How long should I wait?

[papermoon.lady]

There is a small parcel I bought from overseas (from Germany) that should have arrived by the 14th according to eBay.

I always got all items I bought from Germany, although on a couple of occasions they arrived a couple of days late.

The seller has 100% positive feedback.

A delay of a couple of days is hopefully not a reason to worry, as the eBay estimate is exactly that, an estimate, but my question is

1) if I should notify the seller now, I mean, just to let her know that i haven't received my item yet (clicking on "I have a question", not "I didn't receive my item") and

2) how long I should wait before possibly opening a request, although I really hope it will arrive next week, possibly even later today, although parcels usually arrive early in the morning here, so I really don't think it will arrive today.

Having always received everything from Germany and considering the seller has 100% positive feedback I really hope the item is just late, but I did ask the seller if she had a tracking number and she didn't reply.
The listing didn't mention the item would be sent tracked, but as I mentioned in another post sometimes sellers don't indicate a tracking number, but if I ask them they do send it to me, so that's why I asked.

According to eBay the average time is 6-9 business days. Is it reasonable to wait 18 business days before formally saying that it didn't arrive?

I will make my feedback public before contacting the seller if I do decide to contact her as I have nothing to hide, I just like my privacy.

Thanks.

[twyngwyn]

what state are you in? have you factored in the public holiday....which generally creates a backlog.

Way too early to worry yet

[digital*ghost]

I give regular international mail at least 3 weeks before I have any concerns, sometimes a bit longer if it's coming from a place I know slow mail is common.

I've only bought from Germany a few times so don't have a lot of experience with mail from there, but if memory serves the packages arrived in fairly standard timeframes so would generally give it the same (3 or so weeks) and then contact the seller, presuming that still leaves enough time for follow-up by the seller.

[papermoon.lady]

I am in NSW, but I don't know if the item went through a facility in some other state (usually items from overseas arrive in Sydney though).

[papermoon.lady]

Yes, I think I will wait until next week before I contact her (still without opening a request, just to let her know).

It is also unclear how she sent the item, as it is relatively small and "could" have been sent in a padded envelope, and if she used a padded envelope AusPost could treat it as a letter and it could take longer.

[lyndal1838]

If it is from Germany and sent by Deutsche Post it will arrive in Australia with DHL.   Usually they deliver their own items although it is possible they will give it to Australia Post.

[papermoon.lady]

It is Deutsche Post Brief, which means "letter", although quite a few times I received small, light parcels called "Brief" from Germany. I don't remember in the past, but recently, in the last couple of years or so they were delivered by AusPost. (I have always bought relatively small items, never anything really big and heavy).

[lyndal1838]

If it is a letter then it probably will be handed to AP for delivery.

DHL usually delivers parcels as they are a courier company so are not set up for delivering letters.

[kopenhagen5]

I have found items sent with German post can take 3-4 weeks.

[papermoon.lady]

They are quite generous with their definition of "letter", as L+W+H is maximum 90 cm, so basically a small parcel...

https://www.deutschepost.de/de/b/briefe-ins-ausland/verpackungen-warenversand-international.html

If the seller had been more communicative when I asked if there was a tracking number I would ask if the item was sent in a padded envelope or a proper box, but I think I will ask next week when I will have to contact her if the item still hasn't arrived.

I know that padded envelopes usually take 2 weeks to arrive, sometimes even a couple of days more, so longer than parcels (based on previous experience).

Of course with no tracking I have no way to check if the item was sent when it was marked as sent either...

It is possible that it was sent a couple of days later.