I ordered a set of Christmas ornaments three weeks ago, and have yet to receive them. I emailed their customer support last Friday (12/9) saying to cancel my order if they hadn’t shipped yet. I was assured the order had been shipped, and I would get notification “soon”. I was skeptical, but I did receive notification from FedEx on Monday (12/12) with a tracking number and expected ship date of last Thursday (12/8).
However, it’s now Wednesday, and the status at FedEx is still saying “label printed” and that I’ll receive and update when the shipment “begins to travel”. Is it just slow to update, or is a shipper able to get a tracking number without actually making the shipment?
I ordered a couple of Blu-Ray discs and was given an estimated shipping date of last Thursday. Last Friday, the UPS tracking number Amazon gave me still said that the label had been printed but nothing was “in the system,” and Amazon offered to send me free replacement items, which arrived the following Monday. The next day, the original shipment arrived.
I ship via FedEx all the time. The tracking number is on the shipping label that the shipper prints out to stick to your order - which means that the tracking number is assigned before the package is ever received at FedEx.
So when you (the receiver) look up the status for a tracking number, the first line item is something like “shipment information sent to FedEx;” that just means the label has been printed. The next line item should be something like “In FedEx Possession,” which is the point that it has actually left the shipper’s hands and is in custody of FedEx, on its way to you.
Yeah this is how eBay works. If you buy shipping through them they tell the buyer that the item has “shipped” as soon as you print the label! I noticed this once when I got a “super fast shipping wow!” feedback from someone in the middle of the night once, after I had printed but before I had dropped it off to the post office.
For most FedEx customers, if not all, their account is charged when the label is printed, so if FedEx says the label has been printed, you know that the shipper has, at least, paid for the shipping.
Now, this doesn’t mean that there isn’t a scam going on, it just means that the shipper has paid FedEx. Depending on his cost for the item, it may be that the shipping cost is a substantial part of the overall cost, so in those cases, it wouldn’t make much sense if he was trying to take your money and run.
I have had the scenario detailed in the OP happen to me and the item arrived, even though the FedEx website had no information on it until it arrived. It is my guess that this is what has happened here.
Another possibility, which really isn’t a scam, but not completely honest in my book, is that the seller is out of stock, but expects to get a shipment in a day or two. Instead of letting you cancel your order, he prints the shipping label and waits until he gets his stock and then ships. Of course, you have no way of knowing if this is the case or not.
Regardless, I would expect that you receive your ornaments by the weekend.
Cool, thanks! I’m leaning towards the “printed the label early to buy time” explanation rather than “FedEx forgot to update their records”. However, I’ll hold off on canceling until tomorrow morning and see what happens.
Don’t rule out “FedEx can’t find the package.” I used to work in shipping and this would happen from time to time. I would expect even more so this time of year. This could easily be a case of someone at FedEx didn’t scan the package properly and it may have ended up on the wrong truck.
ive had this happen… amazon said it wasn’t worth shipping the replacement order m\ back and said it was a freebie on them and enjoy … I gave away the second set of movies for xmas ,
I think you may be confusing FedEx with USPS. That’s simply not true for FedEx.
I don’t get charged until after the package is delivered.
I frequently ship packages home to myself when I am on the road. I list my home address as both the “To” and the “From” address. The estimated charge that FedEx Ship Manager gives me is the lower price for a “local” zone package. But the final charge I get reflects the rate from the more distant city that I actually ship from.
By the way, anyone who has a major credit card can get a FedEx account. Charging your shipments to your account can save a lot of money. Even if you bring your packed and sealed boxes to your local FedEx Office store (formerly Kinko’s), if you tell them to charge the shipment to your account instead of paying at the store, you’ll get much lower rates.
For me, FedEx provides an estimate when the label is printed. They don’t actually charge my credit card until after the delivery is completed, at which point they know what the actual delivery cost was; the actual delivery cost rarely matches the estimate, but it’s generally within +/- fifty cents, unless something went very wrong (e.g. you input the wrong package weight).
If I print a FedEx label and then never use it, I don’t get charged anything.
It’s been a long time since I shipped via UPS, but from what I remember, they charge you when the label is printed, and then charge more later on if something goes wrong.
Mild hijack: Is it a problem to print a Fedex label but not actually drop off the package for a day or two? I thought the date on the label was supposed to be the date you dropped off the package or they picked it up.
So the few times I’ve sent stuff by Fedex, I reprinted the label if I couldn’t get it out that day.
If the FedEx rates change between the two dates, the estimate that Ship Manager gives you will be wrong, but they will charge you the correct rate for the day you drop it off.