The MLP Arena
TCB => Trader & Shipping Support => Topic started by: pony_magick on December 01, 2014, 11:38:12 AM
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Not sure if this is where I should put this question or not but here goes. I recently bought a pony lot off ebay, the seller is based in Florida, US but it seems that instead of going the usual way direct from the US to New Zealand it seems my package is going through Istanbul and Tel Aviv. :whoa: Should I be worried about this? It's never happened before to me so I don't know what to expect, should I do anything about it or just wait until the package shows up? I'm just a little worried as to why it's going a illogical way.
EDIT: I talked to my Post office and they said talk to USPS but how do you do that? I just want to make a general enquiry but none of the drop down boxes fit with what I want to ask. Why is it so complicated to contact them?
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As long as it's making progress on the tracking I would not worry yet. Even within the US some people have had their packages go all the way across the country and back when they were only mailing a few states away in the opposite direction. Plus I think more countries are scanning now so that more locations show up on the tracking as your package moves around the globe.
I would just keep an eye on the tracking to ensure that it's still moving. How long ago did the seller ship?
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I sort of figured it should be ok if it still tracks but it's a bit scary when it's going completely the wrong way!! Plus I'm afraid that because it's been through those countries customs might open the parcel and things might get lost (I've had that happen but not with ponies). The parcel was shipped 20/11/2014 so not that long ago.
Thanks for the reassurance, I really needed it. I've been worried about it all day and have been trying to find out the usual route post takes from the US to NZ but haven't been able to find out any info. Plus when I tried to make a basic email to USPS the drop downs of what type of problems would let me make such an basic enquiry. :(
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What are the alpha prefixes on your tracking number? There should be 2 alpha at the start, and US at the end. ( The 2 Alpha at the end of the number denotes the country of origin of the PO of posting.
It is possible that the seller has given you the wrong number.
Another scenario could be that the parcel has been missorted. I once had a parcel sent to Austria instead of Australia .....
Another scenario is that the seller is in the US but the package isn't. Ie. the package is being posted from a different country. ( That we can easily confirm by the tracking number) I have ordered from a seller here in Australia and the parcel has end up coming in from China.... UGHH.
Parcels from USA to NZ, shouldn't fly via the middle East ( Tel Aviv) /Europe ( Istanbul Turkey). The usual route for AU/NZ is from an International Gateway in the USA straight across to NZ directly. Unless of course the carrier is say UPS or FedEx or DHL , sometimes they do route through some pretty odd places.
I would certainly contact the seller to see if he has mistakenly given you the wrong number.
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That's what I thought, that it should be direct. I've contacted the seller asking for them to contact their post sevice as to why it's going through the countries it is. The first letters of the tracking number are CF, and the tracking says it started out in Florida, then on to Germany, Turkey and Israel.
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CF is signature required on arrival, so least its not just airmail that could be just left on the doorstep.
Hopefully he can shed some light on that for you.
It could possibly have been missorted or incorrectly addressed. Least Having Israel as last point is coming in the right direction now.
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The tracking now says Maiami. Where is this parcel going? I think the ponies in it want to see the world before coming to the end of it. :p
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Do you mean Miami? If so, thats back in Florida.
There is an International Gateway there, its very possible they have realised that it has gone to the wrong place , bear in mind that it could also be on the way back to the sender.
If you post the events ( just leave out the number) I can take a look for you.
I would contact your seller to confirm the exact address they put on the parcel.
You will also find that once the parcel hits NZ it will start tracking on the NZ Post site, so keep an eye on that too.
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Yeah Miami. Sorry it was at the end of a long day and I just couldn't for the life of me work out how to spell it... :P
21/11 - Acceptance - Naples, FL
21/11 (10:11am) - Departed Post office - Naples, FL
23/11 (9:51am) - Arrived at USPS Facility - Miami, FL
24/11 (4:24am) - Departed USPS Facility - Miami, FL
24/11 (11:48pm) - Arrived at sort facility - ISC Miami FL (USPS)
24/11 (11:49pm) - Processed through sort facility - ISC Miami FL (USPS)
25/11 (2:35pm) - Arrived - Miami, United States
26/11 (12:54am) - Departed - Louisville, United States
28/11 (7:56am) - Departed - Philadelphia, UNITED STATES
28/11 (8:39pm) - Departed - Cologne, GERMANY
01/12 (12:30am) - Departed - Cologne, GERMANY
01/12 (6:55am) - Departed - Istanbul, Turkey
01/12 (10:00am) - Departed - Tel Aviv Yafo, ISRAEL
01/12 (10:65pm) - Departed - Miami, United States
Weird tracking right?
