USPS International Shipping Problems

[maydaylabels]

At least 5 orders sent overseas (especially to the UK) in the last several weeks have been confirmed delivered per tracking but are not, according to the buyer, actually delivered. I can't get any information from the USPS as the tracking says delivered. It's becoming a problem. Is anyone else having this experience?

[ArtKvarta]

Same problem with Estonia. We pay more for track number and have no information when packages left our country.

[DeepSeaDayDreams]

hi! i actually used to work for the post office. i cant offer much insight because once the package has left the country its REALLY hard for USPS to do much since its not in their hands anymore (especially if it was scanned as delivered) when we had that issue come up we suggested that they try to contact the other country's postal service as they can give you more info than USPS can. as for paying more for tracking did you pay for priority mail EXPRESS? because if it was just priority mail it ALWAYS tracks in the US but only tracks after in SOME countries. I dont know if theres a list you could get i just know when i entered in international packages some countries it would give me a prompt saying that tracking and insurance werent available. and im fairly certain estonia would be one of them. if i remember right express SHOULD have tracking everywhere its offered but it doesnt always have a guarunteed date. Sorry if you already knew all of that. just thought id try and offer some postal insight

[SageNThymeDesigns]

I've had challenges with international first class delivery, more often to the UK than any where else. I think the biggest challenge is that items are being held in customs awaiting VAT payment. The customer is supposed to be notified, but sometimes they don't leave the notice, or maybe it blows away, I'm never really sure.

I now ALWAYS tell UK customers that they must check the online tracking to ensure the timely delivery of their package. That way they can contact their local post office right away if something like this occurs. The US postal service really can't do much once it's out of the country, the customer will need to contact their local post office.

Apparently they only hold the package for 3 weeks before sending it back to your 'returned to sender'.

[StuckOnSilver]

Only one of my many international shipments was returned to me for non-delivery and it was to the UK. The buyer could not locate the post office where it was held for VAT. I sent one large custom order to Dubai using UPS and, although the two-day express cost was over $100 USD it was tracked to delivery.

[SageNThymeDesigns]

Just had this exact situation happen this week where an order to the UK was marked as delivered, but wasn't actually delivered. Since it was marked as delivered at 6:00am, the customer was pretty concerned. Turns out that was when it was delivered to the Post Office, there was no further tracking data available, nor will there be. I wonder if this may be their new tracking strategy for international first class packages that need to be claimed from customs or pay a VAT.

[annakingjewellery]

If you are using USPS to send parcels to the UK but the tracking info on USPS.com isn't helpful, you could try tracking your UK parcels on Royal Mail:

https://www.royalmail.com/track-your-item

I am a UK seller and find that if the tracking info on Royalmail.com isn't helpful, I can often get more info from USPS.com once US parcels hit the American leg of their journey.

[maydaylabels]

So some of these packages have finally come back to me and in most cases they are "not called for - customs fees due". I think what is happening is the USPS is delivering to the local post office, calling it "delivered" on tracking, and either the customer doesn't want to pay import taxes, which can be a lot in the UK, or they never get a notice to do so.