USPS RTS (Return to sender) Mystery

[randomchans]

The joys of no longer being able to use cross-border shippers! Shipping to the US direct with Canada Post has been surprisingly smooth so far except for this odd ball.

Item just returned to me with

the sender address / phone # completely blacked out with thick marker and "RTS" written on it. Original tape is still sealed so no indication of tampering or even a customs inspection. The reason for return has always been clear whenever the occasional package comes back but this is a stumper. Tracking info just shows vague "customs" and "in transit to next facility" updates before suddenly popping back into Canada. My first instinct is the buyer refused the item bc of tariffs but it's not even clear if the item reached the local post office, if delivery was attempted, or if tariffs were even charged.

Will probably just refund and somehow recoup the shipping fees. If the buyer wants to pay for shipping again, then I may consider resending it back out (assuming no imminent strike / lock out)?  The buyer has confirmed that the address is correct and has not been contacted by USPS. No reason to believe buyer is dishonest...if they've somehow managed to reject the item bc of tariffs then they've found a loophole lol 

Anybody with a similar experience, or any theories on what went wrong? Partial tracking updates are below. Thanks for reaching the end!

[marnotom!]

My guess is that there was something on the customs form (or missing from it) that made somebody at Customs and Border Protection kick it back to Canada.  Sometimes if you check the tracking information on the Parcelsapp website, you'll see scan event information that you don't get on the USPS or Canada Post websites, and there may be a clue there.  No guarantees, however.

Your comment about not being able to use cross-border shippers puzzles me, though.  If you go through the threads on these discussion boards, you'll see that Chit Chats and Stallion are still doing their thing.  Were you dealing with someone else, or are you located near a drop-off location that's now closed?

POSTSCRIPT:  Just checked your listings.  If you're shipping directly from Canada using Canada Post, why do some of your listings state your item location as being in NY state?

[musicyouneed]

I had one during Covid returned a 1 1/2 years later as I couldn't cross the border to pick it up.  It was RTS I didn't know who returned it to me as they had never contacted nor did I have any record of who purchased it from me as I couldn't find the order, the tape over the address destroyed the original address.  It was the weirdest thing.  

[dinomitesales]

The tracking screenshot you show appears to be the Canada Post updates directly from the order details.

Do you get any additional information when you enter the tracking number into usps.com?

[reallynicestamps]

You probably don't owe the buyer anything.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

EBay does not require refunds on Undeliverable shipments.

I would Message the Buyer with the problem, nonetheless.

[randomchans]

Sadly no clues on parelsapp but that seems like a nice website to bookmark

Cross-border shippers are still running but as far as I know they've stopped accepting items made in China bc of customs inspections. So the location sort of depends on the item's country of origin. Had I been able to ship this item with a cross-border shipper then it likely would've been delivered in less than a week!

[randomchans]

Sounds like the start of a great X-Files episode haha

[randomchans]

That's right. In fact the order is marked as "delivered" by Canada Post now that I have the package

USPS tracking stopped updating once the package returned to Canada. It still says "in transit to next facility"!

[randomchans]

Althought technically an undelivered shipment, the order is marked as "delivered" after it returned back to me

Without knowing why the shipment came back though it's hard to determine what the buyer is owed

[cottagewoman]

Wondering if this will continue to happen with items shipped CP with a CoO on the customs form label as CN? Could happen - I still don't think USPS has a reliable way of collecting tariffs at delivery. Will be interesting to see if others using CP to ship items marked CN have the same thing happen.

[dinomitesales]

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@randomchans wrote:

That's right. In fact the order is marked as "delivered" by Canada Post now that I have the package

USPS tracking stopped updating once the package returned to Canada. It still says "in transit to next facility"!

---

Yes, but all those tracking updates with little to no information between June 6th and 10th - what do they show on usps.com? Is there any additional information that might illuminate why it was returned to sender?

[reallynicestamps]

I saw a suggestion to a seller of vintage goods which had no country of origin known, that they should print their own Made In Canada (or Made In USA) stickers on their home printer and slap them on the unlabelled goods.

I suspect this might be a tad illegal.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

---

@reallynicestamps wrote:

I saw a suggestion to a seller of vintage goods which had no country of origin known, that they should print their own Made In Canada (or Made In USA) stickers on their home printer and slap them on the unlabelled goods.

