eBay

pvj2 · ‎06-19-2025

Anyone else have problems lately with packages being returned to sender? I had one that cleared customs in Chicago went to Texas which is the delivery state and then sent back. Had another this week with the m=buyers address blacked out and a RTS on the box.What's going on?

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎06-30-2025

@cottagewoman wrote:
To all - please indicate where your packages are stuck - Chicago, New York, California. As well nice to know if they're Chinese foods or not. Thanks!

2 Packages to the same address. Calgary to Wichita Tx.

First one Drppped off June 11..Delivered June 25. 14 days total. Note: Missing "some" scans. Appears to have bypassed customs.

2nd shipped June 21st..To be delivered June 30th. Transit time 7 Days. Label generated on a Saturday. Dropped off on a monday. A smidge more detailed with scans.

1. Shipment 1

2. Shipment 2. Part 3

Part2 .

Part 1.

Disclaimer: Posted for entertainment value only.

jtg204 · ‎07-02-2025

Update on our 3 marked as China origin Tracked Packet USA items $10 to $20 CAD value small diecast cars sent via Canda Post ebay labels (from a post office, not Chitchats/Stallion etc.):

First package will be delivered today after no scans of leaving customs since June 28. (June 16 - July 2).

Package that skipped customs completely was delivered already (June 19-June 28).

3rd package to Illinois (Sent June 20) still has status of inbound into customs still since June 25.

Might enable USA shipping again when I get 3 out of 3.

shallow_karl · ‎07-02-2025

Be sure to put the HS code in the shipping info and if at all possible, say it was produced in the U.S.

i-will-sell-it · ‎07-02-2025

Do not lie on the Customs forms. You don't want to mess with them, unless you are absolutely sure you are not ever travelling to USA and you don't care about your business.

fergua3 · ‎07-03-2025

final update on my 2 low value items (Lego sets) sent to the US through Chicago ICS. Both spent 10 1/2 days stuck in Customs and both were delivered within 4 days of being released from Customs. One was scanned all the way, the other received no scans until the 'out for delivery' scan. Both were COO Denmark.

Total travel time from the day shipped until the day delivered was 17 days for each package (one to FL the other to PA).

i-will-sell-it · ‎07-03-2025

I re-sent a few returned parcels with UPS. UPS now requires the receivers to pay the tariff before releasing the package; the amount is roughly 30%.

flipistics · ‎07-03-2025

@i-will-sell-it wrote:
I re-sent a few returned parcels with UPS. UPS now requires the receivers to pay the tariff before releasing the package; the amount is roughly 30%.

Apparently, as of yesterday, UPS also charges an additional $12 USD fee if the buyer doesn't prepay any tariffs or taxes.

jtg204 · ‎07-04-2025

And our 3rd China package is about a mile away from the destination and should be delivered after the holiday.

So 3 out of 3 will have made it. Now that ebay labels are working again, we're going to turn US shipping back on and see how it goes.

haddonfieldmedia · ‎07-04-2025

Just checked the status on a few of my items. Seems like 3 of them may be returning. On the tracking it says "returned to sender" but then immediately after it says "on hold". Guess we'll see what happens.

About 10-15 of my other items that were in limbo were all delivered. We'll see what happens next week I suppose.

randomchans · ‎07-06-2025

I hade 1 item like that. After "on hold" it arrived back in Mississauga. Was fully expecting to get it back but CP surpisingly sent it back out on their own! So it spent another ~ 7 days on its second trip into US customs and finally got delivered just a few days later. This must mean customs isn't blacking out shipping labels as they were doing before for whatever reason but in any case: way to go Canada Post! Happy they kept their elbows up on this one hahah but no idea if I just got lucky this time or if they will keep doing this. Hopefully the same happens to yours

As far as I know Canada Post and ebay have never made any public statements about this issue. The cross-border shippers sent out emails about the problem and said they were talking with US CBP but have not provided any updates since. Is it safe to say that nobody still knows what's really going on (other than the few CBP officers that seem to be rejecting random packages)?

dinomitesales · ‎07-07-2025

@randomchans wrote:
As far as I know Canada Post and ebay have never made any public statements about this issue. The cross-border shippers sent out emails about the problem and said they were talking with US CBP but have not provided any updates since. Is it safe to say that nobody still knows what's really going on (other than the few CBP officers that seem to be rejecting random packages)?

Correct. Canada Post has never made a statement or commented on the matter at all. eBay never said anything either. The only people actually reporting the issue publicly was the cross-border shippers who claim they have been in contact with Canada Post and US CBP, but haven't provided any more details or information.

jtg204 · ‎07-18-2025

My update on Chicago packages (all made in China Tracked Packet)...

1 more had skipped customs and was delivered fast.

2 I sent at same time got outbound statuses sooner than expected 9 days (identical timestamp for both packages):

Delay is decreasing maybe?

mrdutch1001 · ‎07-18-2025

I don't have any made in China Products, so mainly working with made in Canada or Made in USA and all is great there...I do't sell much on eBay anymore but a recent shipment to the USA(a sale from my other selling site for a made in Canada item), was shipped via Purolator(through netParcel via PayPal as my other selling site no longer has much of a discount on Canada Post rates), and this Purolator shipment(which transfers over to UPS in the USA) passed through customs with no issues and was delivered to the recipient in Texas in record time! (4 days!!)

dhslk · ‎07-18-2025

Fingers crossed. Have still had zero problems with COO China items going to US via CanadaPost (via California entry point). I wonder if it is the CATEGORY of item that is the problem for sellers with returned items?

dinomitesales · ‎07-18-2025

I am experiencing slight decreases in time spent in Chicago customs. I was averaging about 10 days previously, while recent shipments are being released in an average of 7 days now. This is for non-China items (still not chancing any Made-in-China shipments).

jtg204 · ‎07-19-2025

Got a new scan for another one today, even shorter time under 3 days (made in China). Question is how long they are stuck in 'customs transit' though.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-19-2025

@jtg204 wrote:
Got a new scan for another one today, even shorter time under 3 days (made in China). Question is how long they are stuck in 'customs transit' though.