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Very weird path your parcel is on..
Hope it arrives ok.
Good news is that its all there in the tracking so I'm sure you're parcel will turn up!
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My international orders usually go to some larger European country before they get to me, but since you said that orders from US to NZ usually ship directly they might have made a mistake (hence Miami again - it's probably going to be returned to sender). Good luck :)
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at the beginning of November I sent a package from US to Spain.. and it promptly went to Canada, stayed there in the customs office for a couple weeks, was marked return to me... and arrived in Spain?? but it arrived undamaged- just took the scenic route. They said the person who originally scanned the package must have misdirected it- although I fail to see how that many people along the way could not read it and say oops! If you go online to USPS.com, you can get the number for international inquiries. The first time they said wait, the second time a nice lady attached a note to the number explaining. Good Luck!
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Thanks everyone. I agree that it's a good thing that it's tracking - even if it's going the scenic route. I am amazed that as cassstorm said how many times people might have failed to see it was going in the wrong direction. The seller is looking into it so if it does get returned then he knows to pass it back.
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It's possible your address was missing something or its just a mistake and is being rerouted back to the U.S. for proper sorting.
Four countries, though?! That package took a nice vacation. :silly:
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I had a friend who mailed a letter from within the UK, to another friend in the UK. When the letter finally arrived, it had somehow gone via China (who knows how, as domestic and international postage labels are incredibly different, though I've also had international post returned to me before it left the country because some twit read the return address as the mailing one and missed the giant "international postage" sticker and customs form that said it was destined for the US :shocked: ).
I'm sure it's fine :)
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I agree with everything that has been suggested. Ironically I have a package right now that went to Austria, when it was supposed to be going to Mexico. It has made it's way back to New York, so we will see what happens? :blink:
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You guys are all great! Thanks for the support! I've never had this happen so I was a little scared at first, now with all the stories of the same thing happening to others and everything turned out ok I'm not so worried (at least in the sense of my package turning up). I do wonder about what type of people work in the sorting facilities though.. they must see so many parcels and letters that they go blank.
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I sent my sister's birthday present from UK to Denmark. When it finally showed up three weeks later it had been to Australia lol
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Right so update: The tracking has been saying departed Miami 1st December which was a week ago. Even with the slowness of the post at the moment it shouldn't take a week for something to reach NZ. I contacted the seller previously about the tracking through the weird countries but they haven't gotten back to me, I have now asked them (politely) to recheck with the post office to see what the hold up is...
Am I being too impatient? In the mean time I've had other lots arrive that I bought/paid for at the same time as this auction so I'm starting to get even more worried than before....
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While your seller is responsible to make sure your item arrives safely, they have no control over our postal service here. Yes, they can most certainly check into it but it is not going to move your package along any faster. It just happens to be caught up somewhere along the line for whatever reason. It's really hard to say :huh:
As far as their communication...well they could shoot you back a quick email . It only takes a few minutes to give you a piece of mind. I would perhaps send another email to them with your concerns. They hopefully will get back to you. :)
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The weird scans could possibly be an error with the USPS system. When I ship internationally, I have noticed several times the packages scanning as being in both Chicago and New York at the exact same time, which is obviously impossible. I think I remember reading awhile back that tracking numbers get recycled so it could be old data that is showing up by mistake (not 100% sure on this one).
May I ask what method the seller shipped by (for example, First Class/Priority/Express)? For USPS First Class or Priority I am not surprised that you have not received the package yet as both can be very slow at the best of times. It looks like they originally mailed the item close to the Thanksgiving holiday, which can cause delays, and is now having to compete with the high volume of Christmas/holiday packages. I agree with ponylady, this really isn't something that the seller can control. I also want to mention that even though US packages often come with a "tracking" or customs number, it frequently only tracks within the US. Once it leaves, depending on the country, you may not get any more scans on the item until it reaches you. I would not worry about the package yet, I generally don't worry until it has been about a month since an item shipped from overseas.
Hopefully the item will turn up soon :)
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I recently had a couriered item from South America for some reason go through the US, Europe and Asia? I'm thinking it was a mix-up with the data, because it got to me incredibly fast. I personally wouldn't worry about it, it seems to be happening a lot lately - you might even have the wrong tracking #.
