anyone had any experience with USPS parcel post?
 

so i won a frame on ebay a little more than a month ago.
seller says he's using USPS parcel post.
i paid for the frame right away, and the seller responded right away, telling me the frame would arrive in about two weeks.

well, its been more than a month now and im starting to get superbly sketched out.
the tracker has said that the "origin post is preparing to dispatch the shipment" from the time i started tracking it (late november) to now.
maybe im being paranoid and it's just taking awhile overseas?
i don't know.
have any of you had experience with usps's parcel post?

I have had one bad experience with USPS and that is when a 3 day package took 3 weeks.


Try contacting the seller again?

USPS is basically useless because they don't update their info. Give the seller a call and tell him what is up.

I've had one amazing experience with USPS where I received my package (MKS sylvans) in 3 days with regular shipping. Then, I had a terrible experience where the package took almost 3 weeks. But that was also over the holidays.

But tracking-wise, they do suck.

yeah it is the holiday season, so im hoping it's just a little behind schedule.
also, i called usps, and they said that the tracker won't update until it reaches the US.
the frame is coming from france, so that may be a huge factor in this wait time.
customs, method of transportation, etc.

If the frame was shipped from outside the US it wasn't shipped USPS, it was shipped via the postal service of the country of origin. Once it leaves that country there is usually no way to track it. Was it sent air or sea?

contact the seller and prepare to write ebay, just in case.

if its been 30 days eBay will most lkely not care. paypal too :/ in my experience anyway

I'd bet your parcel is sitting in the US customs - the problem is that USPS are likely to screw up contacting either you or the sender for any missing data they need to clear the parcel. Had that happened to me twice with USPS on the parcel outbound from the US: once I was able to stop them from returning the parcel back to the sender, the second time I failed. The seller was cool and refunded the purchase when he got his goods back.

I only send letters via USPS. Use a private carrier that acts like they want your business. (next time)

hm, thats strange considering the seller is the one based in france.

USPS collaborates with the range of carriers and national post services, so it is not that strange. The tracking numbers will be USPS ones. There is one caveat, tho. The larger size frame, even boxed tightly is above the size limit for the USPS - might cause additional problems.

When I finished hiking the AT my friend who I had met along the way sent a bunch of stuff to himself in Australia via Parcel Post rather than taking it on the plane. It took about three months for him to receive is stuff. Don't hold your breath, but chances are it might show up someday.

-ray

I just had a fork shipped Parcel Post, took 3 weeks+ to get across the US, shipped 12/3.

Had a package shipped Priority Mail get here in 2 days last week.

Parcel Post is bottom-of-the-barrel when it comes to shipping priority. Coming from overseas, even more so.

I'd say contact the seller for an update, and continue to be patient. My $.02

yeah i asked my mailman and he said parcel post is slow in general
and since it's overseas, it's coming by boat.
so i'm just going to keep on waiting i guess.

If it's being shipped by sea expect it in no less than six months, and don't be surprised if the box is destroyed when you receive it. The last package I sent via sea arrived in the States totally smashed with boot marks all over it and the contents destroyed. Now I just pony up and pay for air freight as it's much safer. Good luck, and hope the shipper really packed the billy hell out of your frame.