Item on hold in destination country

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

I just happened to check the tracking status of a 1.5kg tracked packet I sent to Germany 12 days ago, and noticed that it has the tracking status of Item on hold since March 21... What would be the cause of this? Is the buyer not picking up the parcel?? I'm thinking about messaging the buyer to ask, but not sure how I should word my message? The tracked packet label does have the buyer's phone number on it. I'm just worried that if it doesn't get picked up soon it'd get bounced back to me, and I certainly don't want to pay $60 postage to retrieve it... Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Item on hold

Mar-21-17, 07:03 AM

Item has arrived at the delivery office in the destination country

Mar-21-17, 02:43 AM

International item is in transit to the delivery office.

Mar-20-17, 18:16 PM

Item on hold

Mar-20-17, 10:10 AM

International item is in transit to the delivery office.

Mar-20-17, 10:10 AM

Item has arrived in foreign country

Mar-17-17, 17:46 PM

Item has been sent to customs in the destination country

Mar-17-17, 17:46 PM

International shipment has arrived in a foreign country

Mar-16-17, 10:18 AM

[momcqueen]

Sort of.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Still on hold and it has been a week now. I wonder why this buyer is taking so long to pick up the parcel... How long does DHL hold parcels for pick up?

Tomorrow marks the last date on the delivery estimate, but since I shipped within my started handling time I shouldn't get dinged for late shipping, right?

If I want to message the buyer to remind her that her parcel is ready for pick up and that if it bounces back it'll cost almost $130 to resend (return postage + postage to send again + PayPal fee) how should I word the message?

[ricarmic]

Personally I would suggest not contacting the buyer, I've never had anything come back from Germany and some of my buyers have also taken some time as well.... even better if you are able to stop checking the updates etc it's very very likely just causing unnecessary worrying for you (this is a "do as I say, not as I do" situation because I'd probably continue watching myself but I'm a born worrier).

[momcqueen]

I agree with ricarmic. Don't send any messages to the buyer just yet. You won't get a late shipment mark if you shipped on time. If you need answers from DHL, call
DHL.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

I know I shouldn't check, so I haven't checked the last few days. Checked again today and it's still on hold......

What a great way to worsen my headache today.

[ricarmic]

I have received positive feedback from German buyers DAYS before it shows as delivered....

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

It would certainly helps if she could leave feedback for me now lol. She bought from me two years ago and left feedback, but I can't remember how long it took her.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Probably someone is going to tell me to stop checking tracking... but on hold for three weeks?? This buyer is reallllllly taking her sweet time to pick up her parcel, considering that she paid the BIN price on some of the auction items she won... I always pick up my parcels within three days of their arrival.

[femmefan1946]

For that headache.

[ricarmic]

I don't think I've had them like this for 3 weeks, but normally I've trained myself to not watch them in progress.

However I did have one that I was watching (I can't help myself for the $500 or $1,000 lots sometimes) and it sat for over 2 weeks.

I (understandably) got ansy, was worrying about just how long the PO was going to sit on it before sending it back, sent messages both though ebay messaging and regular mail to the buyer with no response.

I began to worry that something happened to the fellow and was pondering when I was going to call on the phone (or maybe I even did, I'm getting medium old now).

Around that time I got a note from him saying he bought the item, was going on a cruise, had a deal with his (rural) postmaster to sit on the item until he got back, he was back now and everything on his end was all planned out and AOK.

So all my worrying was for nothing...

That situation has helped me better avoid overwatching stuff in transit..... (most of the time)

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Lol aspirin.

I'm gonna wait till tomorrow and message the buyer if she is aware that her parcel has been on hold for three weeks... the total with tracked packet shipping was around $250 (my biggest 2017 sale) so of course I'm worried about it... I'm not gonna call though because it'd be international call. Like I said, I'm more worried about igetting sent back to me if the buyer doesn't pick it up and I'd have to pay $60 on the return postage...

[momcqueen]

For mysterious reasons known only to CPC they don't always charge return postage. But there's no way to know until it arrives back on your doorstep. If it did get kicked back I'm not 100 per cent certain you'd even be required to refund your buyer. You'd need to look into that, I don't want to give you poor advice. 

