Global Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope NOT trackable at all... says USPS, suggestions?

[JamesNewton]

Just a quite note about something that bit me. If you use Global Priority Mail, you get a "customs label" number that PayPal puts in as the tracking number for your buyer to see.

If you are lucky, the post office scans that and the status on usps.com shows that the package was received on such and such a date, and then you get another update when the package leaves the country. That is REALLY nice for shipments where the foreign customs office hold up the package or the buyers local post off isn't really clued in. I've had packages that were delivered months late, and one that came back to me 6 months later. Of course, when the buyer gets antsy, we eat the sale unless we have a that tracking showing that the package was lost in THEIR country. 

If you aren't lucky, the USPS doesn't scan your package when they receive it and the USPS site just says they have been notified to expect the package, which makes the buyer think you never shipped the order at all. I've tried taking the packages to the post office and asking the clerk to scan it, some will, but in general they say you can't pay the online price and then expect them to process the package; they want you to pay for the postage at the higher rate they charge at the counter. I can understand that; the really critical part is that scan when it leaves the country, because it always gets out of the USA pretty quickly anyway.

But guess what? If you use that same Global Priority Mail service with the flat rate ENVELOPE, (which costs a lot less) you get NO tracking, NO scanning, NOTHING, from USPS even when the hand it over to the destination country. They won't even answer questions about a shipment unless it was sent in a flat rate BOX. 

I'm sure that little fact is listed in the fine print on some usps.com page, but I couldn't find it. And it's interesting to me that paypal accepts that as a tracking number when it doesn't really do any good at all.

And the SMALL flat rate box is not an option with PayPal, so you have to use "Package / Thick Envelope" and pay almost double the price if you want the minimal "it's in your country" scanning from USPS. 

Anyone have any suggestions for how best to ship overseas? Other than just not doing it... 

[JamesNewton]

I've found out a little bit more about this: At least for Global Priority Mail, the small flat rate box is ALSO not track able. Your box, or the standard (non-flat rate) priority mail boxes, if they are marked as being for both domestic and international use, ARE trackable, as is the medium flat rate box. 

Note that this is only for Global Priority Mail... Standard local shipping is different.

I tried out Click and Ship at USPS.COM and although it was a pain copying and pasting over the customers info, they do give ALL the options, with a clear indication of which are trackable and which are not. I found that for 3 cents more than the cost of a standard global priority mail shipment (in my box or a non-flat rate international priority mail box) I could send an international express mail envelope, which IS trackable, and my little things fit in that just fine with a padded pack for protection. 

There is a lot to learn about shipping overseas, lets keep each other informed?

[GetITHere]

Thanks for the information, this was a big help. I will no longer ship with the small flat rate boxes due to lost disputes when using them. Means my customers will have to pay more for shipping, but I had been considering not shipping Internationally at all due to these problems.

[allan954]

EXPRESS MAIL FLAT RATE ENVELOPE IS ALWAYS TRACKABLE! YOU GET A TRACK # + INSURANCE

[carloscaraballo]

hola es q tengo  q acer un pago de 30.30 shipping PR  nose como acerlo

[MGMT]

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@JamesNewton wrote:

. Of course, when the buyer gets antsy, we eat the sale unless we have a that tracking showing that the package was lost in THEIR country. 

>>>>Hi naturaly we are all taking a huge risk sending stuff internationally. I had an item Russia last month that updated tracking only from the HUB it left from & three weeks later my Russian buyer said he got it. My issue is with what you said, 'eating the sale'. That may be all well and good for companies that use ebay or the like, but I am a small seller, but sell high end items. ON Nov, 5 I sold a 500 world phone, the new Droid based phones, shipped via CLICK AND SHIP, and my buyer said just today he hadnt receieved it yet. I went to the USPS website and the item hasnt ONE SCAN, the item just says shipping info receieved. I know If I was the buyer I would be LIVID.

So now here I am, going to lose out on a 500 dollar phone, as certainly he would win in a despute resolution as paying for shipping label via paypal is one thing but with it showing not even scanned in, well certainly its a loss/loss for me. 

Any suggestions. Its unreal how the various types of international ways to send, vary as to exactly which services will give you a good tracking number, will be bunk depending on where it goes to, or if it even  updates once it reaches customs, that is horrible practices considering the technology we have no in 2010. Though the same item may cost 100's of dollars to send via UPS, it certainly would update continously throughout its journey, that which USPS is seriously lacking.

[MGMT]

 JAMES  YOU WROTE:

If you aren't lucky, the USPS doesn't scan your package when they receive it and the USPS site just says they have been notified to expect the package, which makes the buyer think you never shipped the order at all

>>>Exactly my post to you before, my dilemma now is this issue. I do not by any means think anyone in my own town is pulling a fast one, Ive never had an issue ever with a package, even a letter, but have you ever had a package sent internationally that never scanned initially that NEVER made it either to its destination, even months later or Sent back to you; in essence, one that was totally MIA?

thanks