International Shipments - Tracking?

[olimits7]

Hi,

I ship orders internationaly, mainly Europe, for my international customers.

I would say 99% of the time the order is successfully shipped, but maybe 1% say they never received their order. If they don't receive their order we have a company policy in place that we only recognize an order being a "lost shipment" after a certain number of business days have passed.

If they still haven't received their order after waiting the "lost shipment" waiting time; we then refund their purchase.

But I'm stuck at this point because to offer cheap international shipping prices I have to ship international orders using USPS with NO tracking capabilities. This then opens the door for international customers to easily lie and say they never received their order when they actually did.

The options I currently see having are:

1. Use DHL only with door-to-door tracking; which would then confirm if the order has been delivered successfully or not. However, using this DHL method would cost more, and I'm not sure that international customers would want to pay more for shipping?

2. Give international customer the choice to pick either DHL as a trackable shipping method, or they can use the cheaper USPS shipping method that doesn't have a tracking number. But maybe I can write that if the NO tracking USPS shipping method is picked that we can't be help responsible for "lost shipments"?

Thank you,

olimits7

[dpd1]

I don't think #2 would fix anything, because the people planing to scam would just pick USPS. Most people would pick that because it's cheaper in general. If you make everybody use a more expensive one, you'll probably lose sales... and it will probably cost you more in the long run. I don't know how much stuff you send out, but unless it's huge, 1% is not that bad. What makes you think they are not lost for real? Because you should still get the delivery confirmation. Though that doesn't always get into the system. But most of the time it does. Of course, if it's really lost, then you could use insurance.

Personally, I just build a loss factor into everything together. Every once in a while stuff is going to disappear or get damaged. There's no way around it. I figured a way to just factor that in and it's covered. Unless this is stuff that's worth a lot of money.

[olimits7]

Hi,

Yes, it isn't a large number but I guess it just annoys me that they could be lying to me and I would have no idea of finding out; then I end up losing my product and the money.

But like you said it is a small number; so it might be better to factor this into the cost of doing business.

The more I think about adding "we can't be held responsible for lost shipments on NON trackable shipping methods", I think this would just end up annoying customers; so I guess I should be happy that this doesn't happen that often but it is still very annoying! haha...

[dpd1]

Yeah, it's not fun losing money. You think that's bad... We make all our own products. I do a lot of the work. Some products are a huge amount of labor... As in, days. Imagine finishing that... Wrapping it up all nice... Then three days later the people send you a picture of it and it looks like it was run over by the airplane.

[jecasc]

But maybe I can write that if the NO tracking USPS shipping method is picked that we can't be help responsible for "lost shipments"?

Problem is, if you ship internationally the laws of the country of destination apply. And according to EU distant selling regulation the risk of shipping is always with the seller and can not be passed on to the customer. Any agreement that passes the shipping risk to the buyer would simply be invalid. So you would never be able to defend yourself against a chargeback if you do not have any proof of delivery. And that means not proof of shipment, but proof that the parcel was received by the customer. Customers could simply pick the cheaper no-tracking shipping option and save the money - and if the parcel gets lost you will be responsible anyway.

Also do not forget the other distant selling regulations in the EU in your calculations - like the right to return ordered goods within 7 to 15 days (depending on country of destination) and you even have to pay the shipping costs for the return shipment.

All you could do in my opinon is to weigh the risks of loosing parcels and cheap shipment against the costs of tracked parcels. Maybe you will have to swallow part of the higher shipping costs to stay competitive.

You could also make a risk assesment for every order, depending on the destination. I have found that parcels get lost a lot in Ireland (no zip codes), UK (customers tend to give incomplete address information) and rural areas in Italy, Spain and Portugal. Northern countries (Scandinavian countries, Germany, France, Netherlands and so on) are a little less risky in my experience.

[HRoth]

I use USPS for international and have had problems only with certain countries, like the Czech Republic, Brazil, South Africa, and Israel. I no longer send anything there, and there are a number of other countries where I have not ever accepted orders from. Many of my widgets get seized by Australia, so I warn people of that and I advise against trying to bring it in. But usually most things get where they are going, and IME furriners are not any more dishonest than Merkans are. I do have a stated policy that all international orders go USPS and that there is unfortunately no tracking and that if the order is seized by customs or "lost" in their postal system, I am not responsible. I also say that I get proof of mailing for all international orders, which I actually don't--that is just there to deter any would-be thieves who would actually read the policy. I doubt most would. I regularly get Mr. Ghana trying to order, for instance, although I specifically say no orders to Ghana. I don't know about the laws on the other end, but what are they going to do about it if they do have such laws? Come and arrest me here? In fact I have occasionally replaced items that disappeared. I've had a few orders returned for address unknown to the UK, like jecasc mentioned. But usually things go through okay. The slowest shipping on Earth seems to be from here in upstate NY to the other coast of Canada. It normally takes at least two weeks.

[jecasc]

I don't know about the laws on the other end, but what are they going to do about it if they do have such laws?

Maybe it is unlikely that someone sues you in your country, however if the customer pays with Paypal or Credit Card or any other payment option that can be disputed or a chargeback issued you will be out of your money if you can not proof delivery.

[onlineleben]

if using DHL you can use their premium service which includes transport insurance of up to 500 Euros. You find the info in the business section under the term "Weltpaket".
Never tried this for international sales, but it works nationally.

[PCInk]

Also do not forget the other distant selling regulations in the EU in your calculations - like the right to return ordered goods within 7 to 15 days (depending on country of destination) and you even have to pay the shipping costs for the return shipment.

I understand that the Distance Selling Regulations only apply when both the buyer and the seller are under the EU rules. I don't think they apply to US sales into the EU or vice versa.

Other laws still apply though, including proof of delivery as in the EU all goods remain property of the seller until delivered. In the case of a complaint, you have to prove you no longer 'own' the goods by showing proof of handover.

[dpd1]

It's interesting that Israel would be a problem. I don't recall sending anything there yet.

[HRoth]

Everything I sent there never arrived, according to the customers. When that happens four times in a row, I'm out of that country for good.

[dpd1]

Wow... Yeah, that's not good. I would expect that from some backwards third world place, but surprised to hear it happens there.

[Realbrisk]

Usps Express mail does have the tracking capabilities

[olimits7]

Do you know if "USPS Express International" provides tracking for door-to-door deliveries?

I think that USPS international tracking only provides tracking when the item is received in the country but not when the recipient actually receives the package at their home; right?

Thank you,

olimits7

[Trucker]

@ olimits7,

I can let you know tomorrow or the next day if no one else can answer the question. I have a USPS Express package in German customs right now. It's the only international USPS service we'll use and we haven't had a problem so far.

[topr8]

>>I think that USPS international tracking only provides tracking when the item is received in the country but not when the recipient actually receives the package at their home; right?

correct

and ditto the other way around (eg europe to usa), that's why the service is so much cheaper than the courier companies.

[olimits7]

Thank you for your replies...

Ok, that's what I thought. I guess my best bet to actually get a door-to-door proof of shipping would be to use a courier service like DHL for international orders.