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How long does it take for international orders to arrive in the US?

Bladenoobie1

Bladenoobie1

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Hi,

I'm expecting a knife from the Czech Republic that was shipped last Thursday. Currently the tracking states that "Origin Post is preparing shipment" and has remained as such since the 3rd. What does this mean? Also what is a realistic transit time from the Czech Republic to the US as I never bought something internationally before?

Thanks,
BN
 
One of my favorite sheath makers is in the Czech Republic. Delivery usually takes 2-3 weeks. Customs can hold things up as I've had US customs hold up stuff from Canada and Europe. My last order from Poland took six weeks.
 
Never had any thing coming from the Czech republic, but I have had knives and other items shipped from Canada, the UK, France, Spain, Israel, Crete and Poland. The shortest was 10 days from Canada. The longest was a near-tie at 38 and 40 days from Crete and Poland. The others took between 3 and 4 weeks.

Bladenoobie1 said:
....snip.... Currently the tracking states that "Origin Post is preparing shipment" and has remained as such since the 3rd. What does this mean? .... snip....
Click to expand...

Most of the delays come from the shipper/carrier company, not the seller. The shipper/carrier will usually wait until they have a full container before shipping it out. It costs the shipper/carrier almost the same whether they have a 1/2 full, 3/4 full or full container, so they wait around hoping to pack more packages in to reduce their "cost per item" basis, thereby maximizing their profit. This is basically what the referenced statement means.

Additional wait time is due to customs clearance. Again, the containers have a BUNCH of packages and each one has to be cleared before the container is released for individual package delivery.
 
Bought something from Germany once and it took about 3 weeks to get it.

Jay
 
The short answer is a long time. There are a lot of variables to consider. Shipment method, seasonal business, carrier company, state of the economy of the country of origin, etc.
south Africa has had a postal worker strike reported that lasted a long time. Effectively causing everything there to grind to a halt. Customs also takes their sweet time on things, so there is no telling really with any certainty. Anywhere from a week or 2 to a month or more.
 
I just recently received a package from South Africa that took 4 months to get to me!! I had pretty much given up but one day out of nowhere it just showed up. Hope you don't have to wait that long :p
 
I hope so too. Best case scenario I suppose is that it ships from Czech Republic soon and I get it within 2 weeks.
 
Also see if you can check the tracking number on their post website. When I ship from Switzerland, the Swiss Post tracking is more accurate until it arrives in the US, and then USPS tracking becomes more accurate.

That being said, I've seen a few times where tracking states that "Origin Post is preparing shipment" when it has, in fact, already been shipped days before.

Shipping Swiss-US and vice versa usually takes about 2-3 weeks for me.
 
I feel your frustration. I paid for a knife located in Tel Aviv, Israel on March 21. The tracking number (try it and see RR454284142IL), run thru USPS, says the same as yours says: Still in the sender's hands. The sender went to his Post Office and was told that it was at Kennedy Airport waiting to be placed into the hands of the USPS. The USPS cannot locate an item until they get their first in-country scan is what I was told at the local Post Office. I called the 1-800 number for USPS and got the still in sender's hands answer by a phone robot.

A few days after paying for the Tel Aviv folder I bot an Italian (FOX) folder out of Rimini, Italy and it was delivered FedX to my door in about three days with a smile and I am way out in the sticks with the other hicks.

I've contacted the seller, like a nervous nanny, several times and he calms me down but still hasn't told me when the item was shipped. His grace period, per the auction site venue for the sale, runs out next week on the 14th.

Blade I hope that your shipment plays out entirely in everyone's favor. This hobby can be a ton of fun and when its not then I try to consider the experience an education (easy to say).
 
