if you cant track it internationally? it kinda becomes pointless. i purchased something off ebay from canada on the 18th of october and still nothing. when i try and track the number all it says is recieved by canada post. WTF??

tracking numbers should be valid worldwide if they are provided. i am coming up to the 45 day period and might have to open a dispute in order to cover myself and i feel bad cause the buyer has done nothing wrong but i do not want to be out of pocket.......

tracking numbers shouldnt be offered by postal services if they dont work worldwide.....

good question! i was wondering too!

What type of shipping service did you pay for, if you don't mind my asking? I've had issues with Canada Post on this note before (I've even gotten negative feedback on eBay from it!)

For some more expensive services through Canada Post, the tracking number IS scanned and updated for the buyer to properly track the parcel along it's journey. I've used these services before to locations as far as Denmark with no complications, but it's pricey.

However, with some cheaper services they will give a 'tracking' code (It says 'tracking code' on the receipt, too, which is mis-leading to sellers) this number is in fact only a confirmation code, which means once the parcel is delivered, THEN there will be an update when you type in the code, but all it will tell you is that the parcel has been delivered. It almost seems to be more for the benefit of the seller, to confirm the item has been received. I've experienced this frustration myself, too, when buying from within my own country (until I finally learned what the code was actually for.)

Sorry you're having issues with Canada Post, customs here loves to hold stuff for up to a week, but it still seems like a heck of a long time to wait for a parcel. Don't give up hope, though- I've heard tales of parcels taking up to 3 months to arrive in Europe, Asia, Australia and other over-seas locations from here. I really hope your stuff shows up soon ;P Canada Post can be amazingly inefficient at times :X

The postal systems are probably on different databases and can't communicate, so that is why they can't guarantee the tracking to international areas. At least that is what I have been told.

Which would make sense if places like Sweden and the Netherlands have private postal systems that are VERY pricey and then there are FedEx and UPS who can make all sorts of stipulations about HOW and WHAT they deliver, and WHEN/WHERE on top of being pricey. I wasted over $30 with FedEx because the teller forgot to tell me they don't deliver to P.O. Boxes! She had to TYPE the address IN! I am still so angry that I don't even want to waste five minutes of my time recovering the funds. I always have trouble with courier services!

It bugs me that CanadaPost is sooooo good about scanning things but then I can plug that number into another postal tracking site for DAYS and get no updates! Then finally I get a "delivered" message... So I totally understand the frustration.

If you're worried you should contact the seller and see what they say before opening a claim. Not really fair to freeze the funds of someone who might be relying on that money, when you are the one who didn't ask for insurance.

A lot of postal services are like this - they only really track on arrival - i.e. you wont get an update until it arrives - its not really a tracking number per se. Royal Mail tend to warn you of this fact when you ship international...at the end of the day the only way around it is to pay extra for a registered post of some kind or insurance...if not international shipping is always a little bit of a risk.

As Sebby says the first thing is definitely to speak to the seller just in case they can help out...

Sebby6 wrote:

If you're worried you should contact the seller and see what they say before opening a claim. Not really fair to freeze the funds of someone who might be relying on that money, when you are the one who didn't ask for insurance.

Well, I don't think Stormy is trying to claim that it's the seller's fault, but like she said,s he has to cover her bases. If it's getting close to 45 days then she should file a claim regardless. I mean we know the seller sent it, there is a tracking number. But if she doesn't file by 45 days and the item is lost then she loses all her money. I mean sure it's not fair for the seller to have their funds frozen, but it's also not fair for stormy to lose her money. She doesn't really have any choice but to file if it reaches the 45 day mark. I mean yes, definitely contact the seller, but it's not like you're doing something wrong if you file a claim - you're doing what you have to do.

Sometimes, depending obviously for countries postal policies and shipping methods used, they scan the package when it arrives to the destination country and then it should show up on that country's tracking system informing that it has arrived to the country. Before that it will only show that it was sent from X.
(This is what usually happens with the US custom label number when something is shipped to Finland, whether it's First Class or Priority Mail. Of course the proper tracking will be more precise along the way).

Hm.
I think a lot of good info is in this thread. :3

Whellu is right that sometimes they use weird wording for "confirmation" and call it a "tracking code"-- when it's real purpose is confirmation, and not tracking. u__u; It's easy to confused the two.

And I hope I am remembering this correctly. With things from the US going out of the US... they will track it within the US, but as soon as it leaves and gets to the other country--- it's up to /that/ countries postal service to continue scanning it... They could be nice, or they don't have to me.

NoDivision wrote:

Sebby6 wrote: If you're worried you should contact the seller and see what they say before opening a claim. Not really fair to freeze the funds of someone who might be relying on that money, when you are the one who didn't ask for insurance. Well, I don't think Stormy is trying to claim that it's the seller's fault, but like she said,s he has to cover her bases. If it's getting close to 45 days then she should file a claim regardless. I mean we know the seller sent it, there is a tracking number. But if she doesn't file by 45 days and the item is lost then she loses all her money. I mean sure it's not fair for the seller to have their funds frozen, but it's also not fair for stormy to lose her money. She doesn't really have any choice but to file if it reaches the 45 day mark. I mean yes, definitely contact the seller, but it's not like you're doing something wrong if you file a claim - you're doing what you have to do.