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Yeah, that's another concern I have about what the eBay rules actually are in this case. Ethically speaking I'd probably refund minus postage + eBay fees + 20% of the sale (for my time and headache spent on it), and the buyer would get about half of what she paid back. Personally I have had only one letter bounced back to me before saying no one lives there (I never had bounced parcels), I messaged the buyer and asked but never heard back. It was only a $4 with free shipping hand made craft so I never refunded, but never tried reselling it either.

But let's say I was the buyer who bought something elsewhere and didn't fulfill my obligation to pick up the parcel, I wouldn't demand the seller to refund (and all the websites I buy from have no refund / exchange policies anyway) since the seller would've fulfilled their end by mailing my item to me in good shape... anyhow, hopefully the buyer goes get it soon, or maybe reply to my message when I message her tomorrow...

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

So I sent the buyer a message last Saturday but haven't heard back. Today the package was on hold by DHL for exactly a month now... The tracking status on DHL website says "The shipment will be handed over to the customs office responsible for the recipient. The recipient can collect the shipment from there once he has received notification from customs." Makes me wonder if the buyer had even paid the import taxes yet... I'm surprised that DHL would hold packages for as long as a month.

Well, I'm not going to do anything else aside from staring at tracking status everyday, lol. It has become part of my daily routine...

[recped]

---

@zee-chan-jpn-books wrote:

So I sent the buyer a message last Saturday but haven't heard back. Today the package was on hold by DHL for exactly a month now... The tracking status on DHL website says "The shipment will be handed over to the customs office responsible for the recipient. The recipient can collect the shipment from there once he has received notification from customs." Makes me wonder if the buyer had even paid the import taxes yet... I'm surprised that DHL would hold packages for as long as a month.

Well, I'm not going to do anything else aside from staring at tracking status everyday, lol. It has become part of my daily routine...

---

The transition through German customs can be incredibly slow at times for packages originating outside the EU. When Customs finish with it it goes to the recipients local post office and it's not until then that they receive a notice to pay VAT (if applicable).

German Customs....the new Italian Customs!

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

The thing is, I had other sales to German buyers this year and they left me feedback within 3 weeks of the sale. I think this buyer is just taking a long time to pick up her parcel... But I hope the buyer is physically okay though since she also hasn't bought anything else after my sale (no new feedback left to her after mine).

[momcqueen]

Have you tried calling the Canadian arm of DHL to ask what process they as a company follow with parcels under circumstances such as these? They may even have some secret tracking to check that revels more information than is available to you. 

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

I was gonna call DHL as Maureen suggested today (was working over the weekend) but thankfully the buyer replied, told me that she did have to pick them up from customs and said she loved them. From the tone of it it sounds like she picked them up quite a while ago (she didn't say when). Just left me shining feedback too probably because I messaged her...

Now my concern is, tracking still says it's bloody on hold. If the buyer wasn't honest about receiving her books, then what could've happened if she filled an INR?? I paid extra for tracked packet solely for the tracking and to "protect" myself since this was a $200 sale, not for the extra headache it gave me. I could've saved a few dollars since this was a return buyer with good past record... 

Spoiler

[momcqueen]

If that is the case, I'd advise you to call your carrier and report the 'Delivery Scan' error.

It will take them time and effort to personally contact the buyer to confirm delivery.

If they cannot, it's their obligation to return at least your postage paid. You will have to be persistent.

If they do confirm delivery with the recipient, they will send you a message indicating this and it can and should be used against any (inaccurate) Item Not Received claims.

Yes, you're right, as this is the entire point of tracking: to protect yourself against INRs and if tracking fails to do so, you deserve your money back for the postage paid to do so. Let the carriers fight over whose fault it was that no Delivery Scan was recorded. 

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

So would the "carrier" beCanada Post then since I bought TP for this sale via PayPal? Is it a tedious process that's going to be time consuming? I also don't want to trouble my buyer because it could cause her inconvenience if DHL contacts her... because I'd think her bottom line is that she has received her books just fine, and she didn't request for tracking to begin with (it's my choice). Personally I hate unsolicited phone calls (remember I work graveyard shifts occasionally so I value uninterrupted sleep but also need to keep my phone on in case work calls) and I don't even pick up any calls from numbers I don't recognize. My friends and family would only text or message me, so if my buyer is in similar shoes I'd hate for her to b disturbed by Canada Post or DHL needlessly.