Issues with Asendia/Easyship

[a.conklin]

I've recently begun asking sellers if they could provide International shipping and find that they are given a very narrow option; GSP which for me means Asendia. This is after sellers have tried to offer me standard USPS International, etc.

I've had a few issues with this program and wanted to know is anyone else had similar experiences.

1. the tracking number the seller is given and subsequently provides me is Asendia's internal system's number, NOT the genuine tracking number. I know this because when a parcel claimed to have arrived and the local postal service still had no record I had to hunt for it myself. Such: 1. external parcel tracking website 2. said site offers a link to Easyship 3. Easyship's tracking system noted that the parcel was processed by an Asendia affiliate > googled the affiliate and was directed to Asendia and on that page was I able to uncover the genuine USPS tracking number - which of course works just fine in my local postal service's site. 

2. the shipping company claims a delivery attempt has been made, which is a blatant prevarication. The seller/buyer might be mislead to believe that Asendia's overpriced service includes door-to-door delivery. This is not the case; instead the buyer is informed (I was informed by USPS only because I applied for parcel updates on their website - no notice from eBay or Asendia etal.) of an "attempt' and then must jump through the above hoops to locate the parcel at the local post office.

3. I received an offer from a seller to purchase an item; the original listing included taxes and import fees that were FAR beyond the local regulations, and since the offer was under the taxable ceiling, I accepted the offer. However, the tax and import fees didn't disappear with the lower price and the seller was unable to ascertain why. I decided to have the item shipped locally and avoid any questions. On checkout I noticed the option to ship to an international address, and was curious. And suddenly, instead of $30+ for shipping and similar taxes and import fees, the shipping costs jumped to $45!

In other words the fees for taxes and import fees charged by Asendia are not the true fees paid, but rather another income venue; when no taxes are to be paid (and hence no gouging), Asendia "makes up" for their "loss" by gouging the shipping fees.

I've tried to complain to eBay; I'm told that the shipping options are the seller's choice. The sellers I've dealt have all said that they are limited by eBay in International shipping options. It may sound cliché, but the word collusion seems to come to mind...

Anyone else with similar issues?

Thanks

[deserdog]

If you are interested in an item from a US seller, you can ask if they have a Pirate Ship account. When you have a Pirate Ship account and make an international sale, you have a choice of using their simple export rate(if the item ships at 4lb or less), which uses Asendia, or you can use first class international package with no third party involved. For example, a 3 lb package, 12x12x5, to the UK  using the simple export rate is $25.99 and the first class package international is $40.14, which I believe is the same price that Ebay would charge for their global shipping program.

[martin2001]

As the other poster indicated, pirateship uses Asendia USA. I have been using them for year and a half. They are basically an outfit of La Poste France and Swiss Air (I don't recall the exact names). They partner with other carriers in the destination countries. They are doing an excellent job, all delivery tracking confirmations are provided. After a few days, if you go to their site, they provide additional tracking number that is directly link to the postal service site of the destination country, e.g. if the parcel goes to UK, they provide a link to Royal Mail site that shows the tracking of a particular tracking number.

The deliveries even to "exotic"  countries are fast. For example Thailand 12 days, UAE 9 days, Czech Republic 12 days, Japan 13 days, EU countries usually take 14 days, UK 8 days. ..I am quoting actual deliveries I had in the past few months.

I don' t want to disparage ebay but generally, whenever ebay is involved a more complex enterprise, things do not always go as they should. So it may not be the Asendia's fault; one would need to read the agreement they signed to figure out what is going on.

[a.conklin]

Thanks, the problem I encountered repeatedly was that eBay provides me (the buyer) with a useless tracking number, and no link (or information leading) to Asendia's tracking system. So if I hadn't used external sites etc. my package would never have gotten to me. Moreover, the "tracking" number eBay provides the buyer only leads to a tracking page on Easyship's website, which has no links or contact info. If I hadn't seen and googled "Globegistics" on that page, I'd never have gotten to Asendia's tracking page, and never have learned the correct number etc.

