Rough idea of what to expect when an international delivery is returned to sender

[Freggio]

Hello,

I had a package posted to me from Germany on 14/09/2021. It was sent (I think) fastest possible delivery service from Deutschepost and insured. A delivery was attempted at my address 2 days later. I was out and I was not left any 'missed you' card. Unfortunately the sender hadn't told me the parcel was tracked and I believed the delivery would take at least a couple of weeks.

After around 20 days I reached out to the sender and asked if there was any way to find out where the package was and they only then told me it had been tracked. And just my luck it was 1 hour after a notification that the 18 day collection period had passed and it had been returned to sender.

6 days later Royal mail tracking shows 'Item Received' however there is no Location. I called Royal mail customer services and they told me this was most likely at Heathrow on its way back to Germany. A couple of days later status was something like 'this delivery has now been passed to our international partner you may get further tracking from them here (link to Deutschepost tracking). However that status has now been deleted.

Status as of 16/10/2021 is 'Item leaving overseas - Germany' and the 'Deutschepost tracking shows no change since it was being retained for collection on 17/09/2021.

So after all that :D Whats the likely outcome here? Is it realistic it could still get returned to sender after no update for 2 weeks?

It seems pretty likely that the point at which Royal mail is supposed to hand it over to Deutschepost is a good point for it to quietly 'go missing' with no one really being responsible for the loss. Especially considering that status has now been deleted. it's obviously not profitable for Royal mail to do any of this.

I don't really want to give up on the package and claim on the insurance as presumably as soon as that is done the item, if found, will be destroyed. Its a unique item and it cannot be replaced.

Any help here greatly received.

Thanks,

[SpacePhoenix]

It's probably stuck in German customs atm. "Return to sender" items will be a lower priority