It’s been 20 days since I sent payment to a small yo-yo company that is very popular and they have still not sent out the yo-yo. They’ve told me it’s because their a small company and that their waiting on their shipping provider to send it out. Basically it’s sitting in the shipping providers warehouse and they are trying to get them to send it since last week, when I asked the first time.
My question is should I just keep waiting longer? Usps told me that shipping label was never even live and that I should reach out to my bank to get my money back because what I’m describing seems very sketchy… but the company I’m buying from has been around for a long time
If they are a popular yoyo company and if they don’t have a bad reputation, I’d wait. But I’d shoot them another email if it’s been a while since you sent the first one.
Perhaps their shipping provider work with larger companies too. Small companies tend to get pushed to the back of the line since they probably dont bring in as much business as much as the other companies. But saying this 20 days is still a long time for no shipping at all. I’d say give it a full month and if no shipping update ask for a refund
If you wait too long, you will not be able to dispute any payments.
I think it’s reasonable to request a refund until such a time as the company would be able to actually mail the yoyo out.
This is very weird to me since personally I just hand my packages directly to USPS - why would I use a provider that takes 20 days to even create a label?
Edit: I wasn’t aware that it was an international shipment, the situation makes perfect sense now, and 20 days isn’t unreasonable for an international package.
I feel it is necessary to portray the underlying circumstances in this unfortunate case as the information given here is far from complete (or correct):
ILYY uses proxy shipping for US orders ever since COVID19 hit the world and German Postal Service decided to effectively halt all airmail based services. After years, they offered airmail based shipments again, but at absurd costs. This lead us to look for alternatives for our US-based customers and we found a reliable proxy shipping service.
How long does it take for ILYY to process an order and ship it?
We sell our yoyos via email and usually collect a bunch of orders to the US in order to make proxy-shipping economically valid. After sending out PayPal invoices, we need to wait for said number of US customers to pay before being able to ship. This is not at all a smooth process. Some take their time with the payment which prolongs the entire shipping process.
How does proxy shipping work?
We pack all our US orders individually with their respective address labels and send these as a bulk package to the proxy shipping provider. This provider then ships this bulk package to the US to their warehouse and then feeds them into the USPS network.
How long does proxy shipping take?
Usually, our bulk shipment arrives in the US warehouse after a few working days. The feeding to USPS and shipping to the end customer happens within the next 10 working days.
What went ‘wrong’ with Mike’s shipment?
After a few days without tracking updates from USPS after the arrival of our bulk package in the US (August, 31st) we contacted our proxy provider and were informed that 4 of our packages were not yet fed to USPS but are still at their receiving warehouse. Delivery will happen eventually, but we cannot say when. It should be soon for what it’s worth.
What are the next steps?
We will refund your money, Mike, no problem.
What will happen to the yoyo?
You will receive it as intended, the distribution process will take place eventually.
I believe in this situation naming the company would have been highly effective. I doubt a single person would have told you to go to your bank if you’d mentioned ilyy.
I messaged ILYY for a discontinued yoyo which they did have and said they found a b-grade one they would ship early next week (august 26). I sent payment and thought it was good to go and got a tracking number the next day on august 27th. Finally on september 7th when the tracking number said awaiting package I emailed ILYY and was informed of them sending it to their proxy shipping provider, which was the first i was informed of you using the service. You messaged the provider, and told me on the 8th that they messed up and would get it out as soon as possible. Just want to complete the story further I guess. Wanted to just ask what others would do in this situation which seems like they would also get a refund.
Knowing that it’s shipping from overseas via a proxy definitely clears things up, I incorrectly assumed this was a US → US shipment. 20 days isn’t that long for an international package.
maybe im confused, and i do apologize to ILYY if im being ignorant i truly dont know, but from what i understand its not moving at all and sitting in a warehouse
The tracking from Germany to the US was a separate (bulk) package, after it arrives in the US (which it did!) the logistics company breaks apart the bulk package and dispatches the individual ones into the US Postal service. It’s not moving now, but it’s already more than halfway through with its journey.
It’s even fine to ask for a refund since that is how Paypal buyer protection works. That’s just the customer’s right.
We’ve been shipping yoyos all over the world since 2006 (about 5000 yoyos total) and we have yet to lose a single one in transit. That said, of course it can happen. If we are sure a package is lost (for instance, if our proxy shipping provider tells us they cannot find the parcels) we will either refund it immediately or ship another yoyo as replacement (if we still have enough yoyos left). This choice will be up to the customer.