I suspect this might be a tad illegal.

---

Stallion is encouraging this to identify it as made "somewhere" even when the real origin isn't known.

I have a few things that are unknown (usually because they come from a place that was known as a different place 100 years ago when it was made), and I do my best guess on what it's called today. I have lots of stuff from Ceylon which is now Sri Lanka and run by a different government. I deal in lots of African stuff that was known by their colony name when they were under British or French rule.

C.

[randomchans]

Well it's already been a month or so and doesn't seem like anybody else is having any problems. And I've shipped a few other items this way and all have gone through just fine except this one. I don't even think tariffs have been charged to the buyers.

[randomchans]

Nope it's even less vague. It's still marked as in transit to final destination

[needsmorerobots]

If it was delivered with tracking and then sent back, you don't owe the customer anything. 

I had one case such as this. I sent it tracked to the States, but once it arrived at it's destination it was turned right round and sent back. It came to my attention after it arrived at my home unopened and RTS.

I was never able to discover the exact reason it was returned. 

The customer never contacted me and the private message I sent to him went unanswered.

I tossed the unopened package into a drawer and left it there for a year before finally relisting the item.

Best case, the customer refused the item. Worst case, the customer died before it arrived. 

I haven't had an incident like that since.

[ricarmic]

@sapphyres-designer-jewellery for older country names I use the current name, so Ceylon stuff I put the current name Sri Lanka.

I just use a simple google "what is bechuanaland called now" query to get the "new" country name (Bostwana) ... most  I know but that query has worked for all the ones I didn't.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

---

@randomchans wrote:

The joys of no longer being able to use cross-border shippers! Shipping to the US direct with Canada Post has been surprisingly smooth so far except for this odd ball.

Item just returned to me with

the sender address / phone # completely blacked out with thick marker and "RTS" written on it. Original tape is still sealed so no indication of tampering or even a customs inspection. The reason for return has always been clear whenever the occasional package comes back but this is a stumper. Tracking info just shows vague "customs" and "in transit to next facility" updates before suddenly popping back into Canada. My first instinct is the buyer refused the item bc of tariffs but it's not even clear if the item reached the local post office, if delivery was attempted, or if tariffs were even charged.

Will probably just refund and somehow recoup the shipping fees. If the buyer wants to pay for shipping again, then I may consider resending it back out (assuming no imminent strike / lock out)?  The buyer has confirmed that the address is correct and has not been contacted by USPS. No reason to believe buyer is dishonest...if they've somehow managed to reject the item bc of tariffs then they've found a loophole lol 

Anybody with a similar experience, or any theories on what went wrong? Partial tracking updates are below. Thanks for reaching the end!

---

@randomchans 

Read the threads from today, they likely explain what happened with your package. Chit Chats posted about it on their blog (the link is in the recent posts).

I came back here because I was mentioned and realized it was your thread that had the RTS mystery where the item went to customs and appeared back in Canada. The posts from today explain what's going on.

C.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@ricarmic wrote:

@sapphyres-designer-jewellery for older country names I use the current name, so Ceylon stuff I put the current name Sri Lanka.

I just use a simple google "what is bechuanaland called now" query to get the "new" country name (Bostwana) ... most  I know but that query has worked for all the ones I didn't.

---

I deal in stamps mostly from pre-1960, so I have lots of these "old" countries to identify (but have learnt most of them over the time I spent dealing in stamps). I had a British East Africa 1890 page of stamps going out this morning and I labelled it as Kenya (after putting in the description for customs that they were British East Africa from 1890s).

You learn lots of history and Geography dealing in coins and stamps. Lots of places I wouldn't even know about if it were for my experience collecting this stuff.

C.

[randomchans]

So Ontario shipments passing through Chicago are running into problems regardless of whether or not they are shipped with Canada Post or a cross-border shipper.  But only some items and not all for whatever reason. Seems like there are some rogue MAGA dumdums at CBP who believe their dear leader when he says tariffs are paid by exporters. Until this gets sorted out I'm not sure what we can do. It's like every shipment will be a roll of the dice. Just gotta hope that item gets properly sorted by the CBP employees with proper knowledge of the tariff system