I just received a notice from FedEx that they were “unable to complete delivery“ of my package. This is a coin I won from a Lucernae auction in the middle of December. I’ve been waiting quite impatiently for it. Of course, there’s no detail in the FedEx explanation. It just got to Charles de Gaulle, which I assume is Paris, and then was sent back. Any wisdom on what the holdup might be? Just moments ago I contacted Lucernae to see what the next steps might be.
Oh no! I too am waiting on a Fed Ex package from Lvcernae from mid December stuck at Charles De Gaulle. Keep us up to date!
Call your local FedEx office and give them the tracking information. They may be able to give you more information and they may be able to get it to you.
That’s what I’m thinking. I guess there are a million reasons why that can happen. But I can’t imagine why there would be a problem with this coin? It is simply an as of Nero from Spain sent to the United States. Pretty routine, I would think.
Oh boy what a PITA. Good luck Gavin. I hope you can get it sorted out. About the worst thing that happened to me was an envelope holding a Diocletian follis in which the seller shipped the coin in a plain old envelope. Of course I got the letter, with a little hole in the bottom and no coin.
I don't want to "like" that tragedy. I wish we had the weeping emoji like on Facebook as a quick click option.
Gavin, if possible I would avoid buying from Spain, I bought a coin from a Vcoins seller and waited nearly 3 months only to be told our borders are closed to coin sales from Spain but I seem to be able to buy heaps of their olives...…go figure.
I don't think that's necessary for buyers in the USA: I've ordered many coins from Spanish dealers (primarily Aeternitas and Marti) and have never had a problem. Only some, not all, ancient coins require an export permit from Spain -- I think coins found in that country, basically -- and even then the delays haven't been particularly egregious. Although Lucernae has admittedly taken longer. (And also has high prices, in my opinion.) Certainly not long compared to the time it takes to get an export permit from, say, Israel: I ordered only once from there, from Shick Coins, and it took months for the dealer to get the permit and send the coin to me. And I've never even tried to order from Italy.
Sorry to hear about your coin. That is frustrating. I have had to wait long times (4+ months) but have always received a package. I bought a few scale weights last year and two "old" thimbles. The package looked like it had been clawed by a wild animal. I was missing one thimble (that I bought for a friend). Also, the one ounce weight transformed into a 3 ounce weight! on the upside, the most important item arrived. The square weight with 4 dots was my first triens (4 uncia) weight.
My only guess is that your package hit some kind of bureaucratic snag, possibly with the customs form? But, since the package is being routed back to the sender, perhaps there is an issue with the address? I had a package once that was shipped from Poland and somehow ended up in Malawi for several months. This was done through the regular mail service, not Fedex, UPS or DHL. During that time I requested and got a refund from the seller. Eventually the package appeared with a corrected address (country). So I informed the seller and paid him back.
This morning I received a message from Lucernae. They are frustrated with the process too and can’t understand why the package is being returned. They believed all the paperwork was in order and seemed to think the problem is on FedEx’s end. They’re going to contact FedEx and see precisely what the problem is. I will keep you posted.
i actually also won a nero as at that auction and just received it last week(i'm in the US) so dont give up hope!
Won a piece from an Elsen auction in 2020. Elsen shipped with FedEx. Received the package 6 weeks later. About a month later FedEx sends an invoice for $85 for customs paperwork. Contacted Elsen and said I owed nothing, FedEx just trying to fleece me for more money. I now have everything from overseas shipped with insured post.
I bought a few items from Holland a few years back and I received it in less than 6 days. Are the Western European Countries easier to deal with? By the way, what is "emoji"? I've seen it used in messages, but haven't a clue what the acronym means. I'm just an old country boy from the sticks of North Carolina and we don't use "emoji" for anything.
@Jim Dale Look at the headliner section of the area where you respond to posts. Click on the "Smiley Face". You will see all kinds of faces, emojis and you click on the one that best describes your emotion or response.
I don't think this is related, but I bought coins from 2 auctions in January, both delivered with FedEx (I live in EU and I buy from EU). Coins are shipped on Monday and I receive them on Friday. But I received those 2 FedEx packages slightly delayed - first one next Tuesday and second one next Thursday. The route the packages had was different from the standard one, ~500 km detour in Germany and some wasted days as the packages stood overnights in some "new" FedEx hubs. I raised a ticket with FedEx for the second package but they didn't bother to reply. Had another delayed package in 2021 and for that one at least they replied. Not exactly competent, but they did. Received another package in February but this one had the standard route and arrived, as normally, on Friday first thing in the morning. It's good you notified the auction house - a sender has more authority when dealing with FedEx in a situation like this. Charles de Gaulle is the central European FedEx hub. Few years ago I received a package from United States, work related, and it arrived first there. I suspect this is customs related or a human error.
I got a Navarre AV Florin d'or from Elsens. They said it was best to send via FEDEX. I told them, I wanted the 2500 euro coin sent via post/ no value. They did, I got coin in 5 days/ best yet with FEDEX I would have been dinged with $550 customs fees/ via post ZERO fees. Plus shipping was 20 euros instead of 60 with FEDEX.
Well, what "emojis" *are* is those little smile/wink/frown etc pictures that people can add to their internet messages. They are used to add some emotion to your message so people know if you are joking/kidding/happy etc - stuff that would be easy to tell if you were talking face to face! Before graphical emojis, people used combinations of characters to make similar faces. These are known as "smileys" since the most basic one is : - ) (a smiling face, if you look at it sideways). The word "emoji" might appear to be a reference to "emotion", but is actually a combination of two japanese words "e" and "moji" meaning "picture letter". ¯\_(ツ)_/¯