How long to ask international buyer to wait before refunding?

[tinrobo]

Hello everyone!

I have an ebay buyer at the moment who is worried that their parcel from me has gone missing. It was sent on the 7th feb from the UK to their address in Malta and they say they have had other parcels from the UK that were sent later and have arrived already.

I looked at royal mail's international claim form for a rough idea and they say to allow 20 working days before claiming for a lost parcel (I know I'll have to refund them out of pocket first rather than making them wait for the claim to be processed, that's not a problem).

Do you think that is a reasonable amount of time to ask them to wait, or should I refund them sooner?

[emery]

Anything sending country-to-country I would definitely wait at least 3 weeks (so 20 days is close enough). I would keep in contact with your buyer to assure them and if they don't receive anything by next weekend I would look into the lost parcel claim. I would message your buyer every couple days so that they know you're concerned about it and hopefully fingers crossed it will arrive soon! Let them know you are prepared to file a claim but that you hope the package arrives before that is necessary.

With eBay/Paypal I believe you still have 45 days from date of sale to file a claim so the buyer would be well within the protection period and not need to worry.

[pyrodarknessanny]

parciles i get from the UK always take a lot longer than other countries
( im in Australia)   

i find UK mail takes 4-6 weeks to get to me on avrage.

but id go off of what your postal service web site says,  the 20 days.
and provide a link to the buyer  showing that.   if nothing has arrived to them by that time then  issue  the refund,   but not before.

[ponylady]

Anything sending country-to-country I would definitely wait at least 3 weeks (so 20 days is close enough). I would keep in contact with your buyer to assure them and if they don't receive anything by next weekend I would look into the lost parcel claim. I would message your buyer every couple days so that they know you're concerned about it and hopefully fingers crossed it will arrive soon! Let them know you are prepared to file a claim but that you hope the package arrives before that is necessary.

With eBay/Paypal I believe you still have 45 days from date of sale to file a claim so the buyer would be well within the protection period and not need to worry.

This is exactly what I would recommend.

[nhal039]

personally I wait 6 weeks, 98% on what I send internationally take 4- 20 days however I have had a few rogue parcels take 5-6 weeks

[Ringlets]

Anything sending country-to-country I would definitely wait at least 3 weeks (so 20 days is close enough). I would keep in contact with your buyer to assure them and if they don't receive anything by next weekend I would look into the lost parcel claim. I would message your buyer every couple days so that they know you're concerned about it and hopefully fingers crossed it will arrive soon! Let them know you are prepared to file a claim but that you hope the package arrives before that is necessary.

With eBay/Paypal I believe you still have 45 days from date of sale to file a claim so the buyer would be well within the protection period and not need to worry.

This is exactly what I would recommend.

Me too  ^^   
TBH most international parcels take at least 2-3 weeks or longer.  expect up to 6 + weeks for some places.  I dont think Malta is one of those places - I shipped  there recently and it took just under 3 weeks .  20 days should be ok. I would think the parcel should arrive any time soon. Something else to keep in mind is that there have been shipping delays from some parts of the UK recently due to the flooding/extreme weather. I believe you got hit harder in the south of the UK than I did in the Midlands so it may take your parcel a bit longer to get there - it wouldnt hurt to let your buyer know that

[tinrobo]

Thanks for your advice, everyone! Hopefully it turns up soon

[lisey_baby]

We always ask people to wait three weeks before worrying. International mail from the UK can be crazy slow at times. We had one package take 6 months to get to Canada (after we replaced it, it arrived) it must have gone there by rowing boat