Package Late, Stuck, or Lost: What to Tell Your Customer, and Which Proof to Keep

A package that stops moving is the moment a sale is won or lost. Your customer won't blame you for a carrier delay; they'll blame you for saying nothing. Here's how to figure out what's actually going on, and what to write in each situation.

Figure out the situation before you reply

"My package is late" covers very different situations, and the right answer depends on which one you're in. Before you message the customer, open the tracking page and find your row in this table. It takes thirty seconds, and it keeps you from sending a panicked message about a package that is simply waiting for its first scan, or a breezy one about a package that has been stuck for two weeks.

The tracking is empty: that's not a lost package

A brand-new tracking number often stays silent for a day or two, until the carrier scans the package for the first time. To the customer, though, "no information" reads as "package missing." They don't know that a label can exist before the package is in the system, and they shouldn't have to. Tell them before they start to worry, in one sentence.

The package stopped moving: warn them before they ask

A few days without a new update, especially for a package crossing a border, is nothing to be alarmed about. Past ten days or so, though, something may really be wrong: that's when you warn the customer and contact the carrier. On a DropLink page, that silence is flagged after ten days, both to you and to the customer, so nobody discovers it alone. When you write, give the date of the last update, say what you've already done, and point to where they can follow along. Don't guess at a new delivery date you can't back up: if it slips again, you've lost the trust you were trying to keep.

A delay you announce is forgiven. A delay they discover, much less so.

Marked delivered, but not received

This is the most tense situation, because the tracking says the opposite of what your customer is living. In most cases, the package was handed to a neighbor, dropped at a pickup point, or left in a shared mailbox or lobby. Ask the customer to check those places first, without implying they've made a mistake. A calm, specific message gets a much better response than "are you sure?"

If the package really is lost

1. Contact the carrierHave the tracking number and the drop-off receipt ready. Every carrier has its own claim process and its own deadlines: look up theirs before you promise the customer anything.
2. Keep the customer in the loopEven with no news, a message every few days beats silence. Say what you've done, and when you expect to know more.
3. Gather your proofPhotos of the order before shipping, a photo of the sealed package with its label, the drop-off receipt, your conversation with the customer. These are what count in a claim.
4. Offer a solutionReship or refund: that's your business decision. What matters is offering it clearly, without waiting for the customer to demand it.

The proof to keep for every order

• Photos of the item and its packaging, taken before shipping. See "Order Photos Before Shipping: Show Buyers Their Order Without a Shared Folder".
• A photo of the sealed package, with the shipping label readable.
• The drop-off receipt from the carrier or the post office.
• The tracking number, tied to the order and to the customer.
• Your conversation with the customer, including their approval of the photos if they gave it.

And if the follow-ups become daily, the problem usually isn't the delay anymore but the lack of information. That's the subject of “Where is my order?”: stop answering it ten times a day.