Etsy Shop & Shipping. (Angry, not pony related)

[Ivaness]

On February 3rd, I bought and paid for a Doctor Who bag. It has a decal of a Dalek on it, shipping says within 3-7 days. No big deal. On the 11th, the shipping label was created and I was sent a message says it had been mailed out that morning. Awesome. I was so happy. Come the 14th, I check the tracking, no updates past the label being created. I messaged them and they were very prompt saying that they'll look into it with the post office and we both acknowledged tracking wasn't that great right now.  The next day, they sent a message saying that their post office sometimes keeps things for DAYS before actually doing anything with them. (What??!) I let it go, but I was starting to get frustrated.  There were no updates and today FINALLY, their post office is sending it out to me and it's in transit.

Are y'all aware of any post offices that practice that? My thoughts are the shop didn't send it out when they said and were trying to think ahead to cover their bases.

What would y'all do in this situation? I plan on leaving feedback, but I'm not sure what kind of feedback. I'm just frustrated at this point.

[Squirrelypaws]

I've never heard of anything like that before. 0_o

I agree; it sounds like maybe they didn't get it to the post office when they said they did and were trying to cover their butts. Though there have been lots of stories of postal weirdness lately, so you never know; it might very well be true.

Perhaps you could call the postal service and see if they can enlighten you at all? They should have a record of when it was actually accepted at the seller's local office. Or, if calling's not an option, check the package for a stamp or anything that would indicate when the PO actually got it?

As far as good vs. bad feedback... If I were in your shoes it would depend on whether you can determine anything about the actual ship date. If the post office really does have a habit of hanging onto packages for awhile, the delay isn't the seller's fault.

[Juliepants]

There's been quite a number of threads with this similar kind of issue recently. It does seem to be that post offices are being slow to send things, and also that tracking is not necessarily being updated promptly.
Just a common theme I've noticed that's all.

Jules x

[HoustonCollector72]

I live next to a post office, I can tell you that ,there is trucks taking the mail downtown every afternoon
they must have not taken it to the PO on time for that days load.
But the tracking sometimes does not update or does not get scanned until it arrives to the destination
then it shows up.
most of my international packages only show sometimes a scan arriving to Chicago and that is it .
some Domestic also show only scans at their destination locations !

[Ivaness]

I just find it weird that it was supposedly mailed out the 11th and it took an extra week to mail out.  I don't understand why a post office would hang onto a package for an extra week. Reading through their feedback, there are lots of claims of slow shipping, but even more of fast shipping.

I'm really at a loss.

Jules, I compeltely agree and this is the second thread I've made about it. I just don't find this ... credible. That the post office would keep a package for an entire week (to the day). I really, in my heart, believe the package JUST got there because now the tracking is good and where it should be. Here is what I have for shipping.

 Location  Event
Feb 18, 2015 1:39am  JACKSONVILLE, FL 32099, US Departed USPS Facility
Feb 17, 2015 10:01pm  JACKSONVILLE, FL 32099, US Arrived at USPS Origin Facility
Feb 17, 2015 8:46pm  JACKSONVILLE, FL 32244, US Accepted at USPS Origin Sort Facility
Feb 11, 2015 4:07pm  JACKSONVILLE, FL 32244, US Shipping Label Created

Post Merge: February 18, 2015, 11:15:30 AM

I live next to a post office, I can tell you that ,there is trucks taking the mail downtown every afternoon
they must have not taken it to the PO on time for that days load.
But the tracking sometimes does not update or does not get scanned until it arrives to the destination
then it shows up.
most of my international packages only show sometimes a scan arriving to Chicago and that is it .
some Domestic also show only scans at their destination locations !

I've never had this issue with my post office.

[archidraca]

I haven't heard of such a thing in a while but I suppose it could happen if 1) they scheduled a pickup and the sorter [person] is not particularly good 2) if they took it to a Post that is not the Main Post of a town and the roads were in the slightest silly or 3) they took it to the right place and you got one of those sorters [person] that is consistently neglectful about scanning. Most places are pretty good about that... but 4) you may have run up against someone messing with a Mail Count to get a slightly higher pay grade next term. You may need to check that out if you can. Or, 5) the seller may have just been lazy about getting to the post and just said something slightly plausible as a put-off of responsibility. Three and five are my candidates on most likely. Especially as I see it went through Sort in less than 24 hours. The ones they "keep" are cycled through the main Sort facility in a town until they know what to do with it. Especially in larger towns. It just keeps getting scanned Sorted/Departed/Arrived until they're done with it.

