USPS/Customs shipping delay (Letters from Europe)

[alexaftermarket]

Hello! I'm seller from Serbia. All several hundred letters that I have sent to the USA since March 15th have not been received. They don't even have a USPS scan, and I'm ABSOLUTELY sure they're in the JFK. I have written documents for the search in my Post and am waiting for a response from USPS, but it will be 30 days at least.

I do not know the reasons for the delay and ask community - maybe someone knows what happened and what should I do next? Should I expect help from eBay?

With deep apologies

Alex

[ebooksdiva]

You sent letters? Did these letters have tracking on them? If not they wouldn't be scanned.

How do you know they arrived in the US if there is no scans?

 eBay has no control over USPS so you can't expect help from eBay. Sorry but it sounds like you will be refunding your buyers for lost letters.

[alexaftermarket]

Yes letters with trackings  - RR.........RS

[jagaux]

Hi, mate. 

I see absolutely same picture on all my shipments from SRB to US.

After March 15th all parcels have last tracking info - departed from Serbia, but not tracked in US.

Have you got any explanations from post or USPS?

[alexaftermarket]

No sorry. Couple letters was sending April 2 is reached the recipient, they wrote to me, BUT THERE IS NO tracking from USPS

[lacemaker3]

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@alexaftermarket wrote:

Yes letters with trackings  - RR.........RS

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@alexaftermarket 

Tracking numbers that start with RR are used by the Universal Postal Union to designate Registered Mail. The last two letters designate the country of origin, so that would be Serbia in your case.

Unfortunately, Registered Mail is not tracked in the USA. It is always transferred manually, and stored in a higher security area, which means that it is slower as well. There is supposed to be a delivery scan and signature, but in practice, that is not always done.

Because there is no tracking within the USA, International Registered Mail is not considered to be a tracked service, and sellers who use it are not protected from INR cases. This is not a recommended shipping service for sellers to use. It could result in a high INR level, and restrictions on your account.

You should use a different service, one which provides full tracking, and be sure to fill out and attach a customs declaration form, giving the country of manufacture, to hopefully allow your items to be processed through customs more quickly. Also,  you need to provide the Country of Manufacture for each item in the Item Specifics. (I don't recommend trying to ship anything that was or could have been made in China into the USA at the moment, not until the current tariff situation settles down.)

There have been a lot of changes for USPS in the last few months, which are causing severe delays of packages being imported into the USA. Even if your goods are not being targeted, there can be severe delays because of the increased inspections that all international packages have to go through.

[jagaux]

Thank you for your answer, but with all respect, you are wrong about non-trackable RR RS packages.

They are scanned and tracked until delivered.

[lacemaker3]

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@jagaux wrote:

Thank you for your answer, but with all respect, you are wrong about non-trackable RR RS packages.

They are scanned and tracked until delivered.

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Your recent experience, and that of the original poster, demonstrate that is not correct.

Up until a few months ago, it appears that international registered mail was sometimes tracked by the USPS, and usually got delivery scans. However, tracking is not guaranteed by USPS, and there have been reports from the last few months that international registered mail is now unlikely to be scanned by USPS. There have been a lot of changes recently with international packages being imported into the USA, and this is expected to continue.

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Registered-Mail-The-Basics#tracking

[kalyoth]

Can International Registered Mail be tracked?

No. Registered Mail service items cannot be tracked through the mailstream and will not provide updated scans. However, Registered Mail service does provide information with a scan showing the delivery status or attempted delivery information which can be retrieved in three ways:

1. Go to www.usps.com. Select "USPS Tracking." By entering the tracking number shown on the mailing receipt into the lookup field, you can view the delivery status of the article.
2. By calling the USPS Tracking telephone number found at Contact USPS.
3. By bulk electronic file transfer for mailers who provide an electronic manifest to the United States Postal Service®.

USPS Registered Mail International 

They are in the process of returning the favor across the globe for the majority of countries that do not provide tracking for outbound registered mail.