Four To Eight Weeks For Mail From Canada- Huh??

I sent an inquiry to a seller in Canada this weekend about an item I'd paid for early in March but haven't received. I asked if there had been any tracking, etc. I got this reply this morning:

"It takes sometimes 4-8 weeks for stamps to arrive lets wait for 4 weeks more, if you don't get it by than I'll issue you a full refund"

I am not blaming the seller. This may be however the last time I buy anything from Canadian sellers. I get no more than a ten day turnaround when buying from the UK or Europe. The mail situation from Canada seems to be moving from awful to appalling. I just don't know how anyone there can possibly service buyers outside their country. I was getting approvals from a dealer there last year, it was taking upwards of a month for mail each way.

Maybe my imagination but this seems to have become worse just in the past couple months. I know Trump gets blamed for everything but I wonder if there isn't some tighter security or something now. Possibly the problem is on our side of the border.

Wow! Certainly hope not! Just bought a cover from a seller in Ontario last week.

There just seems to be an air of casual resignation about this on the part of friends I have in Canada and dealers I have patronized up there. It just gets worse and worse and it's always just 'Oh well.. that's the way it is.'

I think I'd be contacting my MP, demanding this be gotten into. This impacts their economy. Canada Post ought to be able to do better than the Post Office in some former Soviet Republic.

I sent the seller a reply today that I'd allow no more than two weeks more then file a claim. I feel for anyone in this situation but I think over six weeks should be ample.

The irregularity of mail processing/delivery worldwide leaves everybody wondering.

Usually it takes 2-3 weeks or longer to get mail from Canada, but my last ebay lot (from Hastings, Ontario) took only a few days. Who knows?

Stamps1962, from what I see, you always run into problems with everything you do....You seem to forget that most of the work is done in the destination country, so in your case US. I receive package with tracking every week from US, and let me tell you, it's USPS or US Customs the problem, that's why they call it snail mail. Canada Post is very efficient, so keep your soviet union offending comment for USPS

Normally, it takes ten days to two weeks for mail from Canada to reach me in the United States, but I have had it take as long as six months. And these are simple first class letters, not flats or packages. Hard to tell where the delay occurs. To be fair, I've also had lengthy delays in mail from the UK, Italy and Spain.

area66,

Oh, please. About half my in laws are Canadian. Yeah it may be something on our side but- it always seems to happen on mail from your end.

If you find me annoying, by all means block me for comments. Yes I often post about issues on here, isn't that part of participating in a forum? My apologies if you or anyone else up there took it personally. This is hurting vendors on your side of the border as much as it hurts buyers on ours.

I've always enjoyed your posts.

Stamps, you have to be more patient. Life is too short.

I have been on ebay since 1999 and I buy and sell.

Mail is sporadic at it's best. Since the new regime in the US, customs has been a nightmare and extremely slow. A lot of mail coming in from China and the middle east is creating bottlenecks with customs. I have had mail to the US take from 3 days to 3 months.

Just as an aside, all my late shipment defects on ebay have come from US buyers. It seems they want everything now and international mail does not fit into the mold.

Also, tracking from Canada starts at around $15.00 and goes up from there. We don't have cheap tracking as you do in the US. And, yes I know, US buyers expect tracking from everyone. As soon as buyers ask me for a tracking number, it raises a red flag with me.

I send very little with tracking as do most Canadians, especially for small cheaper items. No one in the states will pay it just as no one in Canada will pay for GSP deliveries or courier from the US.

Thanks for the explanation as to tracking, I was not aware it was that expensive on your end. I also sell and have had my own share of impatient buyers but those usually in my case were folks who'd pay on a Sunday then be threatening me by Wednesday. Most memorable was a buyer in the PRC who filed a claim four days after payment. Or at least tried to, can't remember. I used to ship outside the US but seldom do now. I make exceptions if I think it might be something that would appeal to someone in another country but even then it's only stamps, no more shipping of heavy lots, etc.

I am not the arrogant American that some reading this thread seem to think me.. however I suppose I may have come across that way inadvertently. If I did, apologies.

I think it might be a good idea to just drop this thread. Thanks to all who replied.

Half my sales are to the USA. Never have a complaint. And yes tracking is absurdly expensive and use only for parcels. ebay has zero comprehension as to why we Canadians don't put tracking on an envelope.

I haven't been too impressed with USPS service to Canada. Here's the tracking for a recent order I placed with Loral Stamps...
• Your item cleared customs in CANADA at 3:14 pm on December 7, 2016.

• November 28, 2016 , 6:16 pm Processed Through Facility CANADA

• November 28, 2016 , 6:16 pm Customs Clearance CANADA

• November 26, 2016 , 12:57 pm Processed Through Facility ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)

• November 26, 2016 , 12:48 pm Arrived at Facility ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)

• November 23, 2016 , 8:40 pm Departed USPS Facility FLUSHING, NY 11351

• November 23, 2016 , 7:59 pm Arrived at USPS Facility FLUSHING, NY 11351

• November 7, 2016 , 5:11 pm Departed Post Office FLUSHING, NY 11367

• November 7, 2016 , 9:16 am Acceptance FLUSHING, NY 11367

The bottleneck was getting from the PO in Flushing to the USPS facility in Flushing.... 16 days!!

I contacted the seller, and he basically shrugged - happens all the time, he told me, and nothing he's done to try to get better service has helped.

Death, taxes, and slow mail....

Some good news.. My Ontario purchase arrived yesterday. Hope your's arrives soon.

Thought you might find this interesting......

I've a registered mail envelope that was sent from Bethlehem, Pa. to Cincinnati, Ohio. It left Bethlehem on August 5, 1920 and arrived Cincinnati August 6, 1920. A distance of about 550 miles.

I set a Priority Mailed envelope from Columbia Tn. to Dallas Tx. on October 11, 2016 and it arrived at Dallas October 19, 2016. A distance of about 650 miles. According to the tracking information, it took 6 days to get from Grapevine Tx., to Dallas, Tx., a distance of approx. 22 miles.

So much for progress in efficiency................ and three day Priority Delivery (which isn't guaranteed by the way). I'm sure this is an exception to the rule...but still not good service from the USPS.

MichaelPat,

Interesting time line. Where was your package between 11-7 and 11-23?

A lot of the problem may be right there in NYC. Mail from Canada to the US and vice versa has been slow for some time. It just seems lately it has become impossibly slow. I have to wonder if it involves a short staffing of postal inspectors involving outbound/incoming mail. I have noticed that mail from Western Canada, BC for example, gets here much faster than from Ontario or points East.

There is perhaps very little any of us can do about this, other than to simply be aware of it and factor it in as part of our decision process in whether to patronize a given vendor.

FWIW, the eight weeks since purchase have expired and I still do not have the item I paid for. I filed a Paypal claim last week and got an immediate refund, no kidding- no one asked if I'd contacted the seller, nothing. If it manages to show up sometime I will of course resend payment to the seller. I feel a little bad for him.

Whatever is going on, it sure is something. I hope they get it corrected. This isn't fair to sellers in Canada.

There is the possibility that it was never sent.