eBay - parcel taking a long time to arrive - UPDATE

mooshoepork

I recently bought an art book via eBay from a seller in Canada.( I am in Australia for reference.) He charged me 19 dollars shipping, which seemed a bit much, but I didn't mind at the time. He sent the book via surface mail and it is now a month later and I still haven't received it.

He said to wait another two weeks, and then he will give me a refund if it doesn't come, so I am not afraid of getting screwed here. Am I being unrealistic here? I mean, the Canada post site does say that it could take 4-6 weeks, but usually things I order only take 2 max.

The most I have ever had to wait for anything has been a couple of weeks. I've had stuff come from Hong Kong in 2 days via economy shipping. Is it strange for it to take this long?

tl;dr: Is it likely my item will still come, or has it been eaten by a bear?

bowen

mooshoepork wrote: »

I recently bought an art book via eBay from a seller in Canada. I am in Australia for reference. He charged me 19 dollars shipping, which seemed a bit much, but I didn't mind. He sent it via surface mail by Canada post. It is now a month later and I still haven't received it.

He said to wait another two weeks, and then he will give me a refund if it doesn't come, so I am not afraid of getting screwed here. Am I being unrealistic here? I mean, the Canada post site says that it could take 4-6 weeks.

The most I have ever had to wait for anything has been a couple of weeks. I've had stuff come from Hong Kong in 2 days via economy shipping. Is it strange for it to take this long?

tl;dr: Is it likely my item will still come? Or has it been eaten by a bear.

Canada is a bit further away than Hong Kong and 19 dollars actually seems like it's too little. You're probably looking at a 1-2 month shipping time for snail mail. Hell, even in the US it takes a week for normal parcels to go about 100 miles. Doesn't sound too out of the ordinary to me though, just give it time.

mooshoepork

bowen wrote: »

mooshoepork wrote: »

I recently bought an art book via eBay from a seller in Canada. I am in Australia for reference. He charged me 19 dollars shipping, which seemed a bit much, but I didn't mind. He sent it via surface mail by Canada post. It is now a month later and I still haven't received it.

He said to wait another two weeks, and then he will give me a refund if it doesn't come, so I am not afraid of getting screwed here. Am I being unrealistic here? I mean, the Canada post site says that it could take 4-6 weeks.

The most I have ever had to wait for anything has been a couple of weeks. I've had stuff come from Hong Kong in 2 days via economy shipping. Is it strange for it to take this long?

tl;dr: Is it likely my item will still come? Or has it been eaten by a bear.

Canada is a bit further away than Hong Kong and 19 dollars actually seems like it's too little. You're probably looking at a 1-2 month shipping time for snail mail. Hell, even in the US it takes a week for normal parcels to go about 100 miles. Doesn't sound too out of the ordinary to me though, just give it time.

Thanks for the prompt reply. In terms of further places, I've had things come from England come in less than a week, as well as various things from the US.

I calculated the postage on the item (A MGS2 art book) on the site, and it came out to be about 8 dollars. Unless I have screwed some measurement up, which is entirely possible.

I guess I'm too impatient. The reason I am slightly worried is because I got it for a good price, and the hype of MGS4 has made the similar auctions sky-rocket.

bowen

mooshoepork wrote: »

bowen wrote: »

mooshoepork wrote: »

I recently bought an art book via eBay from a seller in Canada. I am in Australia for reference. He charged me 19 dollars shipping, which seemed a bit much, but I didn't mind. He sent it via surface mail by Canada post. It is now a month later and I still haven't received it.

He said to wait another two weeks, and then he will give me a refund if it doesn't come, so I am not afraid of getting screwed here. Am I being unrealistic here? I mean, the Canada post site says that it could take 4-6 weeks.

The most I have ever had to wait for anything has been a couple of weeks. I've had stuff come from Hong Kong in 2 days via economy shipping. Is it strange for it to take this long?

tl;dr: Is it likely my item will still come? Or has it been eaten by a bear.

