Longest Wait Times?

[MCANADAL]

Hey all,

So as I wait patiently for my (not so) recently purchased insulator on ebay, I wondered what the longest amount of time was that someone has waited for an insulator to arrive in the mail?

3 weeks? 4 weeks? Let me know. I'm very curious. Plus waiting for responses here beats waiting for the postman.

*waits patiently*

Jesse

[g lass & g lad]

Hi Jesse . You didn't say where it was coming from.
If Russia , at this time of year say 6-8 weeks , Colombia about the same .
From the US it should ship International Air Mail so usually is around 7 - 10 days but can be a little more. ( From the time the seller puts it in the mail.)

From BC to Ontario is often 10 - 14 days . If it starts in a small town and sits in the first PO a day then goes to a large center another day , then starts the long drive 3+ days to another large center , another day then to your area PO to be delivered that day or the next. Add in a few days for someone falling asleep .
That's not counting the Christmas backlog.
Ebay ( if that's where it came from ) used to be where the seller often emailed and said "it went out today" I used to see where they were and could gauge within 2 days of arrival . At this point I have 3 items in transit , one of them should have been here 2 days ago , It's coming from Toronto.
Pete

[MCANADAL]

That is slightly reassuring.

It is coming from Newburgh, New York. Standard International Flat Rate shipping. Yes it was from ebay, but no, the person did not email to tell me when they shipped it. On their shipping info it stated that they shipped within 4 days of cleared payment. Assuming that the seller took all four days to start shipping, that would mean my package has been in transit for about 14 business days 20 days total.

I don't really know much about shipping in general. I know it has to clear customs but I have no idea how long that would take. If it isn't priority mail, could it sit around waiting for room on a truck? I guess it is around Christmas time too.

Here's hoping it isn't a blue Xmas for me. (although a cobalt blue Xmas may not be so bad. )

thanks for the response!

Jesse

[g lass & g lad]

Hi Jesse . If you let me know the sellers name I may know if it's a sure thing .
I just ( for the first time in about 1000 ebay wins) had to file a paypal claim.
The seller was suspended by ebay for bidding on his own items. Then said he shipped but when the claim finally went through they asked him for a postal reciept number , he then said he would ship . They repaid my account. I told him no thanks.
All international is fast . So 14 days total, from ship date should do it.
If though it was a high $$ amount Canada Customs may hold it . That can take 2-3 weeks at this time of year. Anything over $15 can be stopped .
They charge $5 for processing and federal tax or HST depends on your province.
Some sellers put $12.00 as value and mark gift . That's because Canada Customs can open and not repack well , so if there are 2 or more they might get broken . Let me know how it goes .
See you guy's gave us your cold , not as bad as you had it but it's the first real cold this year -12 high. (I know we're spoiled ) but it'll come .

[MCANADAL]

Gotta love Chinooks!! It's a balmy 1 degree C out right now!

This seller has only ever sold 15 items (mistake number 1) so I doubt you would be able to tell me how reliable they are. The other 14 people seemed happy, but I think they were all within the US.

My winning bid was $41 CDN, so I guess they may have held it up at the border. I thought that ebay made it mandatory that you put the winning bid price on the customs claim form. Is this not true? My biggest beef right now is that I don't have a tracking number, and I haven't been able to reach the seller to get the info.

Live and learn I guess.

Jesse

[g lass & g lad]

Hi I believe shipping with a tracking number is more expensive. USA and Canada
As to getting through to the seller , see if they have current auctions and ask a question through one of them .
I have a feeling though it may be customs , so as the theme of this thread is patience , guess you're stuck with that.
Keep trying the seller though , if paypal was used , your account should show his home email address .
If he-she is new they may not check the ebay stuff if no new listings , and they have completed the deals they had . Pete

[leesouthern]

I wouldn't worry yet. I once had an insulator take 5 weeks to arrive and it was shipped from within Canada...

[MCANADAL]

Seller got back to me today. No problems. They just forgot to send it until just this past wednesday.

Oh well, I never really cared how long it would take. To me communication equals comfort when it comes to money, time and distance. An open and honest person is the best anyone can ask for.

Thanks for all the input,

Jesse

[Rod Bushfield]

The combination of the seller sending it late, the Christmas rush and business holidays, it might not show until after Jan. 1

One time I bought a car part off E bay, paid the guy , waited a month then started emailing him. A week later he says " oh I don't ship to p.o. box address" , so I waited 5 weeks for nothing. I had paypal go after him for not sending the product and they froze his account until he refunded the money. He was pretty ticked but I figured he owed me one.

I hope you don't have any experiences like that. I haven't had too much trouble with buying insulators on Ebay , mostly deadbeat bidders who win the auction then never send the money. Make sure you never send the insulator until you have payment, unless you personally know the person or know they have a solid reputation.

USPS does not offer tracking numbers that I know of, but in hundreds of transactions they have never lost a package for me.

[g lass & g lad]

Just to show how odd the post can be.
I had 2 seperate insulators shipped from Colorado , one on Dec 14th and another on the 16th.
The one that was shipped on the 16th has arrived on Dec 30th.
The one shipped by the same seller 2 days earlier has not arrived. .
The price on the Customs form was the same , so it wasn't held up.
Now it will ( I hope) get here Monday .
Waiting here( im ) patiently. Pete

[g lass & g lad]

It arrived today. I am very thankfull as it was quite expencive
The seller in this case had put an 8 in my postal code instead of a B .
It got held in post office till they figured out where it should go.
Jesse , we never got the end result on yours , did it arrive
Take care . and for those in Alberta that were at 8 or 9 degrees the other day while Florida was -8 or -9 , ENJOY . Pete

[MCANADAL]

Hey all,
I had meant to reply earlier, but got caught up in life stuff. AKA I just got married!! So combine Christmas with both families and add in the extra out-of-towners for the wedding and that equals a whole bunch of family and friend commitments! Martha and I had a busy and wonderful christmas and new year.

I did end up receiving my package on Dec. 27th or 28th, can't remember which now. Opened it up and it looks just as I was expecting, so I would mark this one down as a success.

Talk to you soon.

Jesse

[Alex]

I don't really know much about shipping in general. I know it has to clear customs but I have no idea how long that would take. If it isn't priority mail, could it sit around waiting for room on a truck? I guess it is around Christmas time too.

Even if it is priority it can sit around on the truck waiting for Customs to go through it. Mailing type seems to have no effect on speed through customs. Only the post office cares about shipping method. Customs just wants to look at it. I've found with printed matter the basic ground is the fastest. Less than a week, 7 days typically, vs the usual 10 days for first class (figure that one out).

My longest wait for an item, that both the seller and I had pretty well written off as disappearing into the dark postal recesses was months, on a package shipped first class mid summer (postal date mark confirms the seller shipped when he said he did). Turns out Canada customs had it (paperwork). When I finally got it, it was a sorry looking box, fully cut open on the top (noooo... they couldn't cut the tape and open the box like normal people, they had to cut completely around the perimiter, with a tiny length of "Canada Customs" tape holding it shut (yeah... we don't want to use too much tape to hold together a box holding 4 heavy books...)

Alex.

[DiamondGroove]

I got an opened box from Columbia that was covered with Columbian customs tape. The package took almost a month to arrive nothing was damaged though and everything had been repacked with the original packing material. Lucky I guess.