliver in 10 days

[Tancho]

Thank you for all the reassuring advice from you all 
Sadly still no sign of her as yet, I'm trying to remain hopeful - but as you say Ringlets, easier said than done....
The seller is going to get in touch with her PO tomorrow, and see if they can shed some light, also I may go down to my local PO too and ask them incase it's being held there...
Getting very depressed over the whole thing now....

[ponylady]

*crosses hooves* for you.

I am with the rest, do not give up hope.  The post has been incredibly wonky lately.  It most likely is caught up in customs somewhere.  And I know we may think because it was sent Priority it will get here quicker, but that is not always the case.  I have had stuff that was sent First Class International get there faster than Priority.  As long as that tracking number is still showing up in the system there is a good chance it will arrive safely to you.

[Tancho]

Well she finally arrived thank you to all!
BUT she wasn't posted to my house.  I went down to the local sorting depot and spoke to one of the guys working behind the counter.  I asked him how things were going through customs lately (ie how long they were taking) and also asked of the possibility of me not getting a customs form (I was expecting one because of it being a high value item) and he told me to stay there whilst he had a look at the parcels he had there, and came back with it in his hand!!  He said he'd been on holiday so there was a backlog (which begs the question surely they don't leave the mail from overseas that needs a customs forms just sitting in a bin whilst the staff member is on holiday?!), so I was extremely happy as you can imagine to get her in my hands. 
Not very happy at the £30 customs charge though!! 

[Dyzarktarzk]

But it's finally with you =)

That's nice to hear!!

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Glad it worked out and you were able to get your pony!