I only get truly miffed about post speed (even if it's entirely their fault to the slowness) when it's something time sensitive for a gift. If you do dock points, write a review to explain it mentioning the extended time between Label Creation and Package Acceptance. But I would not. I'd understand if you did though.

[Ivaness]

You have a lot of good points.  I just think honesty is a good policy to have. If after I contacted them the first time, they knew they wouldn't be able to get to the post office, let me know. I'm a seller too and I do that. Majority of sellers do. Guess now it's just time to wait for my package to show up and see.

[NoDivision]

Based on the tracking I'd guess it might have been dropped off on the 13th or over the weekend and not moved until later. Shipping label created in the afternoon of the 11th, so even if taken that evening it might not have made the last cutoff and wouldn't be scanned until the 12th. Doesn't look like that happened. But if it was dropped off in the evening on the 13th and it's a post office that doesn't operate on weekends then the 15th and 14th are weekends, the 16th was a postal holiday, the 17th would be the earliest it would be scanned in. Just a possiblity.

More likely from that timeline it looks like the package wasn't taken to the post office until the 17th. But hey, you never know.

[bluerose9978]

I had this exact same thing happen to me recently! The seller printed the label on the day I paid and claimed to send it out 3 days later. A week passes and I don't receive the package so I inquire about it becausr the tracking says it has not been shipped and the seller claims it was sent out 5 days ago and says tracking is not working for his other packages either.

Then two hours later tracking says the package is dropped off at the post office. I come to find out later that the seller's daughter had not dropped off the package when the seller thought she had.

So I would have to say it's not the USPS unless it's on the East coast. They've been having such bad weather lately that they're probably pretty backed up.

[Ivaness]

We are both east coast. Seller is in Florida (no bad weather to my knowledge) and I'm in Pennsylvania (and we are getting snow, jooooy. Lol)

I think what I'll do, because they did at least contact me back, I'll just say item is what it is and that shipping was lackluster, because it was. So far, that's the only complaint I've had. Lets see how the item. Haha.

[mylittleponysparkle]

Hope it works out with the shop you are hoping to receive something from on Etsy : )

[dragonlady]

I'm on the East Coast as well (Maine) so storms were my first thought as well. Earlier this month I sent a package that literally sat for a week at the same PO in New Jersey! Blah.

Hope it gets resolved soon, good luck!

[Tap Dancer]

We are both east coast. Seller is in Florida (no bad weather to my knowledge) and I'm in Pennsylvania (and we are getting snow, jooooy. Lol)

Just out of curiosity, why does your profile say you're in England? Is that where you lived before?

[Ivaness]

We are both east coast. Seller is in Florida (no bad weather to my knowledge) and I'm in Pennsylvania (and we are getting snow, jooooy. Lol)

Just out of curiosity, why does your profile say you're in England? Is that where you lived before?

Hehe. I'm obsessed with Henry the 8th and his 6 wives.

[Ringlets]

Based on the tracking I'd guess it might have been dropped off on the 13th or over the weekend and not moved until later. Shipping label created in the afternoon of the 11th, so even if taken that evening it might not have made the last cutoff and wouldn't be scanned until the 12th. Doesn't look like that happened. But if it was dropped off in the evening on the 13th and it's a post office that doesn't operate on weekends then the 15th and 14th are weekends, the 16th was a postal holiday, the 17th would be the earliest it would be scanned in. Just a possiblity.

More likely from that timeline it looks like the package wasn't taken to the post office until the 17th. But hey, you never know.

I think that this is a good possible explanation from NoD  ^^   It is really hard to tell what the truth is in these circumstances though. It's still possible the seller didn't drop the parcel off when they said they did, or its also possible that someone else was taking it to the PO for them and didn't do it until later as in Blueroses case. The weather does have an effect in slowing the post down too, and TBH I have heard of PO's not sending things as soon as they should have either.
At least the seller is in contact with you though and the tracking is working now   . Hopefully your parcel will arrive soon then you can decide on the feedback. I would probably comment on the item rather than the shipping unless you feel that you must mention it since it could be a recurring issue with this seller (if other feedbacks mention slow shipping etc)