I dont know if this is what Sebby was trying to say or not so my apologies if I misunderstood....but surely if you purchase an item via a site like ebay and are not willing to pay for insurance or some kind of more expensive registered postage service....you are taking a bit of a calculated risk?

Why does the loss of money have to be the sellers? The seller ends up loosing the pony and the money they have been paid for it - the buyer looses nothing because ebay automatically sides with them. Surely there should be a little room to negotiate a part refund rather than a straight out claim.

I used to get a bit upset when sellers insisted on insurance via ebay because it makes shipping so expensive - but now I know why. The fact people are so ready to file because something they purchased is missing [understandably its upsetting and annoying] and when the fault is no ones but the postal system, is definitely the reason I am going to insist on insurance for all sales I make on ebay now...its not worth the risk.

I have spoken to the seller and we are.working togetber but i do not wwant to be out cost and a ppny either... if i open a case and win and thenthe pony arrives i am more than happy to resend the funds would even send them as a gift so that tje seller has nofees but i am notgoing to not file a claim because.its unfair to tje seller . Either way i am out pony plus costs or she is so its not fair on eother side.... but we do have a dialogue open

There are cases when items get lost that ebay refunds the buyer out of their own funds rather than taking the money from the seller. I've had it happen. Not often, but it does happen.

In this situation it seems like the postal service is the problem, but the postal service isn't going to give you your money back for the item you didn't receive. If you can come to a partial refund agreement with the seller that's awesome. If not, if it were me, I'd probably file a claim. Depending on the cost, I guess. It also depends on what sort of guidelines the seller put forth in the auction.

sorry to hear your parcel has gone MIA, even with tracking It is possible that the seller could claim the money back from the PO since the PO seems to be at fault. I know it works that way in the UK..
Good to hear that you and your seller are communicating and working to try and resolve the situation

NoDivision wrote:

There are cases when items get lost that ebay refunds the buyer out of their own funds rather than taking the money from the seller. I've had it happen. Not often, but it does happen.

Yes its a rare occurance, but I've had that happen too ^^ in my case ebay decided that neither me nor the seller was at fault and so they refunded me themselves,( but my parcel did eventually show up so I contacted and refunded ebay in the end .....)

Now about international tracking, I've had priority mail items come from the US to me in the UK and the item has been tracked throughout its journey from the USPS. True, the PO here also tracks it once it arrives in this country. They give it a different tracking number, but you can ring them and tell them the international tracking no. /courier, and they will then be able to give you the tracking no. for your country. Thats how it works here. whether that is the same for your country I dont know, but ringing the PO might be worth a try .

hathorcat wrote:

NoDivision wrote: Sebby6 wrote: If you're worried you should contact the seller and see what they say before opening a claim. Not really fair to freeze the funds of someone who might be relying on that money, when you are the one who didn't ask for insurance. Well, I don't think Stormy is trying to claim that it's the seller's fault, but like she said,s he has to cover her bases. If it's getting close to 45 days then she should file a claim regardless. I mean we know the seller sent it, there is a tracking number. But if she doesn't file by 45 days and the item is lost then she loses all her money. I mean sure it's not fair for the seller to have their funds frozen, but it's also not fair for stormy to lose her money. She doesn't really have any choice but to file if it reaches the 45 day mark. I mean yes, definitely contact the seller, but it's not like you're doing something wrong if you file a claim - you're doing what you have to do. I dont know if this is what Sebby was trying to say or not so my apologies if I misunderstood....but surely if you purchase an item via a site like ebay and are not willing to pay for insurance or some kind of more expensive registered postage service....you are taking a bit of a calculated risk? Why does the loss of money have to be the sellers? The seller ends up loosing the pony and the money they have been paid for it - the buyer looses nothing because ebay automatically sides with them. Surely there should be a little room to negotiate a part refund rather than a straight out claim. I used to get a bit upset when sellers insisted on insurance via ebay because it makes shipping so expensive - but now I know why. The fact people are so ready to file because something they purchased is missing [understandably its upsetting and annoying] and when the fault is no ones but the postal system, is definitely the reason I am going to insist on insurance for all sales I make on ebay now...its not worth the risk.

I stand by what I said. Like you said - the seller has done nothing wrong, and if you claim and win she's out the pony, the money and the postage.
The decent thing to do when no insurance was purchased is to split the loss or wait until she can claim with her postal system and then refund you so no one loses out. If you had reason to think she hadn't shipped it at all, then it would be a different matter.

I feel for Ebay sellers. I really do.

Stormy, I've been told that, with a general tracking code, once it leaves the originating country, you need to then plug it into the Auspost tracking system.

Auspost isn't great with their tracking updates but it does show up there, eventually. I had a skirt coming from Sweden that didn't show up on her tracking system after the delivery confirmation, but showed up a few days before I received it, on Auspost's website.

Also, don't forget that we've not only had a lot of strikes with Customs and Qantas, but there has also been a surge of online buying. So there is a massive, massive backlog of parcels with Auspost (to the point where they're desperately putting on new staff to get things moving). Some people in the doll community have had parcels delayed nearly 3 months - even if they chose expedited shipping.

A call to Auspost might help, quoting the number.