While I agree with the post above that once at the Asendia site the correct information is available and accurate, it seems strange that eBay would choose not to divulge that information. A buyer receives a tracking number (in reality an internal parcel signature) and a link to eBay's tracking app. Nothing more. No link to Asendia, no proper number that can be input into postal service site; nothing. Providing a useless number as well as operators whose sites have no links or contact information smacks more of gross negligence than mere oversight.

I've had to jump through these hoops several times now over the past few months and feel that if the shipping is 2-3 times the price as USPS the very least one would expect to receive is the proper information.

Just as frustrating, is when informing eBay of this their rep repeats the canned response that the seller should be contacted, not them.

[kenbide_0]

I have seen eBay y make shipping mistakes over the years and they usually correct. Probably a change in personnel and someone is trying to fix the system.

 Asendia -  a non solution to a real problem.

I will explain

tracking - extremely difficult/ you need to go to a third party site like parcelsapp to track.

I am thinking Asendia never delivers to your home so they are awful in this regards. They take packages from America and take weeks to get them to Germany and mail them using the German pist, cheapest rates, and slow. It  is really  a **bleep**ed system.  Slow and not cheap. USPS first class mail is three times faster, tracks nicely, they send email notices etc. maybe costs little more.

‘How Asendia Works - seller sends package to eBay shipping center, I think they have three. Most, not all,sellers use snail mail so your package drags right off.then figure ten days or two weeks and it arrives at eBay shipping center. It sits there oh 2-5vdays or so then ships out. Next you know you see Asendia appear in eBay shipping. Oh doom and gloom.

then you see package departs for abroad. It can easily hang up there fir two or three weeks with no update in tracking.I already got one lost package and eBay was fantastic about effortlessly giving  me  a  refund .all you have to do is wait for the loooong shipping deadline.

I gave several packages in the pipeline that may never show up, waiting for the deadline to file claim fir lost package.

Asendia is a mistake eBay made is all. the package losses will force them to correct and probably fire a bunch of people who got on this moronic shipping platform. If package is not lost buyers will begin to ask for USPS shipping. Much faster and better. Asendia is way over engineered and thus is a not a real solution to a real problem. Case in point - Amazon gives me free shipping via US)as on an order of $49 or higher. It takes to get to my country 7-9 days. Using Asendia it takes that long or more just to get to the eBay shipping hub. Many things like collectibles cannot be bought on Amazon. So we need eBay.The sellers will quickly tire of the peoplecadking where their package is and not be able to track. Remember the shipping time has increased by I guess 50% to 75%. I used to  figure 30 days to get a package delivered to the house. Now you-8 weeks and not delivered to the house. We used to be able to pay customs to eBay which pushed packages through much faster. This Asendia nonsense company apparently does not docustoms payments so more delays.One has to wait for inspection, then a declaration, then you pay it, then package moves out if customs in day or two.so more delays.

‘’eBay is a good outfit. Asendiabis not. The relationship will quickly deteriorate and hopefully eBay gets a good system back again. Meanwhile in my country people are going to Try harder to shop at Amazon.many people buy vitamins and supplements from iherb. They deliver internationally to the house for a flat fee of under $5.00 on orders under $75. Hopefully someone at eBay sees this. 

I advocate eBay as a good outfit, Asendia awful.

[colemancollection]

I just had a similar problem shipping a CD to the Netherlands. Ebay praised their own EIS so I gave it a try and on my first package it was assigned to Asendia using a service called ePAQ Plus. USPS handled the US leg and US customs but when it arrived in Amsterdam it cleared their customs but was never delivered to the customer. They had a seperate tracking number and it showed "pick up at pick up point". Neither me or the buyer was notified and it sat in their office for 7 days without any notice. I notified them after buyer contacted me looking for it and they said they already sent it back to me due to it not being deliverable and it may take up to 12 weeks to get it back. The buyer gets CD's alot and never had a problem with Int'l shipments before and never heard of Asendia. Then he showed me their reviews which were terrible. Why did Ebay stoop so low to use this poor service provider? 

[kh-stanley1]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.