eBay

zee-chan-jpn-books · ‎05-05-2016

I bought something shipped with registered mail from Japan back in March and then kind of forgot about it because I left for an extended vacation. So I checked the tracking number today and on Japan Post tracking website it shows it was "Processing at delivery Post Office" in Canada on April 20 (doesn't say which city) and scheduled delivery date was blank. On Canada Post website it has no history of this tracking number. It doesn't say anything else such as whether or not it was bounced back to Japan for no apparent reason. My parents at home said they never received any delivery notice card while I was gone.

I have no idea if Canada Post tried calling me back then because my voice mail only keeps messages for 3 days and with my phone off the entire time I was gone my phone doesn't keep track of miss calls. It's not bought on eBay so I can't open cases or anything like that. I'm wondering what should my next steps be? Thanks in advance.

pierrelebel · ‎05-05-2016

Call Canada Post again

femmefan1946 · ‎05-05-2016

Did you pay for it by Paypal?

Did you pay for it by credit card?

PP has a 180 day Dispute period from payment.

Your cc may vary about deadlines, but they probably have a chargeback program.

Try Canada Post first, and go to your local postal outlet, they may remember a package from a location as 'exotic' as Japan.

But then go to a Dispute and a Claim.

You have a record of a delivery to CPO but not to your address.

Also, of course, let your supplier know about the problem. They may want to know about the slow transit to Canada and may have a solution that does not involve a Dispute. I take it you like this supplier and that they are usually reliable?

zee-chan-jpn-books · ‎05-07-2016

This is actually for a middleman service not from a supplier. I did pay for the shipping by Paypal and paid for my online purchases with a credit card (said websites do not ship internationally). I'm not going to go through Paypal dispute nor chargeback though because it's complicated (technically speaking the websites have done their part by sending to my middleman, and my middleman has done their part to repackage and ship my purchases to me) and also I don't want to be blocked by the middleman from future purchases. I have had a previous middleman block me when I complained about their poor repackaging which resulted in minor damages.

I checked Canada Post website and tried to open a service ticket, but it wouldn't let me do it because the tracking number is not recognized by Canada Post's tracking system. Even if I call them, they wouldn't know which parcel I'm talking about... and I have no idea how the parcel looks like so how am I gonna ask the local outlet (the nearest outlet is a big SDM with lots of traffic so I'm not sure if they'd even remember it) when they may or may not have received the parcel?

I have e-mailed the middleman but it's Saturday in Japan now so hopefully they'll see it soon

femmefan1946 · ‎05-07-2016

On the third hand, if you don't ask, they can't say yes, can they?

zee-chan-jpn-books · ‎05-07-2016

The middleman replied and told me since it's not in Japan anymore they can't hunt it down with Japan Post, but they sent me a copy of the packing slip and suggested that I take it to the post office and ask CP about it. It doesn't look like it has been bounced back to the middleman because if so they'd know since the package has my name and address on it.

It's a bit sad because I have never lost any packages (I mostly use untracked services to save money) ever over the past 7 years of online shopping, and finally for one package that's lost, it ironically has tracking... It's not Canada Post's working hours right now so I'll have to call later, and with the time difference it's harder for me to call. Might have to wait until I come back to Canada next week. I don't think my parents missed the mail slip because I had a different registered mail sent to me and my dad already picked that one up from the post office. It's not an expensive item ($30) but since it was already sold out, my only option is to buy it pre-owned with an inflated price...

zee-chan-jpn-books · ‎05-13-2016

I came back home a few days ago and found that the parcel is actually here. My dad said it arrived in late-April but he didn't know that this was the "registered mail" I was referring to since he didn't need to sign for this one.

Now, this is not an isolated incident - I received another parcel from Japan yesterday, which also was supposed to be shipped as SAL registered mail and I indeed paid for the registered / tracking service (only because said Japanese retailer only offers trackable services). It also arrived WITHOUT requiring a signature. Canada Post shows NO tracking history for this parcel either while Japan Post's last tracking history shows that it has been processed at an Canadian Post office. The tracking history looks about the same for both of my parcels except the later one also shows that it was stopped by customs in Canada before reaching the post office.

While bottom line is that I received my parcels safe and sound and all is good, I'm not happy about the fact that I paid extra money for tracking and Canada Post DID NOT TRACK THEM and ask for a signature as they are supposed to. This has bad implications for international eBay sellers selling to Canadian buyers - some not-so-honest buyers can then claim that they never received the parcel because tracking doesn't show that the parcel has been properly delivered!

zee-chan-jpn-books · ‎05-13-2016

And just for additional information, I looked up tracking numbers of my other Japan parcels in the past that were also shipped SAL registered. This one from 8 months also still has tracking history on Japan Post and it does say it had a final delivery at my postal code. Canada Post doesn't have tracking history for it but it could've be deleted already given its 8 months old.

Looked up a 9 months old tracking number for surface registered parcel, both Japan Post and Canada Post has it where the parcel was "last seen" in customs, no signs this parcel showing up at my household (and yes I know I have this parcel, but no I don't remember if I signed for it given it's 9 months ago).

I usually don't bother looking up tracking history of my purchases but looking them up now shows me just how incomplete international tracking history can be. Are they truly useful in protecting sellers? The only time I have shipped with tracking is for Expedited USA parcels and I have checked every single one of them and they all showed they arrived at my buyer's household so far...

femmefan1946 · ‎05-14-2016

I know I'm boring about this, but this is why tracking is a pain in the neck for buyers.

The buyer gets to thinking it is useful in some way.

