International shipping via Asendia - helpful tips | Shipping

geertjan-paypal · 2024-03-07T10:20:05.143000Z

I have bought items from USA using Ebay. I am in the Netherlands and hence sellers use "international shipping" which has some rough edges. Let me document a few, because I would like you sellers to keep selling to me and I think that EBAY, not the seller, EBAY, can and should do a lot better.In brief, a purchase is sent by a seller to the "Ebay international shipping center", in IL. They do customs formalities and send the package to me. In case of problems, EBAY will say "contact seller" which is wrong - once the package is received in IL it is out of the seller's hands.Ebay used to use FEDEX and UPS, these days they use ASENDIA as carrier from the IL shipping center to me. And there are new challenges. Once the parcel left the intl shipping center, EBAY will show a tracking number (starting with EEUS) and "Asendia".Googling asendia tracking yields tracking.asendia.com. But the tracking number does not work on https://tracking.asendia.com . Turns out that asendia has multiple tracking systems and one must use https://a1.asendiausa.com/tracking/ instead.On this different, not-announced tracking system, one can track progress (reporting is poor still, but at least it's there) and a different tracking number. The new tracking number will work with the carrier that does the delivery (Asendia does not deliver), but it will only activate once customs and all have completed.Ebay does poorly by selecting a carrier that has multiple, independent tracking systems that don't know about each other, by not providing a link for the correct tracing system, and by referring buyers to the seller for issues with the international leg for which ebay, not the seller, is responsible.Should you be in this situation, then I hope the info above helps. And I do hope EBAY reads this and cleans up.

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International shipping via Asendia - helpful tips | Shipping | eBay Community