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I've heard of quite a few ponies going touring before reaching their destination. One went from the US east coast on vacation to Hawaii before heading off to where it should have gone - which was not far from the seller if I remember rightly :P Whether these ponies actually get sent off on the wrong delivery or whether its just that the scanning thing goes weird sometimes is a mystery. I wouldn't worry though - at least you do have tracking and all of the funny touring pony stories I;ve heard have had a happy ending where the pony arrives safely eventually :hug:
If your buyer is worried then they should contact you. It's not your fault if the pony really did get sent to the wrong place first and is now a bit delayed either
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Right so I contacted the seller on the 2nd December to get them to check with the post office, which they said they'd do and get back to me. On the 7th December I hadn't heard anything so asked again, just to check that things were all good - nothing back from them. Yesterday (11th December) I asked again, politely asking them to check that my parcel had indeed left the states like the tracking says. My parcel isn't meant to be delievered at the latest by the 17th but I've had 3 other pony parcels that I bought and paid for (and had been posted) within 2 days of this one having been posted for the second time from Miami.
Question is should I be worried yet or should I let the 17th pass before trying to contact the seller again?
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Update:
The parcel is meant to arrive in 2 days (on the 18th) but the tracking still hasn't changed since the 1st of December, I've also check with my post office tracking in case it has entered NZ but nothing. I heard back from the seller a week ago saying the post office are sure that the package has left Miami but it shouldn't take almost a month from leaving country of origin to arrive at destination - usually it takes 2 weeks at most from the time the seller ships to arrival at my house.
As this has never happened before, I take it I re-ask the seller to check and get back to me? Or do I go straight through eBay to open a enquiry?
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I really think the mail is just incredibly slow right now. I'm just on the other side of the border and a package I ordered almost 4 weeks ago from the usa finally showed up today. Typically parcels from there to here are only 7-10 days. Tracking isn't always up to date either, especially if its just delivery confirmation or if the workers haven't scanned it in.
Hopefully it arrives soon :)
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Don't get too stressed, It's obviously taking longer than expected due to the mis-sorting.
You should let the seller know your concerned. However, I think you should wait until at least the shipping arrival date passes before opening a case. If you do decide to open an ebay/paypal claim (as you need to do that before 45 days) just let the seller know before you do it. It sounds like the seller has done everything correctly so just opening a case without any warning may cause some tension to the situation.
If you do decide to open a case, let the seller know your doing it as you're worried the item might be lost and of course you will close it as soon as the item has arrived, this will go along way in keeping an opening and understanding communication between you and the seller. Definitely something you will want to have if the item does indeed go missing.
It might be the case that the item is returned to the seller, and keep in mind that happens sometimes and is not her fault. At least if you keep your communication open and friendly you can make a new arrangement, most likely she will ship again at her cost, and you still get your lovely pony you're after.
Of course, its disappointing as you expected to have your new pony by now, but unfortunately sometimes post gets mis-handled and can be slow at christmas time. Keep and eye on your 45 day deadline and keep in touch with your seller. I have my fingers crossed that your pony makes it home to Kiwi-land soon xx
*edit spelling mistake
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Thanks guys!! I'll definitely let them know before I do anything!! I always think that if the situation was reversed how would I feel if I did... Yes I realise that it's a busy time but even now it shouldn't take this long should it? Maybe I'm just anxious to have Hollywood and a pretty pony bag in my hands. I've emailed the seller and asked them to check again with the post office to see what's going on.
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:hug: unfortunately things really do take this long - even without your tracking issue/possible misdirected parcel- at this time of year especially. I'd say 4-6 weeks , sometimes longer :( In one way its a good thing as it might mean your pony will arrive safely anytime now, in another way its still a stress because you *may* have to open a case to protect yourself - do this if it gets close to your Paypal deadline and your parcel still hasn't arrived/update etc. But as ST said, if it comes down to that, contact your seller and let her know your concerns and why you had to open the case, but that you will close it if/when then pony arrives - and if the seller has to refund you due to the case but your pony arrives later, then you will resend payment :awake: . Good communication is always very important - especially when things like this happen - so keep open and polite communication going with your seller and hopefully all will work out well in the end :hug:
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Alls well that ends well. My package has finally reached NZ so I'm hoping for delivery sometime next week if I'm lucky. You guys are so awesome and full of advise, thanks for helping!
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It's good that the ponies will soon be in their new home :)
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Horray!
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What a relief, did your pony stop over in the Pacific islands on its way?
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Not that I know of but who knows what they saw in the 2+ weeks after they left the U.S. for the second time; they could have had a party in the Islands to celebrate going the correct way. :) hopefully they arrive next week so I can get started on my pony spa weeks, being that I'm now officially on holiday.
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That's great news!! :bigups: :cheer: :hug:
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Everyone arrived safe and sound. Though you could tell the box had been places as it was quite dented and the tape wasn't sticky anymore.