@jtg204

Very likely a few issues in play here.

Volume - Chicago handles millions of packages per day
How they are priorizing - That's anyone's guess
Complexity of entry. Are they doing high dollar first? More money for orange hair hand shaking guy that way.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-19-2025

@doc_scribe wrote:
@fergua3 wrote:
there definitely appears to be some sort of issue with Chichago ICS. Both packages i mentioned a few posts above are still stuck in Customs. 6 days and 7 days respectively with no updates. Both low value Lego sets going to two different buyers. No sign of them being returned to me, yet, just no movement at all.
My first thought as well @fergua3 .

FWIW, my last 3 CP shipments to the US from AB - all tracked packets to eastern states, one right next door to Chicago - ended up doing the grand old west coast USPS tour before heading east. So far, no delivery delays; just significantly longer distance with extra hops...which is something I've only noticed when the Chicago hub was under stress and/or backlogged.

Of course, that wouldn't explain the blacked out address and return instead of rerouting...

I've had a couple of US shipments recently take 2 to 5 days longer than normal standard to arrive. When they get to destination they show as out for delivery followed by scanned back as On hold. Unsure reasoning. USPS shows similar tracking info. Unsure if in some cases ebay is either wanting a signature or there is customs owing. The current one is a 10 dollar set of Canadian stamps so low value and should be no duties owing. Trying to advise buyers or get a reason for these holds has become EXTREMELY challenging over the past couple of years. Majority of eBay mail rarely gets a response. Or the alternative get a response once it has long been delivered.

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎07-19-2025

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
@doc_scribe wrote:
@fergua3 wrote:
there definitely appears to be some sort of issue with Chichago ICS. Both packages i mentioned a few posts above are still stuck in Customs. 6 days and 7 days respectively with no updates. Both low value Lego sets going to two different buyers. No sign of them being returned to me, yet, just no movement at all.
My first thought as well @fergua3 .

FWIW, my last 3 CP shipments to the US from AB - all tracked packets to eastern states, one right next door to Chicago - ended up doing the grand old west coast USPS tour before heading east. So far, no delivery delays; just significantly longer distance with extra hops...which is something I've only noticed when the Chicago hub was under stress and/or backlogged.

Of course, that wouldn't explain the blacked out address and return instead of rerouting...
I've had a couple of US shipments recently take 2 to 5 days longer than normal standard to arrive. When they get to destination they show as out for delivery followed by scanned back as On hold. Unsure reasoning. USPS shows similar tracking info. Unsure if in some cases ebay is either wanting a signature or there is customs owing. The current one is a 10 dollar set of Canadian stamps so low value and should be no duties owing. Trying to advise buyers or get a reason for these holds has become EXTREMELY challenging over the past couple of years. Majority of eBay mail rarely gets a response. Or the alternative get a response once it has long been delivered.

I hear you. I had one package I was pretty sure Customs was going to check (because the thing I shipped that I made myself is often made in China), and I asked the buyer to let me know if anything unusual happened with this package. She said she'd take a picture of the outside and send it to me, but then I never heard from her again, so I can only assume everything was fine.

Yeah, customers are often not quick with answering, and some of the ones who do answer are a little bit chattier than I'd like.

C.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-19-2025

@sapphyres-designer-jewellery wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
@doc_scribe wrote:
@fergua3 wrote:
there definitely appears to be some sort of issue with Chichago ICS. Both packages i mentioned a few posts above are still stuck in Customs. 6 days and 7 days respectively with no updates. Both low value Lego sets going to two different buyers. No sign of them being returned to me, yet, just no movement at all.
My first thought as well @fergua3 .

FWIW, my last 3 CP shipments to the US from AB - all tracked packets to eastern states, one right next door to Chicago - ended up doing the grand old west coast USPS tour before heading east. So far, no delivery delays; just significantly longer distance with extra hops...which is something I've only noticed when the Chicago hub was under stress and/or backlogged.

Of course, that wouldn't explain the blacked out address and return instead of rerouting...
I've had a couple of US shipments recently take 2 to 5 days longer than normal standard to arrive. When they get to destination they show as out for delivery followed by scanned back as On hold. Unsure reasoning. USPS shows similar tracking info. Unsure if in some cases ebay is either wanting a signature or there is customs owing. The current one is a 10 dollar set of Canadian stamps so low value and should be no duties owing. Trying to advise buyers or get a reason for these holds has become EXTREMELY challenging over the past couple of years. Majority of eBay mail rarely gets a response. Or the alternative get a response once it has long been delivered.
I hear you. I had one package I was pretty sure Customs was going to check (because the thing I shipped that I made myself is often made in China), and I asked the buyer to let me know if anything unusual happened with this package. She said she'd take a picture of the outside and send it to me, but then I never heard from her again, so I can only assume everything was fine.

Yeah, customers are often not quick with answering, and some of the ones who do answer are a little bit chattier than I'd like.

C.

@sapphyres-designer-jewellery

My biggest concern there is no way to know with eBay mail if it is arriving. As an example with gmail and a tiny app you can confirm mail has been received. I am under the impression many sellers and buyers have ebay mail filtered. Either by choice or accident.