Canada is a bit further away than Hong Kong and 19 dollars actually seems like it's too little. You're probably looking at a 1-2 month shipping time for snail mail. Hell, even in the US it takes a week for normal parcels to go about 100 miles. Doesn't sound too out of the ordinary to me though, just give it time.

Thanks for the prompt reply. In terms of further places, I've had things come from England come in less than a week, as well as various things from the US.

I calculated the postage on the item (A MGS2 art book) on the site, and it came out to be about 8 dollars. Unless I have screwed some measurement up, which is entirely possible.

I guess I'm too impatient. The reason I am slightly worried is because I got it for a good price, and the hype of MGS4 has made the similar auctions sky-rocket.

No problem. Maybe the other $9 was insurance to cover the cost of the book if it were lost? I'm not too sure on Canada's postal system but it seems to be rather shady (I used to have a pen-pal and he never got my letters, ever). However, I understand being impatient, I'd give it another week or two though just to be sure then ask for the refund.

TheSuperWoot

Yeah, just be patient like Bowen said.

If it helps to lower your anxiety, it once took a month for me to receive a package bought off ebay via USPS when the seller was only a few states away (I'm in the U.S.).

bowen

TheSuperWoot wrote: »

Yeah, just be patient like Bowen said.

If it helps to lower your anxiety, it once took a month for me to receive a package bought off ebay via USPS when the seller was only a few states away (I'm in the U.S.).

I had to wait almost 4 months for something from New Jersey. I live in NY and I had to wait 4 months. I hate government run mail operations sometimes.

Gnome-Interruptus

Cant he give you a tracking number or something for the shipement? Or is this something he tried to slip into a regular envelope?

If he slipped it into a regular envelope, it might be sitting in some post office saying insufficient postage. Which adds a considerable amount of time before they bother to contact you to ask for more money, or just return it.

Advent

It also may take a while for an item to clear customs. Most countries do random inspections, and if your item comes up it can sit for weeks.

Rethius

If the seller has pretty good FB and high DSR's (detailed seller ratings, the stars and the percentage next to them) I wouldn't worry too much. And, like most people have said before, it takes a while to ship that far. If after 4-6 weeks the package does not arrive then you're free to pursue a refund with the seller.

If you payed using PayPal you're also covered there too, so no sweat. Best of luck.

supabeast

International shipping can get awful. I’ve had non-airmail from the UK to the USA take over a month.

Arikado

Who is the mail carrier and is there any form of tracking number?

The price you paid for shipping is far too low for it to be shipped within a few weeks. You're looking at 2 months if it is going via the route I am thinking.

LadyM

I've shipped to Australia before. The shipping is godawful expensive. $19 doesn't sound that high for Canada-to-Australia, considering it's even farther away from the land down under.

Incidentally, I've also found the Canadian post in general (US to Canada) to be very inconsistent . . . Sometimes packages arrive quickly, sometimes a package to the same area takes forever to arrive.

Does Canada still ship by "surface mail"? I think the US did away with it for overseas shipping. Anyway, surface mail is/was the slowest form of shipping and it can literally take months for packages to arrive if shipped by that method.

mooshoepork

thanks for all the replies. To answer some questions: there is no tracking or insurance on it unfortunately.

at the 4 month story. I was just reading something over at kotaku where the editor just got a book he bought 11 months ago

mooshoepork

Bringing this one back because of an update:

It's been 50 days now and it hasn't come I'm gonna contact him and get a refund. The dispute timer is only 60 days, so I have to do something.

bowen

Yeah that's almost 2 months. I'd say you've waited long enough.

mooshoepork

Fuck you Canada! this is the second time you have screwed me! :P jk

Thanks for the reply.

I kinda feel sorry for the sender (assuming he even sent it).

Cauld

Next time I suggest you insist the shipper use a better shipping method. I was recently sending something to China via the USPS and one of the options was 'guaranteed within 3-7 days (I think), insured, and tracking through the entire process' they don't even offer non-air mail to China anymore.

Of course I have no idea how the Canadian or Australian systems work, but I'd imagine there's something comparable.

YourFatAuntSusan

Canada Post is a pretty reliable mail system. I've nevr had issues sending or receiving inside our outside of Canada.