Ebay shipping options and requirements.

[canofwhoopass_87]

Hmm this is a very interesting topic (It should be a thread of its own ). I think what's happened with the Jin fellow is that in the past, he's only shipped unregistered priority.

Whilst ems is the fastest with the most informative and reliable tracking info, you can achieve almost the same level of service if you go with registered priority.

I'm pretty sure Priority as a stand alone service only provides the acceptance date and delivery date "tracking ID" - and about 70% of my packages that have been shipped this way have never generated a delivery date on the USPS website, despite being delivered. I even tried checking again 3 months later on one of my packages and it still didn't update the status to delivered.

I've had medium sized transformerland orders shipped via both First Class and Priority but decided to pay the additional $9.99US (each) to register them. Both of these provided step by step tracking almost as good as ems.

[DarkHyren]

Whilst ems is the fastest with the most informative and reliable tracking info, you can achieve almost the same level of service if you go with registered priority.

I checked this and can confirm it, it looks like you can also get Return Receipt as a Proof of Delivery method from USPS.
That sounds like it would satisfy any delivery confirmation issues Paypal might have.
Or you can just get Priority Mail International Insurance for a small fee which would recoup the cost anyway.

Source: http://www.usps.com/international/in...alservices.htm

[jaydisc]

Looks like Return Receipt is only available for the following destinations:

Argentina
Australia
Bahrain
Guinea–Bissau
Hong Kong
Korea, Republic of (South Korea)
Kuwait
Pakistan
Qatar
Singapore
South Africa
Taiwan
Tunisia

Bizarre list if you ask me. Can't believe there aren't any European destinations.

[dirge]

Well, that's useful for all the Transfans in Guinea-Bissau...

(such a weird outlier that one!)

[canofwhoopass_87]

I checked this and can confirm it, it looks like you can also get Return Receipt as a Proof of Delivery method from USPS.
That sounds like it would satisfy any delivery confirmation issues Paypal might have.
Or you can just get Priority Mail International Insurance for a small fee which would recoup the cost anyway.

Source: http://www.usps.com/international/in...alservices.htm

Hmm I thought priority came with automatic $100 insurance with extra cover available for a couple of dollars per additional $100? I think most sellers would want to avoid making insurance claims anyway. The basic proof of delivery can be verified online using the priority customs ID, but like I mentioned I don't think this is a very reliable way of checking whether or not the package has been safely delivered. It doesn't always update.

Paying the extra $9.99US to register allows full tracking capabilities, not just the acceptance/delivery custom number you get with standard priority. This is method is solid for sellers. I've provided paypal with the registered priority tracking ID before, to successfully prove an item had been delivered to a dodgy buyer.

With standard priority though, I remember someone told me the return receipt can take up to three months. On top of that, can they simply use a scanner to scan the receipt itself and upload to paypal to prove delivery was successful?

Looks like Return Receipt is only available for the following destinations:

Argentina
Australia
Bahrain
Guinea–Bissau
Hong Kong
Korea, Republic of (South Korea)
Kuwait
Pakistan
Qatar
Singapore
South Africa
Taiwan
Tunisia

Bizarre list if you ask me. Can't believe there aren't any European destinations.

This reminds me of the UK's Airsure service. Supposed to be their express airmail service, but destinations are very limited. Australia aint on the list

[DarkHyren]

Hmm I thought priority came with automatic $100 insurance with extra cover available for a couple of dollars per additional $100?

Actually that's not quite right, what it is is this:

Priority Mail International® Ordinary Indemnity
Indemnity coverage is now provided for all ordinary (uninsured) Priority Mail International items (flat-rate envelope and small flat-rate box not included). This coverage is provided at no additional charge and protects mailers against loss, damage or missing contents. Coverage is calculated based on the weight of the parcel or the value of the contents of the parcel whichever is less. Mailers may still purchase insurance for a fee to many countries.

So for free you get basic cover, but not very good if you have a light but expensive package.
At worst it's only an extra $10 onto cost for $700 insurance, so it can be worth it.

Oh, and an update on that package I was talking about to show what's listed so far:
Class: Priority Mail International Parcels
Service(s): International Parcels
Status: Out of Foreign Customs

Detailed Results:
- Out of Foreign Customs, January 24, 2010, 7:01 pm, AUSTRALIA
- Into Foreign Customs, January 24, 2010, 5:53 pm, AUSTRALIA
- Arrived Abroad, January 24, 2010, 5:53 pm, AUSTRALIA
- International Dispatch, January 21, 2010, 8:19 pm, ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS)
- Arrival
- Acceptance, January 19, 2010, 12:00 pm, LOUISVILLE, KY 40207

So tomorrow or the day after make that the 27th or the 28th, we'll see what pops up on the system as it should get to my PO Box by then.

[DarkHyren]

So to add to the previous post, USPS said the following on the 27th:
Attempted Delivery Abroad, January 27, 2010, 7:28 am, AUSTRALIA
Attempted Delivery Abroad, January 27, 2010, 7:17 am, AUSTRALIA
But no parcel was waiting, so that must mean "handed to Australia Post from customs" in real language.

No change in status on the 28th, so I checked again at the PO and it was there.
After I picked it up (had to sign for it) the USPS Tracking site updated to add this:
Delivered Abroad, January 28, 2010, 9:47 am, AUSTRALIA

So there you go. Standard Priority Intenational probally doesn't meet the whole "The recipient’s address, showing at least the city/state or zip code (or international equivalent)" proof of delivery thing.
But I guess it does confirm that it's been signed for?

[canofwhoopass_87]

Nono, standard priority has no tracking. It only has some crappy customs number that the seller and buyer can use to check the acceptance and the delivery date. This method is generally unreliable (from what I've seen) in terms of providing the sender with delivery confirmation; which can then be used in paypal disputes. This is why I think sellers refuse to ship priority.

Yours was sent registered priority and with tracking results like those you just showed us, is certainly A-ok in paypals eyes I'd say.

Here's the tracking info from my own package which arrived a few days ago. It was sent express and basically generates the same step by step tracking info as registered priority.

Detailed Results:

Delivered Abroad, January 27, 2010, 1:42 pm, AUSTRALIA
Attempted Delivery Abroad, January 25, 2010, 1:41 pm, AUSTRALIA
Attempted Delivery Abroad, January 25, 2010, 12:52 pm, AUSTRALIA
Attempted Delivery Abroad, January 25, 2010, 12:44 pm, AUSTRALIA
At Foreign Delivery Unit, January 24, 2010, 4:51 pm, AUSTRALIA
Out of Foreign Customs, January 23, 2010, 1:49 pm, AUSTRALIA
Into Foreign Customs, January 23, 2010, 1:25 pm, AUSTRALIA
Arrived Abroad, January 23, 2010, 1:25 pm, AUSTRALIA
International Dispatch, January 21, 2010, 12:42 pm, ISC SAN FRANCISCO (USPS)
Arrival
Processed through Sort Facility, January 20, 2010, 3:32 pm, OAKLAND, CA 94615
Processed through Sort Facility, January 20, 2010, 1:35 pm, PLEASANTON, CA 94566
Acceptance, January 20, 2010, 11:45 am, PLEASANTON, CA 94566