Hello all!

I ordered a couple ponies from Australia to Canada 5 weeks ago and they still have not appeared. When is a good time to start being a bit concerned? The seller's other packages to the US were received over a week ago. Are the Canadian customs/post known to be difficult? (There are no tracking numbers to check unfortunately)

Thanks for the help!

heh heh Well, International shipping times are Always a bit tricky. I'd be concerned if I was you, certainly, but I wouldn't be worried for another week or two, honestly. If the seller had packages just arriving to the states a week ago I would look for them to arrive this week or next.

Hope you get some good news soon!! Let us know how it goes!

Hey! I had the same trouble with a doll I ordered about the same time, getting here. We had a Customs and baggage handler strike, in Australia, followed by the grounding of the Qantas fleet for a few days. I reckon this has slowed a lot of packages down.

My doll just arrived yesterday afternoon, really late in the evening. I would try to give it one more week before you guys contact your post offices.

Did your seller get a customs number at all? They can try plugging that into Auspost to see a basic "package has been sent" message and you might be able to see if it's arrived in Canada by plugging it in on your end. Auspost is notoriously bad, though, with updating their system -.-

Good information from both of you, so many thanks! Oh postal strikes... you are always such a pain... I will update the thread when the ponies appear

Was this airmail? I've had airmail from Australia take well over a month (sometimes a few weeks) and seamail can take MONTHS. (coming to BC & ON Canada)

*hugs* I understand why you are getting worried. 5 weeks is a while to wait, but it isnt unusual these days There is still a good chance that your parcel will show up in the next few days or over the next week . Do you know the date when your seller sent the parcel?

FantasticFirefly - Good to know that long wait times for Canada are not so abnormal!

Ringlets - Yep, yesterday was the exact five week mark. I feel better now though. Both the seller and I were unsure of how long shipment to Canada would take, but after hearing other people say that this was not unusual, I am fretting less

So the package still has not arrived and it's now almost two months to the day. My seller wants to issue me a refund since it's been so long. The package was not tracked, but is there anything we can do with the post office?

sorry to hear it still hasnt arrived. I guess it still could arrive , but I think your seller is right to offer you a refund at this point. If the parcel does arrive, then you can always re-send the money if the parcel doesnt have tracking then its kind of difficult to trace what happened to it, but you and your seller can always check out your local PO's incase its there ( ok so you dont have tracking, but you could always ask them if there is a parcel there with a certain address on it - you'll need ID to claim the parcel if it is there of course) . If you have more than one local PO, or a postal depot nearby, then it might be helpful to check at them all . Does your seller perhaps know the customs number for your parcel?

If it was sent First Class, no tracking, I would guess it'll take about 10 weeks in total to get there... most First Class I get from the States is non-trackable and it takes about 2-3 weeks alone. Australia has had a lot of airline trouble and strikes so I think Ringlets has the best advice.

I would be bugging both ends of the postal service and asking the seller to do the same, but I honestly wouldn't expect results, either. When trying to pinpoint packages gone AWOL in International shipping it can be an absolute nightmare as very typically neither end of the Postal Service wants to accept the blame for a missing parcel. But, don't let that stop you from at least trying (sure wouldn't stop me!) I've learned from personal experience that the squeaky wheel does indeed get the oil!!

In the meantime I would certainly accept the refund and like Ringlets said, if they show up you can just re-send the monies then!

Almost three months after they shipped, the ponies arrived! So, lesson learned is that sea mail is HIGHLY variable and can take a couple weeks or a couple months.

Glad to hear they arrived!

YAY!!! I am so glad they arrived! Thankyou so much for being so patient....
Yes, I agree, lesson learned! will definitely know better next time

thats awesome news! I'm really happy that they arrived safely, even if it did take a while