Transit time from Canada (BC) to U.S.?

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George S.

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Hey all,

Would like to know if what i'm being told is feasible.... 2 1/2 weeks ago (Jan 1) I used "BIN" on an ebay auction with the seller being from B.C. Canada. He has a feedback rating of 98.6 (68 transactions). They say they only ship on Fridays... so that would have been Jan 6. ... I contacted seller since I still don't have the item, he says it's probably held up in U.S. Customs, and it's only been out there a few "business days", so don't get worried.....

I know items get delayed when sent between US and Europe, etc, but I haven't heard of packages being delayed by US Customs. Is this a reasonable possibility, and/or still a reasonable time to still be waiting? I guess I'm spoiled by getting things in 2-6 calendar days (not business days) for within US shipping... Sorry for taking up your time, BUT....You know how it is when you're waiting, and waiting, and waiting for something...

Thanks,
George S.
 
I didn't push the issue as far as tracking info goes, because just about every time I try to use USPS tracking, it's useless. The item only shows up as having been shipped like 4 days later, and usually about 12 hours before its delivered, or sometimes, after its been delivered. I haven't had similar problems with UPS or FedEx tracking.

I asked THEM to look into it, and I got a very long, full page answer that "it's only been a few 'working' days... blah, blah, be patient, blah..."
 
I hate to hear this kind of situation.

The reason is that I have sold a lot of stuff on eBay from here in the U.S.

Once, so many years ago that there was a WTC here in NYC from which I went to a UPS office and shipped something to a buyer in ON, I encountered some of the ugliest charges from UPS and it's wicked brokerage fees that I came to refuse to sell outside the US!

How's that for a "run on sentence"!! 🙂

Then, last summer I was selling some ham radio gear that was kind of "rare" and a buyer from ON "begged" me to let him bid. [At the time I had "restricted" all sales to US-only].

He explained to me that simple US Post Office mail would be fine and I would not incur the obscene UPS "brokerage" fees I feared. He did warn that it might take up to two weeks for him to receive this item - the issue being Canada Post!

He was right on all points.

He received my item. It went from my home in upstate NY to the Canadian border in a day. It then took two weeks for it to arrive to him at his home (somewhere just on the north shore of Lake Huron)!

Your item will come! But I do not know what Canada Post does when packages get to your border! Seems as if they have to let them "age" or something.

It is totally weird. Down here our PO has become very "customer friendly" that those old post office jokes are ... well ... just jokes.

But for you guys?.....
 
It can take a few weeks, George. USPS is not aware that it has competition, so it'll get there when it gets there, unfortunately.

I just got a letter that was sent to me from a suburb, here, on December 30th. Just delivered today.

So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1899.
 
Just to bore you on some more, and give some closure to this, The item never arrived. The ebay seller- mtfman- was study in a split personality. He did eventually post me a PayPal refund, immediately after hinting he wouldn't do so. Some of his emails were two- sentence cryptic affairs where he talked down to me, followed by lengthy, lucid, multi-paragraph replies.

All-in-all, he made it a weird,weird january, and aside from some aggravation, all is reasonably OK.
 
George S. said:
Just to bore you on some more, and give some closure to this, The item never arrived. The ebay seller- mtfman- was study in a split personality. He did eventually post me a PayPal refund, immediately after hinting he wouldn't do so. Some of his emails were two- sentence cryptic affairs where he talked down to me, followed by lengthy, lucid, multi-paragraph replies.

All-in-all, he made it a weird,weird january, and aside from some aggravation, all is reasonably OK.
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Sorry you didn't get your item. Glad to hear you eventually got a refund.

I had a similar experience in the last month or so with a seller who just didn't seem to be able to get his act together. He seemed to be totally scatterbrained from the get go. Took about four weeks of e-mail exchanges and the usual "blame the PO" interlude but in the end he made good on a refund. I'm guessing my guy was so "out of it" that he never did send the item when he thought he had! Sounds like yours was the Canadian counsin!
 
Well, let me rethink that "all is reasonably OK" line I said....I just gotta vent some.....

