I ordered a few books from Iceland and had the same experience. Promised in a few days, took a few weeks. But I got them.
I just looked at my wrist briefly before looking at the bottom right of the screen and noted it’s Aug 9th. What was the problem again?
She didn’t realize the item was coming from a country currently involved in a war. We shall see if there is a problem or not.
International shipping often gets held up at customs. So even if it crosses the Atlantic promptly she may not get it on time.
So the last entry on the tracking was August 8 @ 12:15am
“KIEV PI-3, UKRAINE Processed Through Facility”
That’s 8 days ago… Anything to be concerned about?
FWIW, I’ve shipped stuff via USPS to Japan before, and the tracking info gets sparse after the package leaves the US. You may be experiencing something similar, in that the package may have left Ukraine and now the Ukraine postal service is getting sparse (or no) tracking info from the US. And of course it may indeed have been held up in Ukraine, because of reasons.
Still not concerned about a scam.
[Modified my comment] Here are the rough transit times by air or by sea from Ukraine to the US:
This is one common carrier, but their numbers are likely representative:
International shipping times from Ukraine depend on the mode of transport being used to transport your package. For packages traveling by air, packages may take between 14 to 20 working days before arriving. Packages traveling by ship or road may take 25 to 30 working days to arrive. Working days are defined by Ukrposhta are weekdays that do not fall on a national holiday, but times may also be delayed by weather conditions, operational backlogs, or customs.
My last package from China was estimated at 30 days.
I was not careful about seeing where an item was being shipped from once. It did come directly from China. No issues with getting the item except it took forever.
I routinely buy crap from Temu, a gigantic reputable Chinese e-commerce outfit.
For stuff coming from China, often 3 or 4 courier companies are involved. China Post to a Chinese airport, Air China to a US port, UPS to my metro area, and USPS to my house.
Sometimes tracking is complete end to end and sometimes the trail goes cold at “Arrived at ChangXian airport for export.” Followed by the goods showing up unannounced 5-20 days later.
If that happens to giant corporations in well-organized countries not at war, it’s certainly reasonable to suppose that could happen to a mom n pop vendor in a war-torn country.
At least w Temu, on occasion I’ve contacted the seller to ask if they have a tracking number for whoever has their package now. And gotten back a new number from a different courier which rewarms my trail.
If daughter does try to contact the seller via email or website message or whatever remember they are probably relying on Google translate to read and respond. IME short simple declarative sentences work well. “I have X. I want Y. Please send me Y. Thank you.”
About 4 years ago I ordered a print from Ukraine. The shipping took longer than expected, but it did get here (Switzerland). I ordered it on August 8th and got an email from customs about it on November 2nd and received it on November 11th. And that was pre-invasion.
Somehow it took 6 weeks from when it left Ukraine to when it arrived in Switzerland, based on the tracking (instigated by the shipper). No idea where it was in between, as it’s only 22 hours of driving.
Coincidentally, the blueberries I bought this morning are from the Ukraine. Quite tasty, so they didn’t get held up at the border.
+1
in similar situations, I held my package in hands, before the shipping details on the interwebs were updated …
so, NO … no additional worries.
added: The stuff i bought from UKR took quite some time (2ish months? IIRC)
so - prepare mentally for that timeframe
Today, August 23, was the first time since the 8th that anything was added to the tracking. It says her item is at a USPS facility in New York.
Those scammers sure don’t miss a trick when it comes to trying to get you to believe you’re actually going to get your merchandise. ![]()
Are you sure its that New York? It might still at this very minute be in Ukrainian hands.
She said it says USPS NYC USA.
But your site is quite interesting.
That reminds me of the urban legend that I recall my father repeating in the 1960s, that the city of Usa in Japan was named thusly so that goods manufactured there could be exported to the United States and legally labeled “MADE IN USA”, to fool American consumers into thinking that they were buying locally made goods.
it was also a complaint when activists were pushing a South African boycott before Mandela took over. Fruit and such from there was labelled “Product of the Union of South Africa” often with the predicatable abreviation.
Funnier was the Canadian locality with the postal code T0Y 0K0. Some of their mail took the long route.
She finally got her print.
You guys were so worried and paranoid. I told you she didn’t get scammed.
Here is what it looks like. It’s the skyline of Milwaukee from Lake Michigan facing west at dusk.
Congratulations! Glad to read this thread is now open for hijacks!
Ah, the famous tcherno-berries! Their mushrooms are brilliant too!
Isn’t that odd? Was it the price of the item that encouraged her to use a drop shopper from Ukraine?
I wonder if that print is pinched from the original artists website? Maybe it’s in the public domain so no problemo but Etsy has a problem with drop ship sellers using artwork without permission.
So your daughter might not have been scammed but the photographer who took that photo might’ve been.