Shipping delays from US to Australia? Help!

[mlp4me]

Hey all!
I sent a package to Australia on Oct 17th. It has not arrived yet. I'm getting a bit nervous at this point. Do we know are things taking a bit longer to get over there from the US? In the past it has taken 3-7 business days... Plus I just sent another package to New Zealand a few days ago...

If it is the worst and the package is lost (I've never had this happen) what is the next step on my end? I guess I should ask so that I know this anyway.
When would be the appropriate time to consider things misplaced and move on 30-45 days or business days from shipping or longer? Refund if item is marked as shipped in paypal? Or is there no refund at all? If refund how much is appropriate and fair to send back to the buyer?
Any assistance is greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance! 

[ponylady]

I do not know of any delays at this point in time.

I have a couple questions though before I can answer the rest of your question correctly. Was this an eBay sale? or an arena sale? Also how was payment sent?

[mlp4me]

Arena sale. Payment was sent via paypal (not a gift).

[Stormness_1]

As an aussie who gets packages and does trades a lot, I find that while the US is slower to ship than us, it's normally no longer than an extra week. I hope it's just delayed in US customs - Aussie customs very rarely holds unsuspicious packages, most things go straight through.

[Sea_Breeze]

Don't forget the postal system is probably starting to pick up with Christmas fast approaching. I've had some packages take around 4 weeks from the USA and then some 7 days. I personally wouldn't start worrying just yet, give it another week

[mlp4me]

Hmmm... I checked the customs # on USPS. Last I have is it was at a sort facility in Chicago, IL on 10/18. So let me throw another q in here... Is it possible that usps will show any more stops before it leaves the country? (I think Chicago ate it... LOL.)

[StarFaerie]

It should show it leaving the US, then it won't show anything until it is delivered. If you think the delay is on the Aussie side, you can leave a message on the Australia Post Facebook page with the customs number and they'll follow it up on the Australian end.

[himmie]

I do not believe anything I have ever sent has showed more than Arrived/Processed in Chicago within the United States. Sometimes it is not even scanned there though.

[kezrob23]

It may also depend on where in AUS its going - I know it takes at least 7 days for me to send something from Victoria to western Australia but last time I got something from USA, there were a few days skipped on the tracking after it left the sort facility in USA then it showed up as in aus.

[mlp4me]

It should show it leaving the US, then it won't show anything until it is delivered. If you think the delay is on the Aussie side, you can leave a message on the Australia Post Facebook page with the customs number and they'll follow it up on the Australian end.

I will have to check this out!

Thanks all.

[Stormness_1]

Yep, Australia is usually pretty good at scanning in received packages. So I'd say it's at the US customs facility, in transit or just arrived in oz but isn't in the system yet.

[DaffyDilly]

There are definitely delays of some sort - at work all the Aussies are chasing their parcels (we send through the postal network UK to Australia, usually takes 1-2 weeks) because they haven't arrived yet.

We've been told by our carrier that the bush fires caused some problems with things getting backed up, so if that is the case I bet they're just clearing the network again.