International mail going into covid lockdown again?

[valuestore]

Appears its starting again,  our first sign of trouble... Japan post international inbound shipments - lists Canada as 'delays' and the one that is most concerning  "items will not be handed directly to addresses' ,   to risky for ebay sellers to deal with so shutting down international shipments again.  

[ypdc_dennis]

Japan Post outbound to Canada

Delays will be experienced in the delivery of mail items [from Japan by Canada Post], and items will not be handed directly to addressees.  

Surface Air Lifted mail from Japan is still suspended. SAL mail travels by surface inside the 2 countries, but goes by plane rather than boat between the 2 countries.

https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/overview_en.html

I did not find any thing about any special delays of delivering stuff from Canada (once it arrives in Japan) by Japan Post.

Canada Post outbound:

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpc/en/our-company/news-and-media/service-alerts.page

Last update for International was November 11.  31 countries currently suspended.

Norway data point: I had a buyer query about the late delay of an untracked October purchase. He was willing to wait, and it did show up -- after a 14 day quarantine delay by Posten Norge of incoming mail.

Austria data point: An untracked item mailed the same day as the one to Norway, took just under 2 weeks to get delivered.

Canada Post covid-19 FAQ:

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpc/en/our-company/news-and-media/corporate-news/coronavirus-disease-covid...

Japan currently dealing with a third covid-19 wave

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/japan/

-..-

[pjcdn2005]

I see the chart but I still don't understand why you are worried about mail that is coming FROM Japan unless you are shipping from Japan, not Canada?

[marnotom!]

Do you really sell that much to Japan? I was under the impression that eBay doesn’t have much of a presence there. Seems a bit rash to shut down internationally shipping completely at this point due to delivery concerns concerning one country that doesn’t figure prominently for most Canadian eBay sellers.

[valuestore]

Amazed by the answers on here sometimes, yes we sell 100's items to Japan, yes it is relevant.

[valuestore]

Should be this chart, posted wrong one... incoming international.

https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/2020/1126_01_en.html

[pjcdn2005]

That chart still looks to be for packages being shipped from Japan to other countries. They are listing the available services to send mail out.  Canada Post would be the one to look to see if there are problems sending out to specific countries from Canada.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@femmefan1946 

From what I have read on the dot com board, adding to your handling time ONLY works for non-tracked items. Once any parcel has been dropped off and scanned the meter starts running. Not sure if that is how it supposed to be working. Just how it is working. And as was pointed out there are major extensions(windows) USA/Intl to Canada.  Not so long windows Canada to USA/Intl.

-Lotz

[valuestore]

Cant be more clear than this, 

https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/overview_en.html

Why shut down?  check the chart. 

Dec 01

[marnotom!]

Yup, seems pretty clear to me:

Because the global reduction of flights continues and the number of outbound mail items from Japan is expected to increase toward the end of the year, please note in advance that considerable delivery delays are expected for accepted outbound mail items.

As stated earlier, this notice is for mail leaving Japan, not entering.

[femmefan1946]

Its a safety measure saying all inbound tracked international mail will no longer be delivered to your address.. a significantly different thing that what your describing.

But the customer must be getting a Notice about where and when he can pick up his package, or the PO would have warehouses of undelivered mail.

Customers are unaware, they file not received disputes.

Did you tell them to check at their local post office?

 I dont speak Japanese or spanish or nordic.

Google Translate.  I've used this successfully a few times.

After translating my English message, I send BOTH to the customer.

Be careful when writing your English message, grammatical or spelling errors can't translate.

If the tracking shows "Undeliverable" due to the customer not picking up the package, say so in the Disputes.

You are not responsible for Undeliverable packages and are not required to refund. The customer is required to give an address where the delivery can be securely made.

Hmmm-- Japan has a well-deserved reputation for honesty, but there can be exceptions.

You have ONE customer who has made TWO separate disputes, after reordering?

There is a customs scam, usually seen in Germany, where the customer claims non-delivery on a shipment being held for him at Customs. When the seller refunds, the scammer trots down to the Customs office, pays the duty and VAT (which is much less than the purchase price plus shipping he was refunded) and goes home with his stolen goods.

[femmefan1946]

Its a safety measure saying all inbound tracked international mail will no longer be delivered to your address.. a significantly different thing that what your describing.

But the customer must be getting a Notice about where and when he can pick up his package, or the PO would have warehouses of undelivered mail.

Customers are unaware, they file not received disputes.

Did you tell them to check at their local post office?

 I dont speak Japanese or spanish or nordic.

Google Translate.  I've used this successfully a few times.

After translating my English message, I send BOTH to the customer.

Be careful when writing your English message, grammatical or spelling errors can't translate.

If the tracking shows "Undeliverable" due to the customer not picking up the package, say so in the Disputes.

You are not responsible for Undeliverable packages and are not required to refund. The customer is required to give an address where the delivery can be securely made.

Hmmm-- Japan has a well-deserved reputation for honesty, but there can be exceptions.

You have ONE customer who has made TWO separate disputes, after reordering?

There is a customs scam, usually seen in Germany, where the customer claims non-delivery on a shipment being held for him at Customs. When the seller refunds, the scammer trots down to the Customs office, pays the duty and VAT (which is much less than the purchase price plus shipping he was refunded) and goes home with his stolen goods.

[femmefan1946]

For possible delays  it could be helpful to increase your handling time from one day to five , seven or even 30 days.  This pushed the expected arrival date the customer gets from eBay farther into the future.

Item will not be handed directly to the addresses. Well none of my mail has been handed directly for months. Usually pushed through the slot, occasionally left by the door after ringing the bell. Including tracked items.

Even items picked up at the PO are not being signed for -- and there are those little machines that no one can make a neat signature on both with the carriers and on the PO counter.

tyler@ebay  has assured us that if we pay for Signature Confirmation, even if the receiving postal system is not providing it, eBay will accept Confirmation of Delivery as Signature Confirmation if there is a dispute. Keep in mind that the only real life use for tracking is as a defense against Not Received disputes.

And it gives the customer the warm fuzzies, even though it protects only the Seller.

While public health authorities are rightly warning about a second or even third wave of COVID over the winter, I'm mildly hopeful that the stringent methods used to control the spread of the disease will also lead to a drop in older more established  flus.

As a senior, I have been very aware for many years of the toll flu season takes on my age cohort and on those even older.

The early 2020 pandemic was on top of the "usual" winter flu season. So we may see a normalized death rate, while still working (or self-isolating) to prevent the further spread of the pandemic.

[valuestore]

Its a safety measure saying all inbound tracked international mail will no longer be delivered to your address.. a significantly different thing that what your describing. Customers are unaware, they file not received disputes. They order another, now 2 inbound items, 2 disputes.. can see the issue there..not good for seller metrics. I dont speak Japanese or spanish or nordic.

[reallynicestamps]

The customer who is 'unaware' is being obtuse. The postal carrier would have left a notice if they are not handing over. Your buyer is pulling the customs scam. Put that in the Dispute.