Bartertown.com

- Long story short, I made an e-bay purchase via PayPal on 4/10/10. Note, I'm in the USA.
- Seller shipped on 4/14/10 from the UK.
- 4/15/10 (?) UK airspace closed so it's safe to assume the package got delayed.
- I contact seller on 4/28/10 advising that I had not received the package yet and requested proof of postage.
- 4/30/10 seller sends picture of receipt to my e-mail address. I can clearly see my shipping address on the receipt and a ship date of 4/14/10. The receipt was from Post Office LTD
- I ran the barcode # through the Royal Mail site and got "Your item, posted on 14/04/10 with reference xxxxx has been passed to the overseas postal service for delivery in UNITED STATES OF AMERICA."
- Today, I ran the same barcode through USPS.com and get "Service(s): Registered Mail™- Status: Origin Post is Preparing Shipment- We have received notice that the originating post is preparing to dispatch this mail piece."

Do I:
Ask seller to collect the coverage and re-imburse me?
E-mail USPS for package status?
Something else?

I would contact the post office first. It seems as if its just slow to ship, especially with the closed airspace volcano nonsense.

The first thing I would do is contact the seller. Tell him what I'm going to do, and my reason for doing it.
Then:
I would file with PayPal for non-receipt. This is only to cover your butt and get the "complaint" in on time and not because I think the guy's trying to scam.

It looks to me like your package was all ready to go out, and even updated in their system as having gone... but it got stopped due to the volcano.
Now, it looks like they've updated your tracking # to show the TRUE status of the package.
I'd presume that it's still going to arrive, but protect yourself accordingly.

Just my thoughts.

Eric

Your package was likely sacrificed to appease the volcano!

Contact the guy and see what they tell him on their end.

Airmail from CANADA is generally 7-15 BUSINESS days to the US. From the UK Royal mail site, it says 5 days, however in my experience it is usually about the same. That means as long as two to three weeks, IF it doesn't get held up in Customs. Customs CAN hold it up a few days to a week. Remember there was a volcano which means back log of post and many days of delay that it wasn't moving, as well as a terrorist scare in the states meaning more customs scrutiny.

In my estimate you will proabably be waiting another week or two.

MM gave you some good advice, however I don't think you should sweat it.

I think part of his worry comes from the fact that it was initially marked as 'in transit' (essentially), then the status was later changed to 'sitting in a box on a runway somewhere.'
Eric

Initially, my concern was that I'd been scammed, but the seller provided proof in the form of a receipt with my address on it. Note, the address was part of the receipt's print out, not something scrawled by the seller.

My concern now, and the reason I posted this, is that the package is lost in the warp. I was hoping to get info from UK residents with experience dealing with Royal Mail on their end. I'm goiing to follow both good suggestions made so far.

Contact the seller:
-Advise I have not received item
-Ask them to follow up on their end
-link to usps.com to show them status of package
-Advise of my intent to file dispute through paypal if the item has not arrived within 40 days (to be in before 45 day limit).
-Open paypal dispute if needed.

I've had items from both France and China that USPS said "Origin Post is preparing shipment" until the day they arrived. Both items were that way for almost a month.
Pete

I'd be happy with that as long as it gets here before the 45 day Paypal date.