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Saintspillow
Posts: 15
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 Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 11:16 am Post subject: Newbie, shipped to UK, never picked up. What to do? |
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Sorry guys but I need a little more advice.
A product sold to UK and I shipped International First class.
I uploaded the tracking and followed it.
USPS indicated attempted delivery item being held. Royal mail saying pretty much the same. They attempted delivery.
Customer emailed me he had no info where was his merchandise and I forwarded him the tracking info.
We've emailed several times. he's tried to track from his end. All the info I have is the package is in UK.
What are my duties moving forward? |
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FoxAndFish
Posts: 1585
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 12:07 pm Post subject: Re: Newbie, shipped to UK, never picked up. What to do? |
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| Saintspillow wrote: | USPS indicated attempted delivery item being held. Royal mail saying pretty much the same. They attempted delivery.
Customer emailed me he had no info where was his merchandise and I forwarded him the tracking info. |
Did the customer follow up on the tracking information you provided? If so, what did they do?
| Saintspillow wrote: | | What are my duties moving forward? |
I can't say what your responsibilities are in the legal sense. But I ran into a similar issue when I was new to eCrater in 2009 and sold a relatively expensive item to a UK customer, who also claimed she couldn't find her package, when in fact it was being held at her local post office.
So this is what I did: I sent her a PDF of the tracking information that showed on USPS. I suggested that she print it out and either take that tracking information to her local post office or call them. Which she did, 5 days after she had contacted me. Her post office had the package, she needed to sort something out with them to claim her package. As the seller, I considered my responsibilties fulfilled. The customer's package was shipped promptly and arrived at the appropriate destination, the customer was provided with the necessary information. It is the customer's responsibility to contact the destination post office if that post office attempted delivery but could not deliver for some reason.
The same thing happens with attempted delivery in the US. The customer needs to contact the post office about re-delivery or pickup. |
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Saintspillow
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 12:37 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, he paid and I shipped 9/18.
I saw on USPS he should have gotten the notification on the 24th and figured he was taking his time going to the PO.
Then 10/8 he emailed me, I gave him the tracking and he followed up PROBABLY at his local PO. He didn't seem to have any slip. Royal mail asked to have me start tracking and of course, that went nowhere.
I think he needs to find his main sorting PO. Maybe there are duties or VAT he owes but he didn't recall getting the notice and once I forwarded the tracking, he was most pleasant and got right about tracing it to no avail.
I had some personal things to take care of last week and I haven't heard back from him.
I feel uneasy with no resolution. I'll tell you, learn something new all the time. Next time, I'll contact a buyer and tell them a package is waiting. |
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FoxAndFish
Posts: 1585
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Saintspillow wrote: | I gave him the tracking and he followed up PROBABLY at his local PO. He didn't seem to have any slip. Royal mail asked to have me start tracking and of course, that went nowhere.
I think he needs to find his main sorting PO. |
To my mind, the logical place to start is at the local post office, with whomever is the equivalent of our USPS postmaster. The customer should show the tracking information and have the destination post office find the package. The customer shouldn't be doing business with a sorting station, which is not responsible for delivery.
| Saintspillow wrote: | | Next time, I'll contact a buyer and tell them a package is waiting. |
That's what I do. I watch the tracking on all my packages. If the package is delayed or misrouted (which just happened last week...a package going to NJ ended up in CO), I tell the customer. If there was a delivery attempt and like 2-3 days have passed, I tell the customer. I believe it is my responsiblity as the seller to be on top of where the package is until it's delivered. I can't control USPS but I can be as informed as possible about the shipment and relate information to the customer. That is just how I do it, other sellers have other positions. |
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cosmicray
Posts: 7286
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 1:53 pm Post subject: |
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@Saintspillow
What USPS mail class did you use to send the item ?
What was the declared value on the customs form ? |
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Saintspillow
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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The declared value was ~$60.00 US. Free shipping
This was caused by my ignorance that I had a store in UK & AU. And I was going to eat the shipping.
It was sent international first class. 3 oz light weight shipping. |
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cosmicray
Posts: 7286
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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That declared value almost certainly suggests that the recipient will owe duty/VAT (to the post office, upon receipt).
