Hello! I opened an Etsy store a few months ago, and about half of my customers are from the US, while the other half is from the EU - I ship from Portugal. I always ship my items with tracking number, and this seems to work great in any European country (exception being the UK - the information is eventually updated, but it might be a couple of weeks late).

The problem is that the packages that go the US might as well have been lost at sea. The last update I ever get on them is when it leaves my country. I'd understand if USPS simply didn't communicate with my shipping provider, and the package could only be tracked in the USPS site, but... this doesn't happen either. USPS claims that either my tracking numbers don't exist or they are not available for tracking. So any packages I send to the US are treated as if they do not having tracking numbers despite me paying for the tracking.

Which begs the question, how can I ever know if my items reach my customers? I confirmed my first two orders - one of them because the person left a review, and the other because I contacted them directly to ask if it had arrived yet. I have since sent a few more orders to the US, and I believe my items must be reaching their destination, otherwise I'd be receiving complaints, but it's not a perfect situation.

So I ask to anyone who has experienced this: how do you suggest I handle this? Should I ask every customer to let me know when their order arrives, or am I opening myself up for opportunists who will claim they didn't receive it when in fact they did? What can I do if a customer claims they didn't receive it? Is there even a way to add tracking to US packages, besides using a private shipping company like FedEx?

Thank you for reading!

Is it trackable? I'm trying to send a package to the UK.

I'm asking because i called 3 post offices. and they gave me different answers.

The post office i go to charges me extra 20 usd on top of the first class mail international package rate because they said I can't track it if I don't pay for registered tracking.

Then I called 2 other post offices near me, and said yes i can track it. I said what's the difference if I add registered tracking? They said "oh you do that if you want it insured and requires a signature".

Which one should I believe?

Good afternoon all, I am a buyer with questions. I’ve now had two different packages not arrive after being ordered from the UK.

Google and USPS websites have not been much help, just offered assistance for the other way round (e.g a US seller tracks intl shipping to buyer)

Basically I want to know what physical locations should I call to see if they have the package or if anyone else has successfully solved this issue of buyers international packages being MIA. Two separate scenarios are in progress for me:

Item 1: Ordered 14 July, has a tracking number from UK Pitney Bowes and states it was delivered to my apt on 26 July but is nowhere in sight. Are intl packages held at maybe a local post office? Tracking number just states it was delivered to my locale but eBay says delivered to my apartment, which is why I think maybe wires got crossed a bit during delivery and it’s just sitting somewhere in my local area.

Item 2: Shipped March 24th. Seller user Royal Mail standard intl shipping with no tracking provided. Still working with seller to get their side of the story… is it remotely possible it is at a US processing facility?

Thank you all in advance, I have been able to find nothing on this kind of scenario so any and all help/comments is greatly appreciated, even if it is at my expense