Puzzling tracking on international delivery from China

JoeHorner · Post by **JoeHorner** » 31 Aug 2020, 14:01

I hope someone here can give an informed suggestion about what might be happening with a parcel I'm waiting on.

It's an EBay purchase (electronics, no batteries) and was shipped using Yanwen about a week ago.

Tracked fine to "leaving country of origin", at which point they issued an RM tracking number for the last mile.

RM tracking recognised the number by Friday morning but never progressed beyond "the sender is preparing the item".

Then, on Sat evening, the RM tracking changed abruptly to "Atherstone RDC Returned to Sender" with no explanation except that I should contact the sender for queries. The trouble is, the sender (in China) is politely telling me to take it up with Royal Mail.

So, is this likely to be a mis-trackingborbus my parcel really going to head all the way back to China for no known reason?

Post by **Snaggletooth** » 31 Aug 2020, 16:49

Some sellers in China send items over to the UK in bulk, then split the container in the UK. The item only travels in the mail for the domestic leg of the journey. The tracking you describe has all the hallmarks of this. Therefore, I would suggest that "return to sender" means that Royal Mail is returning the item to the UK address that they received it from (or other UK return address, if something else was specified on the package). They will not 'return' an item to an overseas address if only internal UK postage was paid for.

If the seller is not being helpful, I suggest that you take it up with eBay.

JoeHorner · Post by **JoeHorner** » 31 Aug 2020, 17:19

Thanks, I hope it's something like that. Just seemed odd that it's showing as RTS before any mention of hitting customs or even landing at this end!

Ultimately it'll be for Ebay to sort if needed but it 's one if the typical Chinese "delivery between 3rd Sept and 31st Oct" sales so Ebay won't get involved until almost December :(

But, the particular item simply isn't available in the UK (no legal reason, just no-one imports them) so...

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 31 Aug 2020, 19:31

It seems strange that it went straight to "Atherstone RDC Returned to Sender" which makes me think that the address label has got damaged somewhere and the address isn't readable anymore

JoeHorner · Post by **JoeHorner** » 01 Sep 2020, 11:37

Update from RM helpline.

The tracking number does correspond with our address but it's showing as "received with errors" (no explanation of what the errors are - possibly customs info?).
It's apparently been returned to the supplier's UK distribution facility so, hopefully it'll start moving in the right direction again from there!

Post by **Snaggletooth** » 01 Sep 2020, 13:02

The parcel shouldn’t need a customs declaration as it is internal to the UK. That element should have been dealt with before reaching the distribution centre.

Some types of mail, such as Postage Paid Impressions, need to travel with a docket to prove that they have been paid for. The mail should be checked against the docket at an early stage of the journey, probably at the outgoing mail centre. A question for the RM staff on here: if the the docket did not agree with the PPI despatch, would the mail centre hold the mail while waiting for payment, send it on marked for customer surcharge, or return to sender?

JoeHorner · Post by **JoeHorner** » 02 Sep 2020, 00:09

And the plot thickens.

As of this evening it's still showing as "returned to sender" as the main tracking result but the full details show it received by Chester MC (our normal hub) this evening.

Ho him!

JoeHorner · Post by **JoeHorner** » 03 Sep 2020, 10:41

Just to wrap this up, it arrived safely yesterday but is still showing as "returned to sender" - and "delivered" at the same time if you open the full tracking history.

Guess there's a flaw in the system somewhere!