USPS shipment to Canada.. 20 days and not there yet. Advice?

[Crimson]

I recently shipped a camera lens to an fellow in Ontario Canada.. I shipped it USPS insured, but no delivery confirmation (Since USPS claims they can't do that for a shipment to Canada).. Anyways, its not been 20 days (Sent it out on August 27th), and the person claims they have yet to receive it..

Does anyone have any experience shipping to Canada? I insured it for $200, and I had to fill out a customs form.. so I am hoping it just takes a long time to get through customs or some other delay. How long should this process take? Should I start filing a claim with the USPS or wait longer?

I don't think the person is trying to scam me, because they already paid for it.. I insisted on payment before shipment with money order.. And they have been extremely good with communications and didn't even let me know it had not arrived until just now.. I'd think if someone was scamming they would not pay first, and they certainly wouldn't wait 20 days to start mentioning it had not arrived.. But, I could be wrong I suppose..

Anyways, anyone gone through something like this and can tell me what to expect?

 

[gwlam12]

a person who pays first doesnt mean that he/she isnt scamming you. they could always claim they didnt receive an item and demand a refund.

im not saying this is the situation. im merely finding fault in your claim.

i have not been in this situation. i sent out an item around aug27 to canada and it arrived there a week later to peeluckyduckee

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

Is this individual a respectful member with decent amount of heatware? Depending on which state you are and which province he is, it may as well take that long. 2 business weeks is not unheard of before.

I've done so many cross-border trades I don't really worry about the items not arriving, for the most part if it's within the 2-3 week period. I told gwlam12 it would come, and it did arrive as per my expectations

I'm in the middle of another deal with a fellow in ND or SD, just 2 states below me, and it has been a week and he hasn't received it yet. Am I worried? No. At least not yet anyways. But it's insured, so no worries.

Sometimes there can be backlogs @ customs and stay there awhile longer.

 

[spanky]

i sent a package to canada on aug 29th. just got there today. man i was sweating... but it got there alas.

 

[DAWeinG]

You might want to call up USPS or go to the USPS you shipped it from and see the postmaster or something. I had a package that was lost in the mail domestically and went there. They tried to track it using the insurance form number to see if it had actually arrived at the other post office. It didn't so I got a refund in about a month. But for future reference, you probably should use UPS or Fedex for int'l shipments just because they let you insure it AND have a tracking number. Their rates are pretty reasonable too and even more reasonable than USPS IMO.