Have you found yourself in a situation where the tracking status shows that the package is undeliverable, and now you do not know what to do? There are many reasons and scenarios why could have this happened, and some you can solve it easier than others. Read and find out what are the actions to be taken for undeliverable shipments held at different locations.

What does undelivered shipment mean?

It means that the parcel cannot be delivered to your address due to some of the below-mentioned reasons and will be held at their locations until the situations sort out, if applicable. If the reason for the undeliverable package is, for example, customs, when you pay the customs fee, the box will be on its way. Or if you have an incorrect address for instance, when you provide the courier with the correct details, you will most likely have another delivery attempt, unless otherwise agreed.

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Why was my undelivered shipment held at a certain location?

Undelivered parcels mean that they are usually held at the courier’s warehouse, nearest hub (example: DHL hub), or even customs until the situation sorts out. There are different reasons why was your shipment undelivered and here we list the most common ones, but please note that information and procedures may differ from one logistics provider to another.

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The most common situations for an undeliverable shipment (but not limited to) are:

Customs do not release the shipment

In case you haven’t paid the duty and taxes which derive from customs, your parcel will not be released. Note that the package won’t be kept for an undetermined period so you might want to pay the duties soon enough.

Wrong or incomplete delivery address

If there is not enough information provided for the courier driver to find the location, or if the area is hard to reach, your shipment will be considered undeliverable. More about this, in our dedicated article.

The consignee is not present or refuses to receive the shipment

Make sure your contact person at the delivery address is informed about the delivery. In many cases, if the consignee doesn’t hold information about the delivery, he/she might refuse it thinking that it is a misdelivered or misaddressed parcel. Sending all the information to the person in charge is the simplest way to make sure that things will run smoothly.

Undelivered shipment due to improper packaging

If your package is not packed correctly, according to the general requirements, the logistics service provider is entitled to stop the transit of your shipment and even return it to the sender.

If you want to make sure you have your packaging in order, follow our extensive instruction list for different items.

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The content of the shipment or its packaging is damaged

Take into account that throughout the transit, a parcel is loaded and unloaded many times, and sorted out both manually and mechanically. Poor packaging won’t be resistant enough, and it will soon suffer damages.

In some cases, the logistics service providers might try to repack or place the shipment in a new cardboard box or another type of packaging. However, this is a doubtful situation in case the package is so severely damaged that makes the rewrapping impossible. Then, the tracking status will show as “undeliverable shipment”.

Unsuccessful delivery attempts are an often cause of undelivered packages

Depending on the logistics service providers, they might try to deliver your shipment once, twice or even three times before they store it in their local depot. If, after all the attempts, they still can’t reach you, you will have to go to their local depot and collect the shipment from there.

We recommend you to get in touch directly with the logistics service provider to find out how many delivery attempts they will make. Don’t forget to also check for how long the logistics provider or the postal service provider store the shipment in the local depot for, before returning it to the collection address.

The shipment contains forbidden items

Your package will be scanned many times in different local depots. So, the logistics providers can discover some things that are not allowed for shipping, such as lithium batteries. If the content of your package seems suspicious, they might open it to check thoroughly.

Therefore, make sure you don’t place any item that would not be allowed for shipping services. For more information about forbidden and not recommended items, check out our article.

The shipment has signs of leakage, or you had sharp items put inside

If there is an unusual odour coming from the box or the packaging has stains on it – it is a sign that you had something liquid the parcel. Hence the logistics service provider might stop your shipment from transit. Also, if the package has protruding elements that could damage other boxes or even the personnel of the logistics service provider, it may be stopped from transit.

Undelivered parcel due to damaged label

There are situations when the label gets damaged, and thus, the information becomes illegible, and he courier cannot scan the package.

It can also happen that the label gets detached. To avoid such a situation, make sure your label is stuck on a flat surface, and the material of the packaging ensures the adhesion of it.

But where can I see that my shipment is undeliverable?

Whenever you need updates about the transit of your shipment, go to the online tracking system of the courier (whether that be DHL, GLS, DPD, FedEx etc.) and place the tracking number that the courier provided you with.

There you can see if the status of the shipment is marked as undeliverable. The wording differs from one logistics provider to another, but in general, it is similar to “parcel undeliverable”, “undeliverable shipment” or “undeliverable package”.

For the most statuses in the tracking system, you won’t necessarily find an explanation about its significance. Because of this, you should turn to the logistics service provider or your parcel broker for more information. They will be able to tell you the exact reason why your parcel cannot be sent further to the delivery address.

Remember that it is first and foremost, the customer’s responsibility to check the tracking system regularly.

In case you experience such issues with the shipment booked through Eurosender, just get in touch with us right away, and we will assist you.

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