Help! international USPS tracking gone awry or scam?

[felipe]

Has any of you guys ever heard of something like CP876743386US as an INTERNATIONAL TRACKING NUMBER ?

Bought an item from a US seller on ebay, paypaled the money plus 100 bucks for USPS EMS (Global Express Mail) and he told me CP876743386US would be the customs id/tracking no. with for the parcel.

He shipped out the item 02-28 and after I inquired about the tracking number because it wasn't working he told me not only had he accidentally mixed up some values and declared it at 64$ (vs the 290$ end price) BUT ALSO:
He told me the tracking will only be available once the shipment has left the US, and that USPS tracking wouldn't be updated like UPS or Fed-Ex is. 😕

Is this true? Shippment should take 7-14 days and it's been 12 days until now so it should have left the US at least yesterday to arrive here in time, I suppose?

Also, there isn't ANY code starting with "CP" listed in the FAQs for the USPS track&confirm website.

I am honestly starting to worry and I hope this doen't turn out to be.. you know. .I mean he might have just mixed up his tracking numbers and sent me the wrong one, but I don't feel very comfortable at the moment..

Any help highly appreciated!

cheers,
Phil

 

[felipe]

USPS Global Expres Mail can only be tracked IN the USA. Once it leaves the USA ,USPS loses the ability to track.
My wife was just checking on this for me today.

Thanks a bunch. Actually my brain must have been somewhere else as this is the only way tracking makes sense.
Oh well, at least now I have a reason to worry.. 🙂

Knew this was too good to be true..

 

[felipe]

The "cp" at the front of the number means "colis postaux".
I tried the number, no luck. If it has already left the USA, it may no longer be in their system.

I wish you the best of luck.

USPS uses colis posteaux as a code? I only know this expression from sending off international parcels at a french PO..
Do you know if they (USPS) really do ship international mail with a (french?!) CP code?

Thanks a lot!

Phil

 

[taffer]

Felipe, in fact that's the same issue I have with my still not arrived Agfa Ventura (3 months now), with a CP code as well, and a VD one that was from the insurance code.

The USPS system could never track that item, but later I found (as information in another auction) that these are not tracking codes but postal codes that could be used to retrieve information about the parcel status at customs.

The seller is trying to help as much as he can though and we should know something this month so I don't lose faith.

Best of luck with your parcel !

 

[Kim Coxon]

Hi,
I just got a parcel from the States to the UK. The tracking number worked all the way until in was received into the UK and then I could use the same number with Parcelforce, their UK handling agent to track it to the door so it worked for me and has done so in the past. Maybe I am just lucky.

Kim

 

[pukupi]

I've used EMS a lot for work and play. From experience, the level of tracking depends on where you sending to: from Japan to NZ I get tracking information every step of the way but Japan to UK only shows Heathrow arrival and final delivery once it has left Japan. Some inbound tracking numbers don't work at all but I've yet to lose an EMS shipment.

 

[rover]

Could it be that the number he provided is the customs declaration number and not the tracking number. I have sold quite a bit of stuff sending items over seas and told by the postal service that tracking was not possible, and so I have not used the delivery confirmation number. I have been able to provide the number on the customs declarations though and that allows tracking trough customs I think. At least if a package is stuck in customs they should be able to find it if you have the number. If the simple customs form is used, the US shipper will not have a copy of the form, the postal service keeps all copies, but the declaration number is provided on the receipt.

 

[akalai]

Hi,

Just to confirm if the seller has inded used USPS Express Mail Service then the tracking number should work, even when it arrives in your country.

I have had a lot of packages sent from the US to Australia via EMS and the tracking works fine here, showing when and what time it has gone into customs, when it has been cleared, when it has been sent out for delivery and even when it is in the truck for delivery. All through the regular USPS tracking webpage. Actually this is my preferred way of posting items to my address here in Australia.

The only problems I have ever had was when shippers said that they had sent it EMS but had not, rather insured US Airmail which has a registration number but is NOT a tracking number.

Oh yeah and the only other problems I have had was when packages were sent UPS (United Parcel no-Service) who are a bunch of thiefs, liars and scam artists.... 😉 Last time I used UPS (as a result of a US retailer only shipping via UPS) they lost a package of mine for over two months which was sent Worldwide Express with a gurantee to be here in 5 days. Never got the money back ($104US) that I was promised as the UPS offices both here in Sydney and New York danced backwards and forwards as to whose responsibility it was. It was almost as good a Catch 22 game as that played by my University. Lame! It was such an effort to get them to run a tracer on the package, which turned up nothing, then TWO MONTHS of trying, and the operative word is TRYING to get them to pony up for the insured value of the package when out of the blue the package finally arrived. At least it arrived as I doubt I would have ever seen my money. The package had, somewhere in UPS's abyss, been issued an alternate tracking number and main bar code, to all the documents attached to it and perhaps had also been chosen at some point to be used as a door wedge by some friendly UPS staffer.

I saw an episode of Crank Yankers where they impersonated a UPS complaints office.... if only I could have found it amusing, unfortunately it was all too true! Prior to this they had also manged to stuff up two very important document deliveries, again loosing one and the other being delayed to the point of it defeating the point of having sent it EXPRESS.

So whatever you do stay away from UPS!!!

USPS GOOD UPS BAD ... very very BAD

 

[Kim Coxon]

Kim,

What was the shipping method?
If it works good, I may want to use it. 🙂

Hi,
The label says USPS Express Mail and the tracking number begins with "ED". This is the second or third one like this and all started "ED" and have a mailing label 11-B on them and says EMS. It seems to be almost twice the price of "normal" insured airmail which just have a normal label on them. Hope this helps.

Kim

 

[felipe]

Just a quick update:

Rover you are right, the guy apparently gave me the customs number!
Hope he declared it right and it isn't stuck in US/EU customs though, if I was a customs officer and would see a parcel looking like a guitar, and the value is noted at 64$ I would certainly be inspecting it. 🙂

Damn those capitalist power seller evil people!

Akalai: UPS..arghh I get a rash from just plain READING the word. I guess if you would strap a parcel onto a cruise missile it's more likely to arrive in one piece than when being "sent" by UPS.
They must be parachuting their cargo from orbital planes.

Have you seen Ace Ventura with Jim Carrey? If you haven't go watch it, the UPS scene should clear up any misunderstandings on how they get those fancy dings into your package 😀


Thanks all, you have been very helpful as always!

cheers,
Phil

 

[akalai]

Hey Felipe,

Yes, I have seen Ace Ventura...and honestly the opening scene is the best part of the film....(except maybe for the Crying Game part)....I cried from laughter watching that, ofcourse that was some time before I had dealt with UPS...

Now when I am walking through the city and see a parked UPS van I have to cross the road incase I give in to the overpowering urge to leave a long continous key line down the side of their shiny poo brown vehicles.

I hate UPS so much I managed to convince my mum's company, an aviation spare parts related company to cancel shipments with UPS (was a decent sized business account) and switch to DHL and Fedex, petty I know but they rubbed me up so badly it was the least I could do. 😉