After being put thru the ringer by the guy, I left him a neutral feedback, simply stating the facts- 1. The item never arrived. 2. I eventually did get a refund. 3. His emails were poor. (Poor, is a great understaement. They were cryptic, then nonsensical, then nice, then rude, then nice, then rude, then I got the refund after a 30 day wait. well, still waiting for it to show up on my credit card.) Nothing else, I never said anything more, not even to avoid the guy.

WELL! HE turns around and gives me a NEGATIVE feedback. And you wonder why I'm beginning to think ebay is a waste of time and becoming a piece of crap for honest people.
 
George S. said:
Well, let me rethink that "all is reasonably OK" line I said....I just gotta vent some.....

After being put thru the ringer by the guy, I left him a neutral feedback, simply stating the facts- 1. The item never arrived. 2. I eventually did get a refund. 3. His emails were poor. (Poor, is a great understaement. They were cryptic, then nonsensical, then nice, then rude, then nice, then rude, then I got the refund after a 30 day wait. well, still waiting for it to show up on my credit card.) Nothing else, I never said anything more, not even to avoid the guy.

WELL! HE turns around and gives me a NEGATIVE feedback. And you wonder why I'm beginning to think ebay is a waste of time and becoming a piece of crap for honest people.
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George S.,

Word to the weary. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER leave neutral or negative feedback on a seller! Any seller who's not a total idiot knows that he/she should only leave "response" feedback AFTER the buyer does - it's the seller's "last licks"!

Better that you don't leave any feedback if it isn't positive.

Let your silence speak a thousand words.

(Oh, by the way, I am also a George S. but I go by "copake_ham" 😀 )
 
Yeah, George, I see what you're saying, but I didn't think my silence would get across as meaning anything. I wanted to be the least critical that i could be, but truthful. So much for being truthful. After all, I think neutral feedback doesn't even lower someone's feedback score, but negative does. So, I lost on both counts, the auction, and the aftermath.
 
Frank Granovski
just you wait

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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
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Where in BC does this fellow live? The Vancouver area?
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cp_ste-croix said:
I can see him and complain in person if you want. PM me, and I'll see if I can get you a retraction on the feedback. I can be very persuasive.
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Hey George S.,

Sounds as if da' boys on the left coast of CDN are gettin' their dander up about 'dis here injustice that was committed upon ya'.

Wots say you tell 'dem the nameski and location of the soon to be "poor unfortunate seller dude"?

We here on RFF all gots to stick together like glue!
 
I don't like people getting ripped off, and I had a bad experience with a total jerk via Ebay. Let me say that I am opposed to violence, but am rather a gifted speaker in a 205lbs body.
 
Hey Frank, how much would you and your brother charge... oops, shouldn't ask in public... 😉

Some details for you guys.. The ebay store is MTF Discount Warehouse, Langley, BC (ebay name "mtfman") the ebay auction was # 7576974458. I communicated with him prior to buying, and he said the item (Nikon Coolpix 7900 Digital) included all original accessories, and was in a still sealed package.

Interesting in that his auction specifically states he takes the sold items down to Point Roberts WA every Friday and ships USPS Priority Mail, he clears American Customs, and it is of course, shipped from the American side, with a 2 to 3 day delivery time. This sounded great to me.

After about a week, then 10 days, then 14 days, i emailed him and asked for tracking info, or for him to track the item. Each time he answered me, he'd ignore the tracking request completely. He said "Wait 15 days". I did, then after 15 days he said (rudely) "That's 15 BUSINESS DAYS, nothing moves thru the post office on weekends or holidays." We went back and forth, then he admitted sending thru Canada Post, and it must be held up in American customs. I emailed him back his own auction description on how he ONLY ships USPS, IN PERSON, in WASHINGTON, and asked him to explain that. he called it an "ebay typo"!

My gut instinct tells me something more than a lost item is going on here, and it happened to others, and I'll bet he kept them quiet by threatening negative feedback, but then giving a refund, so they all went quietly away.
 
Frank,
I don't have a name or phone number to go with the ebay store, but the physical store name- MTF Discount Warehouse, seems to be a fairly common chain around your area. The yellow pages lists two Langley locations- 22611 Fraser Highway (604) 532-8199; and 9680 201 St., (604) 888-4437. Another in Surrey, and a fourth with just a phone number and no address listed.
 
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