When a parcel is late, lost, or comes back to you
The parcel went out four days ago. The tracking has not moved since Tuesday. The buyer has messaged twice and the second message is shorter than the first.
This happens to everyone who ships anything. It is worth knowing what to do before it happens to you, because the worst version of this is the one where you improvise while someone is waiting.
First, read the tracking properly
Before you reply to anything, open the tracking yourself.
Most parcels that look lost are not lost. They are between scans. A parcel is only scanned at certain points, so a gap of a day or two in the middle of a journey is normal and means nothing has gone wrong. What actually tells you something is the last scan: where it was, and whether it was moving towards the buyer or sitting still in one place.
Two patterns are worth learning to spot. A parcel that reached the delivery branch and stopped is usually a failed delivery attempt, which means someone needs to be home or the address needs fixing. A parcel that never got its first scan at all was probably never collected, which is a problem with the handover and not with the delivery.
Tell the buyer before they ask again
The thing that turns a late parcel into a bad review is silence.
Message them first. Say where the parcel actually is, in plain words rather than by pasting a tracking code. Say what you are doing about it. Say when you will come back to them, and then do come back on that day even if there is nothing new, because "still chasing it, no movement yet" is a better message than nothing.
Do not promise a delivery date. You do not control the van. Promising Thursday and missing it costs you more trust than saying you do not know.
When it is genuinely stuck, open a case
If the tracking has not moved for several working days, stop waiting and raise it with the courier. Have the tracking number, the date you handed it over, and the delivery address ready. Keep the reference they give you.
Keep your proof of handover too. The receipt from the drop-off point, or the collection record if the courier came to you. This is the difference between a claim and an argument.
Tell the buyer you have opened a case. It changes the conversation from "my parcel is late" to "someone is looking for it", which is the same facts and a completely different feeling.
When it comes back to you
Sometimes the parcel reappears at your door. Usually for one of three reasons: the address was wrong or incomplete, nobody was there across several attempts, or the buyer refused it.
Work out which one before you do anything else, because they lead different ways.
A wrong address is fixable. Confirm the full address with the buyer, including the unit number and a phone number that actually receives calls, and send it again. An incomplete address is the most common cause of a returned parcel and the easiest to prevent.
Nobody home is also fixable, but ask first whether they still want it, and when someone will be there.
A refusal is a refund. Argue with it and you buy a dispute you will probably lose.
Whatever you decide, do not reship without telling them. A parcel arriving that the buyer had written off as refunded causes its own mess.
Stop it happening twice
Most of this is preventable at checkout and at packing.
Ask for a phone number and use it on the label. Couriers call before attempting delivery far more often than they are given credit for, and a parcel with no reachable number is the one that comes back.
Check the address for a unit or floor number before you print the label. If the buyer gave you a building and no unit, ask.
Say when you dispatch, not when you deliver. Your checkout can show the courier's delivery estimate, but it cannot know that you only go to the drop-off point on Saturdays. That gap is yours to fill, and filling it in your shop policies removes most "where is my parcel" messages before they are sent.
Write down what you do about late parcels before you need it. A shipping policy that says how long you wait before opening a case, and what happens next, means you are following your own rule rather than deciding under pressure with a frustrated buyer watching.
One thing that is not on you
A parcel that never arrives is not a sale you were paid for and got to keep. On Berkedai the buyer's payment is held under Berkedai Protected until the order is delivered, then settled to you. An undelivered order has not reached that point, so there is no payout sitting in your balance waiting to be taken back off you while you sort it out.
That does not make a lost parcel pleasant. It does mean the money side of it is settled by what happened, not by who argues harder.
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