Order went from IN TRANSIT to NO TRACKING

[Frapperie]

I have an order sent from France to the USA that appears to have gone missing.  The buyer and I are trying to sort it out, all is amicable and he's willing to wait to see if USPS can find it.  An inquiry with USPS was initiated late last week.

What is interesting is that the order went from being marked as IN TRANSIT to NO TRACKING shortly after these events.

I've never seen that before and I find it quite alarming.

I contacted chat for help but they could not explain why the order is now marked as no tracking.
They agreed there indeed is tracking. They stated that they can't change the status back to IN TRANSIT however, that is up to USPS.  The chat rep said they've initiated an update but I don't understand why it says NO TRACKING under any circumstances. 

Then they told me I should be covered by the protection program for this if my buyer didn't want to wait.  I responded that it could not be covered since the order says NO TRACKING!!  We went around in more circles and they eventually ended the chat with me. 

Anyone have this happen?
If yes, did you get it resolved?

[ArtDollsbyJD]

I've not had this happen when i did international shipping but it sounds like the tracking bar code was either smeared or torn so that the readers could not read the bar code.  

Do you cover the bar code with packing tape to prevent smearing or damage?

Did the one entry say something like awaiting tracking?  Then it went to no tracking.  That does not mean that the package is not still moving through USPS if the item made it through Customs.  Customs and USPS are two separate entities.

Do you have a printout that shows the tracking from the beginning until it reaches the US?  Etsy may accept that if you can provide this information.

Have you tried the tracking number on the USPS site?  It might be that the package was scanned wrong.  One can always hope.

Good luck.

[Frapperie]

There isn't one entry showing on Etsy, there's a full history of tracking information on the Etsy order page.

First entry is October 12 for processing in NYC.  Then there are subsequent entries for the Queens distribution center and continuing until the package arrives in Dallas where it is then transferred from facility to facility over a 4 day period up until Oct 22.

On Nov 8 there is a tracking entry for a Missing Mail Search Request.  This is also showing on Etsy.

Note: the buyer lives in California so the package was mis-routed


Same information that is on Etsy is on USPS.  I did check once tracking stopped updating on Etsy as sometimes there is a lag.

Nothing here explains why the order status on Etsy went from IN TRANSIT to NO TRACKING.
A full history of tracking visible to the chat rep, to the buyer, to me, etc and yet the order is considered sent as untracked by the system.

[auntiejans]

I would make a copy of that tracking information while it is available. 

[Frapperie]

Yep, took screenshots and also downloaded my shipping stats which states "0 orders missing tracking info"

[GlassyFields]

Once I had an international package disappear from the radar. It eventually made it's way back to me and customs had pasted a giant customs label over the buyer's address. It had gone all the way to Tasmania and then back to me. Luckily I had a very patient buyer in Tasmania so I shipped again and the buyer got it ... whole thing took about 4 months.

I suspect there is always some risk at customs and going from one carrier to another. I'd contact the carriers with the tracking info to date to try to locate it it. Sometimes I think making some noise jolts a package from its invisible state to its visible state. At least that's what seems to happen when I do USPS where's my package reports ... they seem to resume their journey.

[Frapperie]

Thanks.  Yes these things happen so honestly I'm not worried about the missing package.  I will sort that out with the buyer.

What concerned me however is that Etsy changed the order status to NO TRACKING and can't explain why and won't change it.
This could have negative consequences.

[NireValleyArt]

Hi , This may or may not be of relevance but all of my digital downloads orders show as “No Tracking” for the last few weeks in the order page  ( coinciding with less traffic/sales) . I have reached out to chat twice - I was told it might be a Technical glitch but to ignore it an and then yesterday I was told that my query and chat was being sent to a specialist team to review . I haven’t been able to get on chat since ( not working) and I’m still waiting on the specialist team to respond. 

[Frapperie]

Seems like maybe I'm the only seller to have this issue of the tracking status going from IN TRANSIT to NO TRACKING

@cindylouwho2 
You hear of this happening before?

[cindylouwho2]

@Frapperie no, not things changing on Etsy specifically.

What does your shipping CSV say? Is Etsy counting this as tracked there since it was originally?

[Frapperie]

@cindylouwho2 
CSV say sent on time, counted as tracked.

Weird right?

I can send you screenshots if you're curious but don't want to waste your time.

[cindylouwho2]

@Frapperie so then you should be fine if there are any disputes, fortunately, although I understand being concerned. 

[Frapperie]

@cindylouwho2 

Not sure I trust them.

I'll let you know if there's anything to report.

[Atelierbizart30]

If it went to Canada maybe with the strike it got mislaid etc.
nothing worst then a strike to get postage delayed

 call the french postal help service
Very often my packages came back to the surface
and arrived safely.
I have in the past called the post office in the area of delivery
The US and Canada and it got sorted out.

[Atelierbizart30]

Go to Canada post tracking
They may have other info then etsy