Bad International Shipping experience.

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fowlintent

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Nov 7, 2015
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I haven't done a lot of selling, especially internationally. I recently listed a knife on this site, and had a guy in UK say he wanted the knife. I agreed to ship to the UK, he paid in timely manner and off I went to my local USPS Office. I had copied the buyer's address directly from his message to me, written it down on a mailing label and attached it to the shipping box. The clerk at the post office typed the address into her system and asked me to verify it as correct, and it was. We had a specific discussion about the 5 line address going to Great Britain, with the very last line being simply "UK' for United Kingdom. I asked about insurance, and she told me that the package was automatically insured for $100, and since the knife was valued in that neighborhood, I didn't purchase additional insurance. (as it turns out, there was no insurance provided for First Class International). I was told it would take 10 days to 2 weeks to deliver to the buyer in Essex, UK (Great Britain). 2 weeks later the buyer messages me and says that the tracking information indicates the knife was out for delivery......but in Kiev, Ukraine. After spending a few hours on their internet site, and being shunted from one automated operator to another on their phone line, I went back to my local Post Office to try to straighten this mess out. Apparently, once the item is delivered by the USPS into the hands of an international delivery service, the USPS disavows any responsibility for the item. I explained that there was a clear and obvious mix-up by the USPS in that someone (most likely at the local Post Office) keyed in the wrong code for my package. I get that "UK" could be mistakenly perceived as an abbreviation for "Ukraine" but the clerk absolutely knew the package was destined for delivery in Great Britain....we had a conversation about it, besides......Essex is not a Slavic sounding city. Bottom line, the USPS clerk told me that the knife "should" be forwarded on to the correct address by the Ukraine postal service (right......), or returned to me as undeliverable (right.....). I imagine I will take the hit on this transaction, as I don't expect that anything going into Ukraine, especially right now, will make it out again. This will be my last experience with international shipping, and please note this is in no way the buyer's fault.
 
The best way to avoid this is to key in and print the label yourself from home, not rely on somebody else to enter the info for you. Online label systems will always verify the address and normalize it into the standard postal format recognized internationally, which you can confirm before accepting it.
 
GB = Great Britain/United Kingdom (England)
UA = Ukraine

I can't find a USPS country abbreviation "UK" and it seems like the system should have flagged that when you filled out a customs form and the clerk entered the info.

Good luck.
 
As the buyer, I can confirm that the knife has now arrived in the right location, albeit with a slight deviation. The fault truly lies with USPS, perhaps with the ever present slightly confusing 'is it Great Britain (GB), Britain, United Kingdom (UK)' country codes.
The seller inputted the details correctly as provided by myself, but the diversion occurred anyway.
I completely understand the reticence that has appeared in the responses above, as it creates an awkward environment for both buyer and seller, where neither are to blame, but there is no culpability liable on the shipping agent.
All I can say is that it has worked out, Fowlintent has been an absolute gent with patience and assistance provided.
 
Paid Japanese seller 01/12/21

Shipped 1/19/21

Dumped in the mud and snow by the side of rural mailbox, 550 feet away from our house, by FedEx 1/24/21. Amazingly, not stolen. :)

Last time, the package was left by FedEx on the neighbor' s front, open porch in the rain. Our mailbox has our last name on front and both sides and well as large numbers. Neighbor, Mr. Kowlaski, has his name on both sides of a sign on the creat of his mail box, 15 feet from ours.

Both sellers sealed their box in multiple layers of thick, waterproof tape.

FedEx, when you abolutely, positively need to have a shipment screwed-up.
 
Last edited:
Thomas Linton said:
Paid Japanese seller 01/12/21

Shipped 1/19/21

Dumped in the mud and snow by the side of rural mailbox, 550 feet away from our house, by FedEx 1/24/21. Amazingly, not stolen. :)

Last time, the package was left by FedEx on the neighbor' s front, open porch in the rain. Our mailbox has our last name on front and noth sides and well as large numbers. Neighbor, Mr. Kowlaski, has his name on both sides of a sign on his mail box, 15 feet from ours.

Both sellers sealed their box in multiple layers of thick, waterproof tape.

FedEx, when you abolutely, positively need to have a shipment screwed-up.
Click to expand...

Ive had this same issue with FedEx sometimes. If it is light box it's always on my door step. If it's Heavy (cat food usually) it's like 50% of the time they just kick it out of the back of the truck at the end of my drive way.... Also about 600ft from my door
 
Once it is out of US hands it becomes a crap shoot.
Even when going to a European country.
IDK what kind of system Ukraine has for returning mail (war looming) but I would write it off as lost
if it is not in the system in 2 weeks.

How you choose to settle it with the seller is up to you.
Myself.... Seeing it was a SNAFU from USPS.
Return the sellers cash and Try to get something from USPS if it is gone
 
uxo2 said:
Once it is out of US hands it becomes a crap shoot.
Even when going to a European country.
IDK what kind of system Ukraine has for returning mail (war looming) but I would write it off as lost
if it is not in the system in 2 weeks.

How you choose to settle it with the seller is up to you.
Myself.... Seeing it was a SNAFU from USPS.
Return the sellers cash and Try to get something from USPS if it is gone
Click to expand...
See post #6, it has arrived after its diversion. Tracking showed it arrived in Ukraine on 12 Jan, then tipped up in the UK on 27 Jan. I was very grateful it did arrive, but instills some confidence in the international mail consortiums (the bods in Ukraine could have just kept it 'missing').
I've had very good experiences with mail from the USA, due to mark ups I often am able to buy a knife that even with shipping and import duty works out cheaper than buying the same knife from a UK retailer. This is the first time it's gone slightly awry, and was down to USPS who printed 'Ukraine' on the stamp, after the sender put 'UK' on the parcel.
 
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