50% of sales to Europe getting lost, or turning up after refund. Should I use tracked post?

[diamondcz]

I've looked at certain countries Austria, Italy and France and out of the few sales I've had about 50% item not received cases and I've had to refund most or all of them.   I'm not exagerating, I think they are getting delayed rather than lost because a few customers have contacted me and asked how to pay after their goods turned up over a month later.  Germany is the only country where the loss rate is not so bad, but still a lot worse than uk.  

I'm thinking of using only tracked post Internationally, but is this going to be any quicker?  If tracked post gets delayed too, then the same will happen and I'll have to refund a lot more.  Has anyone had the same and switched to tracked and found it faster, or does anyone use tracked post to Europe and find it gets delivered on time?

[game_raid]

Tracked would give your buyers reassurance that their item on the way and an expected delivery date which will decrease the amount of INR claims.

The issue when shipping abroad some countries carriers are the best.

We use GSP ourselves so couldn't really give advice what would be better for you, have you tried GSP at all?

Just to add we have only ever sent tracked to Germany when we have done it ourselves and have never had an issue with delays or INR cases.

[diamondcz]

I would love to use gsp and it would probably solve a lot of problems, but my items are gemstones which are not allowed.

[game_raid]

There is no harm in using a tracked service to see how it goes on your best selling items for a few orders that are going into Europe, If was losing such a high amount I would definitely be looking at alternatives.

It's all trial and error to find out works.

[moonspender]

We find most of Europe find but Italy every year from oct / nov to now is bad to the point we might block it next year ... not sure if tracking would solve that as the issues appear to be in customs with them trying to collect VAT even though the customer has paid it through ebay

[padanpcparts]

Honestly if your posting to Europe without tracked post your mental. If your refunding anything over 10% then it has to be worth it. You can claim for lost items, answer questions that international customers ask and it just makes your job that much easier. 

[diamondcz]

Nothing has changed, I started using tracked post and got no orders because of the price.  Went back to normal post and the item not received claims are coming back in.   I'm just surprised that the forums are not full of complaints about this.  I am using large letter international standard with click and drop IOSS.  IOSS is printed on the parcel, so this should just go through customs easily.  What is happening with people who don't use IOSS on ebay.  I don't know why the forum is not full of complaints about this.

[vinylscot]

This wouldn't explain the ones which arrive late, but is there anything on your packaging, such as your business name, which would make your packages attractive to opportunist thieves?

I'm sure your parcels will be small, and if they have diamondcz on them anywhere, they will be a magnet for folk like that.

I send regularly to Europe, and barring Italy, I really haven't had any more INRs than with domestic postage.

[diamondcz]

Thanks for replying, if you are not having any problems then it must be something unique to my parcels.  I have checked the customs form, there isn't anything that would attract a thief, these are low value items, Cut Synthetic Gemstones is the description and the value is usually less than £5.  Diamondcz is nowhere on the package.  The only unique thing about what I send is these are very small A6 sized padded envelopes.

[diamondcz]

The other thing is, should I be putting manufactured in China, which is true, but is there something like this which is honest but nobody does.

[bzmotman]

Currently I send 20+ large letters per week to Europe and I have had 1 INR this year. I do put the item description in the language of the country I am sending to as well as in English. Nothing fancy just a Google Translation. 95% go under IOSS rules with Tracked used for anything over £80. To be honest I have more problems with Royal Mail being unable to understand that International post needs to go overseas & not be delivered to my return address than I do with foreign carriers.

Worth keeping an eye on the Royal Mail International Incident Bulletin

 https://www.royalmail.com/international-incident-bulletin

For Italy currently showing several items including -

"Import Processing

Poste Italiane have informed us that they have been experiencing technical issues since the 22nd March 2025

As a result, the processing of items from outside the EU has been suspended since the 4th of April to prevent the risk of Import information being lost. Processing has now resumed and the incident is expected to be closed by the 30th April"

I don't know the EU rules but have you checked that Chinese Synthetic Gemstones are not restricted in anyway or have tariffs applied that your customers refuse to pay?

I assume you are using the right HSS code & that Click & Drop isn't auto altering the item description. Last year the HSS that I use most was auto filling the item as lottery ticket and I needed to manually correct it.

Can't think of anything else but hopefully this might be of a little help.

[diamondcz]

This is how the form was filled out for the latest lost item, the date was regenerated to todays date.  The address doesn't show my business name, just my name and house number etc.

[gemini-project]

Putting your EORI number might help,some couriers won't even let you send without it.

[the-ephemera-company]

I started a thread about this same problem. 

I have left GSP as an option for Europe but removed standard mail. Can't use tracked as the cost is too much for the price of the items I sell. But if they are desperate they can use GSP.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Business-Seller-Board/I-have-removed-Europe-as-a-postage-option/m-p/...

[gemini-project]

If you haven't got an EORI number you can get one  here https://www.gov.uk/eori , its a simple process and you can normally use it straight away.

[bzmotman]

The CN22 looks fine. No need for EORI to be shown as tax paid & using RM Click & Drop. HS code is correct.

I can only think the word Gemstones triggers the dishonest who ignore or don't understand synthetic.