Etsy Marking Orders Delivered/Tracking Shows In Transit

[AmoreTreasure]

I'm in the U.S..  This morning I woke up to a message from a, understandably, frantic UK customer (the third similar I've received for 3 UK bound orders in a row) saying her order has been marked as delivered but no package arrived.  Tracking shows that the package left the Asendia processing center in the U.S. 18 hours ago.  Royal mail tracking shows they know it's coming but haven't yet received it.  The estimated delivery date on her order now shows May 1.  (The order was placed and shipped on Apr. 23.  I ship a lot and have never had an order show up in the UK in 8 days unless sent with an expedited service.)

The same scenario happened yesterday and I spent forever on Etsy Chat who finally confirmed that there is a bug in their system that erroneously marked the order as delivered despite tracking showing it has not been delivered. They admit that the system is also now showing an erroneous estimated delivery date. Etsy confirmed that typical delivery time to the UK is 14-21 days.  They say they are notifying the appropriate technical team.  We will see. 

And this happened a few days before on the previous UK order though at the time I thought it was a fluke and didn't contact Etsy about it.  It's not, now obviously, a fluke.  Has anyone else experienced this???

[CryzalisMasksUK]

It is tracking to the processing centre where it is being registered as delivered. Are the parcels receiving new tracking numbers or labels from there to the UK addresses? If not, all you can do is inform the customers, to use the Royal mail tracking, as they will pick up the tracking once the parcels have been scanned upon arrival in the UK 

[AmoreTreasure]

This is something new!   Like I said, I ship to the UK a lot.  This is the 3rd UK order in a row with this issue.  I don't know if the bug is on Asendia's side or on Etsy's side but I have a pretty good guess.  All three orders were assigned Royal Mail tracking numbers and their tracking says they hadn't physically received the packages at the time the customers notified me.  (Apparently the information Royal Mail is getting is that the package is still in transit and hasn't been delivered.)

It's a time suck for me and a stressor for my customers.  If this continues I will probably stop selling to the UK.

[AmoreTreasure]

To add, I've had international orders to countries other than the UK in between these orders with no issues.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@AmoreTreasure 

it's not new,

you get a usps domestic tracking number to Asendia, which shows as delivered, when it reaches there

Asendia then re-label, with a new tracking number

There are loads of posts about this.

How does tracking work on a Global Postal Shipping label?

Complete tracking history for Global Postal Shipping labels is only available on Etsy.com for both buyers and sellers.

Global Postal Shipping labels use a combination of carriers to help ensure a timely delivery. Etsy combines tracking information for each part of the package’s journey to show a complete history.
Tracking for the entire package journey will be visible in the Orders section of your Shop Manager. We note “Tracked on Etsy” in Shop Manager and in buyer notifications.

Buyers can view tracking in the Etsy app and on Etsy.com by visiting Purchases and reviews.

Customs IDs and tracking

Etsy provides customs IDs for Global Postal Shipping Label shipments. These ID numbers can be used to track the package. Customs IDs are created when the package is prepared to leave the United States. 

Buyers can enter a customs ID on the website of the shipping carrier, or on sites like AfterShip, to track their package.

To find your customs ID:

1. Sign in to Etsy.com. 
2. Choose Shop Manager.
3. Choose Orders. 
4. Select the Order Number to show the order details.
5. About halfway down the order details page, there will be a section with shipment information.
6. Select it to see More details.
7. The Customs ID number will be at the bottom.

[AmoreTreasure]

@CraftyCornishMaids I have shipped hundreds of orders to the UK and I'm telling you this is new!  I know how Asendia works.  Not once prior to these 3 UK bound orders in a row has this been an issue.  ETSY confirms this is a bug!  ASENDIA tracking does not show as delivered when the package leaves their processing center and sends off to the UK.  It shows "Dispatched by Asendia USA".  It is at this point that Etsy is marking these ordered as "delivered" and thus creating the problem not at the point that Asendia receives the package.