Well, not for the buyer.

It only helps the Seller prove that an item has been delivered if there is a Dispute. And the buyer pays for that.

It doesn't speed things up.

It doesn't protect the item in transit.

And in this case "Registered' did not mean 'Signature Confirmation'. Which may be why PP does not accept Registered as being electronically verified.

Glad you got your parcel in any case.

Have a nice weekend. I'm going thrifing myself.

marnotom! · ‎05-14-2016

@zee-chan-jpn-books wrote:

Now, this is not an isolated incident - I received another parcel from Japan yesterday, which also was supposed to be shipped as SAL registered mail and I indeed paid for the registered / tracking service (only because said Japanese retailer only offers trackable services). It also arrived WITHOUT requiring a signature. Canada Post shows NO tracking history for this parcel either while Japan Post's last tracking history shows that it has been processed at an Canadian Post office.

My understanding of international registered mail is that the "tracking" is only guaranteed when the item is in transit in the country of origin. After that, it depends on whether the destination country's postal system has an agreement with the postal system of the country of origin to record the item's transit.

Generally speaking, registered mail is not scanned but items are recorded manually at sorting hubs, etc. If this information is put into some sort of electronic database after being written up, that's gravy. In short, it's old school, and I suspect the uncertainty of whether this transit information will appear online is the major reason PayPal does not accept it as a mailing method.

So I think that while you may have paid for a registered service, you may not have paid for a service that's trackable online. The two aren't necessarily synonymous.

zee-chan-jpn-books · ‎05-14-2016

@marnotom! wrote:
My understanding of international registered mail is that the "tracking" is only guaranteed when the item is in transit in the country of origin. After that, it depends on whether the destination country's postal system has an agreement with the postal system of the country of origin to record the item's transit.

Generally speaking, registered mail is not scanned but items are recorded manually at sorting hubs, etc. If this information is put into some sort of electronic database after being written up, that's gravy. In short, it's old school, and I suspect the uncertainty of whether this transit information will appear online is the major reason PayPal does not accept it as a mailing method.

So I think that while you may have paid for a registered service, you may not have paid for a service that's trackable online. The two aren't necessarily synonymous.

Interesting. I never knew that "tracking" is only guaranteed in the country of origin. In the past I was more diligent with checking my tracking status online and for all the parcels that I needed to sign for, all of them has tracking on Canada Post showing that I signed for it and I could even view my own signature online. I wonder if things changed over the past few months.

I didn't know that Registered doesn't mean "Signature Confirmation" though. In the past whenever I bought something "registered" in Japan somebody in my household always have to sign for it, and if we're not home we always have to go pick them up from the post office outlet. I don't know what changed the past few months with these two registered parcels not needing signatures and were left in community mailboxes... really, I don't care about tracking and am fine with community mailbox, but if "tracking" isn't guaranteed when the item leaves the country of origin, then I really wonder why these sellers insist on using a trackable service... while it only costs $5 in Japan, it's $5 that I could've spent on something else when all this tracking proves is that the parcel went to somewhere in Canada...

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎05-14-2016

Japan Post website states that registered mail (SAL) to North America is not searchable.

The manager of the post office in my village told me that delivery of registered mail is only registered within Canada, and that Canada Post cannot guarantee how the receiving country will handle registered mail. If you want to know that it is delivered, you need to purchase an Advice of Receipt card at the time of mailing, in addition to paying for registered service.

marnotom! · ‎05-14-2016

@zee-chan-jpn-books wrote:

In the past whenever I bought something "registered" in Japan somebody in my household always have to sign for it, and if we're not home we always have to go pick them up from the post office outlet.

My wife and I have encountered this occurring inconsistently with registered items from China, some of them ridiculously small and inexpensive.

. . . but if "tracking" isn't guaranteed when the item leaves the country of origin, then I really wonder why these sellers insist on using a trackable service... while it only costs $5 in Japan, it's $5 that I could've spent on something else when all this tracking proves is that the parcel went to somewhere in Canada...

I believe "registration" works differently for countries within the Asian-Pacific Postal Union and some sellers may not realize that the features that apply for items sent from and to APPU-member countries may not work for items sent to countries outside of it.

afantiques · ‎05-15-2016

If you want to know that it is delivered, you need to purchase an Advice of Receipt card at the time of mailing, in addition to paying for registered service.

Do not expect international advice of receipt cards to work. At least not with any reliability. In the days when I was getting 50 letters with money in them (from ebay buyers) every week, I'd occcasionally get one with a return card attached. The theory was they the postman would complete, detach and return them. This never happened and I just discarded them, still attached to the packet..

I'd also get various nation's 'registered mail' which was simply dropped through my letterbox with all the other post.vAs was anythen with a siganture required stamp on it, as the Royal Mail letter delivery included no way for the postman to record any such signature.

Since no post sent to me ever seemed to get lost, this was no problem.

No national postal service has any control over another postal service, so it is best to accept that all 'premium' services are a waste of money.

It is fortunate that almost all correctly packed and addressed post arrives safely, with or without extra payments.

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎05-15-2016

I have had a lot of experience with postal services in various countries I have lived and worked in, and you are absolutely correct - not only does one postal service have no control over another, sadly in many countries the postal service has no control over its own workings. I would just amend your last paragraph to read:

It is fortunate that almost all correctly packed and addressed post arrives safely, with or without extra payments - in almost all countries with a modern minimally corrupt postal and/or customs service. In my experience, sending mail from those countries with poor to ghastly service is somewhat better than receiving mail there.