So I find myself in this unfortunate situation. I bought $88 worth of seeds on the LA from Canada. According to the Canadian tracking# provided by the seller to me, the package was sent on Mar 19 and delivered to me on Mar 25. But I never got it. I am rather suspicious of the delivered date that it took them only 6 days to get here as Canadian mail normally takes at least 10 days to 2 weeks to get to me. Maybe it was lost and they just entered something into the system for the sake of it. Has anyone been in this situation? What did you do? Were you able to get your money back? I am so sad and heartbroken over the loss of the seeds and money.

If they have a tracking number ive never asked for money back, I have asked for a credit towards different seeds next season. Its a bad situation, both sides. You would hope they just offered money back minus postage which they clearly paid if they have a tracking number. Im guesing this is why some send priority mail.

Is there insurance on the package? It would be the seller to make the claim, I would think. Have you contacted the seller yet?
That is too bad, Karen, I hope you get it sorted out, but you must be disappointed about not getting the seeds

Did you do the USDA importation paperwork as noted below?

USDA - importing small lots of seeds:
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aph...

Importing Seeds into the United States from Canada:
https://www.seedwise.com/resou...

It's possible they are hung up at customs/inspection. I've been told when shipping things outside Canada that the tracking usually ends once the package leaves Canadian control because the receiving country doesn't keep it up.

Sooby, there isn't any paperwork involved with seed orders going from Canada to the US. Anyways I have never had to.

I know when I have tracked orders from Canada and it gets to the border, that tracking number is dead as you have said. It usually shows up on the tracking number as "received by receiving country" or something or that. From there it can sometimes take a while to get to the destination it's suppose to go. Anyways that's my experience. That's why I buy bulbs from Canada during the fall season and not spring. It should be dormant and stay that way hopefully in case shipping takes longer.

Nhra_20 said:Sooby, there isn't any paperwork involved with seed orders going from Canada to the US. Anyways I have never had to.

Diid you read the articles in the links I posted Dave? I know people often get away without doing it but when something goes wrong, it's one possibility.

Karen, I have bought seeds from the LA that were lost in the mail. I was more heartbroken about the seeds than the money. Please contact the seller and let them know the situation. My seller just happened to have extra seeds of the cross I bought (even though he had finished selling for the year). My seller was American so no border issues. I gave him the claim number from my PO office and because it had a tracking number, the package was insured. I can only hope he filed the claim to recoup his money. He bent over backwards to make sure I was happy.

Sue, I have the small seed lot permit along with the plant material permit. I operate the seed exchange for the North American Lily Society. I've sent seed to numerous people in Canada and received seed from them and have never had an issue. When I filled out the papers for the permits, I listed Canada as one of the sources and got a response email from APHIS that Canada is not required to be on the list. The only thing I would need would be a phyto certificate which is done by the seller and only for plant Matroska like bulbs, corms etc, not for seed.

I think what would be the most likely situation, especially since Karen said it was delivered to her according to the tracking number, is that it might have accidentally been delivered to the wrong address and the person that accidentally got it most likely threw it out. It's pretty rare that something with a tracking number gets lost in the mail these days. What's more common is someone not caring that they got another persons mail and getting it to the correct owner.

Dave, quoting from the USDA website: "Because all imports of seeds for planting that are produced in Canada require some form of documentation, we strongly suggest that you buy your seeds in the United States. If you want to transport seeds from Canada into the United States, you will need to present either a phytosanitary certificate from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency or a Small Lots of Seeds (SLOS) permit issued by USDA. Information on acquiring an SLOS permit is available here." So it seems they need to get their act together

Thanks Pam, Valerie, Sue, Dave, and Robin for your responses! This is a learning experience for me. After contacting the seller about the possibility of loss as her tracking number said that it was delivered, she said that a person had received the package in Lewiston NY. Well, I am not anywhere in NY! Perhaps Sue is right. Maybe my package somehow is being held up in NY. But it can also possibly be misdelivered to a wrong address as Dave pointed out. Anyway, I hope it is the former case as there is still a chance that I can get my seeds. If misdelivered and the package got thrown out by the wrong recipient, the seeds will be lost for good.

Sue, as a buyer of the seeds, I am not sure I need to do anything extra in terms of paperwork to purchase seeds from Canada. The seller did not specify anything on her sales page on the LA either. I had bought from her before and from Emery who is also in Canada. I had received seeds from Emery from Canada in February with no issue. The seller did say that she did acquire a phytosanitary certificate for the batch of seeds that she sent with my seeds shipment.

I am going to my post office tomorrow to find out if they can give me some information about this package with a Canadian tracking number. Hoping for a happy ending!

Robin, so glad that you were able to work things out with your seller. I hope my seller can do the same should the package ends up in twilight zone.

Lewiston NY is just across the border in the Niagara area and there's a US Customs office there, so maybe it is still being processed. FWIW I do know someone whose seeds from Canada to the USA were apprehended for not following the rules, but it may not happen very often. According to the USDA etc. in those two links I posted, the onus is on the purchaser to arrange the paperwork, not the seller.

Great news everybody! My package shows up in my mailbox this afternoon. So glad that it wasn't lost. Sorry to be freaking out this morning. After I received the tracking info that said the package was delivered to me on March 25, I thought I had little chance of recovering it. Glimmer of hope appeared when she messaged me it was delivered to Lewiston, NY, not to my address. The only downside is some seeds are moldy. Anyway, it is a good ending after all. Now I know that when Canadian postal tracking said it was delivered, it meant a delivery to a US post office, not delivery to the recipient.

Glad to hear Karen!

Good news, Karen

Thanks Dave and Valerie! I wonder what my package was doing in Lewiston NY for the past 15 days assuming it takes 2 days to get it from there to PA. Is it normal for such a lengthy process for seeds inspection?

Karen, I'm sure with covid-19 they have a lot less people going into work or they are inspecting things more. Or a combination. They aren't the fastest there in general as I've had items held there for a while before. Seems to only happen with things that are being tracked, but might with other items as well. Like I said, I can only speak on personal experiences.

That's true! Maybe some people working at that location were affected by COVID 19. I heard that NYC is severely affected but I am not sure how the rest of the state fares. Though not as bad as NY, there are about 18000 cases in my state.

The whole east coast has been affected the worst so far. Due to higher populations in much closer living conditions. If you look at the map of covid cases confirmed, the cities are where a high pecentage of cases by state are occurring. As an example, Milwaukee is the largest city in Wisconsin, and has the most cases. I think Wisconsin has a couple thousand cases, but we got it first confirmed case a few weeks later than the east coast.

One thing that is good about gardening and especially daylily obsession is that it helps to occupy my mind and keeps me busy so I don't think too much about the COVID 19 crisis and be stressed and worried about it. I guess this obsession is so effective at diverting that I sometime forget Covid 19's impact on operations of businesses and governmental agencies. Though I am grateful that it is not as bad as has been projected by experts.