I just had an international buyer contact me about not being able to find accurate/detailed tracking information for an international package shipped through Global Postal Shipping and after so much digging, I finally found it! Woo!

Background: The buyer was located in Germany and the shipping label I purchased from Etsy was through Global Postal Shipping. The tracking for GPS is apparently only available on Etsy and the buyer was not at home when delivery was attempted, so the package was listed as “available at pick-up point”. Unfortunately there was nothing on her door to indicate where she was suppose to pick up the package and no tracking number was listed. On Etsy’s help page, it says you can use the customs ID to track the package on the shipping carrier’s website, but nowhere did it say what that carrier was. So here’s how I ultimately found the detailed tracking as a seller:

1. Go to the order‘s page in your Seller account and click on the ”Delivery info” tab

2. Scroll down to where the tracking is listed and click on the three dots to the right.

3. Click on ”File insurance claim”, which should lead you to the Shipsurance website claim page. There it should list the carrier as Asendia and a 30 digit tracking number can be found a bit lower on the page. Copy that number and close out of the page.

4. Go to https://track.asendia.com/track and paste that 30 digit number in the search bar. Expand the box and click on the ”Additional Info” tab. There it will list the Delivery Partner and a link to their website, which should bring you directly to the tracking details page. In our case, it was Deutsche Post which is just DHL. The page asked for the recipient‘s postal code which I entered and then it provided even more info, including the exact store where it was available for pick up.

What’s crazy is the tracking number was ultimately the customs ID listed on the order page, but the issue was finding the final delivery company. Simply searching the customs ID like you would as USPS or FedEx tracking number didn’t work. The Deutsche Post/DHL tracking had *so* much more information, like when it was being loaded onto delivery trucks and exactly where it went on its journey from the US to Germany.

Hopefully this helps someone in the future and eliminates the stress it caused both me and the buyer!

i’ve been combing for advice on global postal shipping as a buyer and oh boy this service seems annoying. i ordered a fairly large and partially custom order from the states (i’m in new zealand), and it shipped out last week.

it’s been marked as delivered in city of industry california since the 24th, no other motion, which seems weird that i would’ve thought it would have been forwarded onto international processing? it went to a post office there, was marked ready for pickup and then marked delivered. i asked the seller if they knew anything about it going international (noting some people asked for a customs ID from sellers to try and get some tracking) and they said they didn’t have any information of the sort. i tried the inspect element thing some people did and got a usps tracking number out of it that says the same as the etsy side and doesn’t indicate anything about international, was formatted as a domestic number too.

i’m kinda getting worried it’s not actually coming, seems dumb for etsy to say it’s delivered when it’s obviously not and hasn’t even left the states to come to new zealand. any advice or any way to contact etsy for global postal shipping queries as a buyer? thanks!