And it was Easter- which would have slowed things down a bit. A watched pot never boils as they say and I say it quite often waiting on things to arrive.:)
 
I've had a couple of custom swords from Canada stuck at ISC Chicago (US Customs) since April 2nd, according to USPS tracking. Both USPS and Customs have been useless contacting them. And almost ten days is an unusual amount of time given previous international shipments going through customs. Even ISC New York got a package on it's way in three days and that's when NYC was having a blizzard. Also checking around on the web it seems ISC Chicago has been having theft problems along with just generally being slow, so that's definitely not adding to being confident the blades will arrive.

I may bite the financial bullet in the future and have all international packages be shipped Express when at all possible. This one was shipped International Priority from CanadaPost and it took a day and a half to go from Toronto to Chicago, which is awesome. But tack on a couple of weeks sitting in Customs and having a shipment sent Priority becomes useless and a waste of cash. Despite Express shipments via mail being ridiculously pricey, at least it's guaranteed to be delivered in three days give or take a couple of days.

In good news though to an otherwise downer of a post, out of almost 20 years of shipping knives around the globe I've only had one knife lost on it's arrival to me and I suspect it was Customs that confiscated it and that was one that shipped during 9-11. It arrived in the US around the last week of September, but that was the last heard from it. I assume in the wave of paranoia during 9-11 that an over zealous Customs agent saw it and threw it in a pile of confiscated goods to never be seen again. Who knows. It was however, a great way to loose a $750 custom folder and no way of recouping the cash. Am I bitter on Customs? You betcha!:) I think they are the weak link in international shipping however, despite the country.

So hang in there Bladenoobie. Chances are you will get the knife sooner or later. But I do understand the frustration!
 
One thing to remember is not all postal systems play well with each other. Many times when i order from an overseas seller the package doesnt even start to track until its in the states. And if you want any updates you need to track the package using the website for the origin post. I ordered a knife three weeks ago and it arrived two days ago. And i didnt have any change in the tracking status until the day it was delivered. One package i sent back actually took over a month.
 
PURPLEDC said:
One thing to remember is not all postal systems play well with each other. Many times when i order from an overseas seller the package doesnt even start to track until its in the states. And if you want any updates you need to track the package using the website for the origin post. I ordered a knife three weeks ago and it arrived two days ago. And i didnt have any change in the tracking status until the day it was delivered. One package i sent back actually took over a month.
Click to expand...

I've had awesome luck with this tracking site: http://www.trackitonline.ru/

They cover pretty much the entire world and across carriers. They provided info for a package from Australia that neither their postal site nor USPS would give. When I can't find any other tracking info, they're always worth a shot.
 
John Johnson said:
I've had awesome luck with this tracking site: http://www.trackitonline.ru/

They cover pretty much the entire world and across carriers. They provided info for a package from Australia that neither their postal site nor USPS would give. When I can't find any other tracking info, they're always worth a shot.
Click to expand...

Ah, those communist spies are still at it !!! :grumpy:

:D :D :D
 
John Johnson said:
I've had awesome luck with this tracking site: http://www.trackitonline.ru/

They cover pretty much the entire world and across carriers. They provided info for a package from Australia that neither their postal site nor USPS would give. When I can't find any other tracking info, they're always worth a shot.
Click to expand...

Esav Benyamin said:
Ah, those communist spies are still at it !!! :grumpy:

:D :D :D
Click to expand...

It's really a subtle plot to get us hooked on a service that works and then, BAM, they'll start charging for it. :rolleyes: Kinda like some other companies we know. :D
 
I think that I have located Bladenoobie's mailer, err, or is that mine???

[video=youtube;uxX1kA-nhZk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxX1kA-nhZk[/video]
 
So the tracking has finally updated and is currently in the United States!! Unfortunately it is currently listed as departure from BETHPAGE, NY USPS sort facility. From what I've read online regarding this very sort facility packages are frequently lost and delayed from here. Does anyone here have experience with this specific sort facility!?

Thanks,
BN
 
The Bethpage sorting center is a major one, I've never had any major trouble with it, maybe an extra day at most. The Jersey City one has always been worse.
 
My tracking now says:

Processed Through Sort Facility ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)
 
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