International buyer opened INR - two notices left and delivery attempt was made.

[shopazb]

I sent an item out about a month ago to an international buyer (not with the global shipping program as I don't have access to it) - it showed that two delivery notices were left with the buyer, and as of last week the package is either waiting to be picked up or is being returned to sender. However, now the buyer has opened an item not received case.

I shipped using APC through Stallion Express (I purchased insurance for this delivery as well), which used USPS to forward the package to the international destination. I found the tracking number for the local carrier and provided this in the INR case as well as an additional link to USPS tracking which shows the attempted deliveries. On the USPS end it says 'collect for pick up', but on the local postal carrier end it says it's being returned to me. If I remember correctly, the shipping service through Stallion said that in the event of a return, the item would be returned to the shipping hub and destroyed... I'm not sure what to do in this instance.  I provided the additional tracking in the case, it shows that delivery attempts were made and now I'm not sure what's going on or what to do. I told the buyer that since two delivery notices were left, it's now out of my hands and that the item will be returned to me, and again, I don't know if I'll actually get it back. Do I refund the buyer the cost of the item but not the shipping, then make a claim with Stallion? Do I let eBay resolve the case?

[38e_avenue]

Hi, I had almost exactly the same situation - two delivery attempts, a notice left, buyer opened INR case. Ebay took my side immediately, so no refund made, all feedback - if left for that transaction - should be removed. 

[shopazb]

Thanks. We'll see how it goes, hopefully the same as yours did. I provided all the tracking information and the most confusing bit is that the package itself was forwarded through USPS - if you check on the USPS website it says the package is waiting to be picked up, but on the local carrier's website it says it's being returned. So I have no clue where the package is going, if it'll be returned to me etc. We'll see 😅 

[marnotom!]

The Stallion shipping hub is likely the location that’s on the return address label, so if the item is making a return trip, that’s where it will end up.

For grins and giggles, @shopazb, you could try looking up the tracking for the item on the Parcelsapp website. Parcelsapp is pretty good about tying together shipments involving multiple carriers and the information associated with event scans is sometimes more detailed or less ambiguous than what shows up on carrier websites.

[recped]

Buyers do not have any protection if they fail to pick up a shipment for which tracking shows that notifications were made but the buyer never picked up.

Where was the buyer located? What company was handling the final delivery in the destination country?

If you have a thermal label printer then I suggest you use PostNL via Stallion instead of APC, if you don't have a thermal label printer then you are stuck with APC which is ok for some countries but not so good for others (PostNL is also almost always cheaper than APC and often a bit faster for some countries). I have completely switch to PostNL except for a few countries.

One last thing.....have you had any contact from the buyer? Also have you tried tracking the package at the destination carrier rather than just the regular APC tracking, sometimes the APC will not update with delivery info.

[shopazb]

Thank you for your reply, I did use Parcelsapp and it says item being returned to sender (local carrier notification), but then item is also ready for pickup (USPS notification)... I'm no longer using Stallion for international shipping unless it's something very heavy because I had a few situations like this where it went through multiple carriers and the tracking was all over the place. 

[shopazb]

Thanks for your reply. The buyer is in Israel and the final carrier was Israel Post. 

For some reason APC was cheaper this time, but I've since switched back to calculated shipping with Canada Post for US and international orders under a kilogram (most of my orders are under 600g anyway) because tracking has been so all over the place with Stallion internationally and I'd rather just have the reassurance with Canada Post's tracking. I did get the USPS/Israel Post tracking number from the APC tracking page and provided it to the buyer, and the Israel Post page does say notices were left for the buyer so we'll see how eBay responds. The buyer never contacted me before opening a case, admittedly I should've probably sent a message to them about the delivery attempts but I can't change that now. The buyer left a comment with the case saying 'Didn't receive any message about the item' - not sure if that means they never received the notices or if they're talking about me not messaging them. 

[recped]

Israel, yeah lots of problems there for incoming packages because virtually everything is held for pickup regardless if there is no tax/duty to pay.

Your buyer may be honest when they say they never got a notification from Israel Post, it's not uncommon. For any international destination if I see any indication of an order being held for pick-up for more than 2 or 3 days I send the info to the buyer (for the US I would wait at least a week so as not to pester the buyer).