This could be a sticker shock, as pretty much all items advertised within the UK/EU already include the VAT.
I'm not trying to suggest how this is playing out on the other end, but the customer may be less than eager to pay the duty/VAT. Depending on how the customs form was marked, the item may end up being returned to you. |
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FoxAndFish
Posts: 1585
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 5:48 pm Post subject: |
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| cosmicray wrote: | | I'm not trying to suggest how this is playing out on the other end, but the customer may be less than eager to pay the duty/VAT. Depending on how the customs form was marked, the item may end up being returned to you. |
I agree with Ray.
If the local post office attempted delivery on 9-24 and the customer didn't contact you until 10-8...2 weeks later...it's possible that the package is being returned. USPS says it holds undeliverable packages for 14 days before returning them to the sender (if I'm remembering right)...tho it may not be exactly 14 days in reality. Don't know what the UK mail system does.
You also say that you haven't heard from him since your contact on 10-8. So you don't know what's happened. It's also possible that the customer claimed the package and it wasn't scanned. That has happened to me several times in the US...and I made sure the local postmaster got with the carrier so that the package showed as delivered (otherwise the customer could claim nondelivery and demand a refund). Don't know if the UK mail system is more efficient. |
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MoonwishesStore
moderator
Posts: 17389
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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I had a package 'lost' in the UK for 5 months. Buyer finally picked it up and paid the duty and assorted other fees as she knew the package was about to be returned to me and I would then 'know' that she had been lying along. At least that is my intrepretation of the whole thing.
The buyer has the right to refuse the package and if it went first class, then it should be returned. If so I would refund only after the shipping and restocking fee was taken out (no matter that it was 'free shipping' it still cost you to ship it), since you shouldn't be short for something they should realize. Those EU countries all know about VAT, duty, etc. I don't know why it comes as such a 'surprise' to them when they get charged it for American purchases! Just my opinion. |
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cosmicray
Posts: 7286
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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| MoonwishesStore wrote: | | Those EU countries all know about VAT, duty, etc. I don't know why it comes as such a 'surprise' to them when they get charged it for American purchases! Just my opinion. |
This has been discussed here so many times, it really should be a sticky.
In the UK/EU, the amount shown on the web page includes the VAT. The US sellers, unless they are selling on a highly detailed web site, are not showing the VAT. The situation described here happens, because the customer doesn't read. They think that if they go click-click-click, and it makes it thru the system, they are golden (plus they think they got free shipping). On top of the VAT, there may be a duty and/or a fee for collection. None of this is accurately displayed to the customer during checkout. I think there may be a message, but as we all know, the customer doesn't read. All they look at is the grand total.
This is the exact same kind of thought process that I'm dealing with on those orders with the gift addresses.
This (also) occurred because the seller was never informed that they automatically got stores in other domains, possibly because the seller didn't read, possibly because the system wants to create as many store instances as possible.
This is a perpetual problem, that needs to be reformed (because if it isn't we will have this happen perpetually). I do not know any other way to describe this, if someone else can say it better, please have a crack at it. I am not trying to sound negative, but I keep seeing this happen. |
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elpereles
Posts: 3430
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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It looks like somebody in the other side wants to avoid the VAT.  |
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MoonwishesStore
moderator
Posts: 17389
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 8:11 pm Post subject: |
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If someone is shopping on our UK stores, for the priceier objects they do get an estimated VAT as shown on one of my items from my UK store.
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Vogue Sewing Pattern 1120 Misses Size 14-22 DKNY Easy Loose-fitting Baby Doll A-Line Dress Tie Ends
Price: £15.09 (£18.11 with VAT)
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So if they don't read the estimated VAT amount and noticed that they weren't charged it, they shouldn't be surprised when they get charged for it at their PO. Of course if they buy several smaller priced goods, they never see it at all.
Of course all bets are off when they shop in the AU or US stores as neither show VAT, yet they seem to think it is all free of duty. It will always be a perpetual problem I'm sure. At least it has been years though that someone wanted me to mark something as a gift though!  |
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