DHL Shipping question

So I purchased a board from Germany being shipped to the US at the beginning of the year and everything early on seemed to be going smoothly. However, I have not got an update on the status since 1/3. I rarely get stuff shipped from outside the US but when I have it never took this long. I did reach out to the seller and he said theirs not much we can do and to just be patient. Is this common and if not should I be concerned. Any advice would be appreciated! Here is the history so far:

Fri, Jan 3, 2020 6:13 AM Hamburg, Germany
The consignment is transported to the destination country / area and handed over to the delivery organization.

Thu, Jan 2, 2020 11:42 PM Rodgau, Germany
The international shipment was processed in the export parcel center and is on its way to the region of the recipient.

Thu, Jan 2, 2020 3:26 pm Greven, Germany
The international shipment was handed over to DHL and is being prepared for onward transport to the destination country / destination.

Thu, Jan 2, 2020 9:06 am -
The sender delivered the consignment to the branch.

Can I ask you more details about the purchase? Like, how much did you pay for shipping and what's the package weight, more or less?

If it's Air Mail, something's definitely wrong here. I can only speak from my experience here in Italy, but DHL, bein' an express courier, has always been very fast (4,5 working days max) and slower shipping has never been even an option - when I try to offer a cheaper solution, I have to resort to the national post service with simple registered mail.

Maybe the package is stuck at customs for some reason? Your seller should contact DHL and tell you exactly what's goin' on, that's for sure ("there's nothing much we can do" doesn't sound like an explanation to me).

P.S. I've recently used the DHL Contact Center chat for a different problem (the buyer received the package, but the tracking was still suspended as "waiting to be collected"), and I must say they've been very quick and helpful... maybe you should contact them yourself.

Yea, Express air is pretty damn fast. My orders from TerraOnion were all dhl and took under 6 days.

They either misplaced, lost, or the shipper messed up on something and he's going to get it back.

If you chose the cheapest form of shipping then expect it to take at least a month.

I used usps surface twice in the past and one of the packages never arrived. Luckily it was a $20 item. Never again. I don't go next day but will pay the extra for air and tracking. If it's something of high value go express/EMS whatever is under a week.

RAZO said:

I used usps surface twice in the past and one of the packages never arrived. Luckily it was a $20 item. Never again.

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That's the stuff of nightmares... even the lady at the national post office advised me against registered mail (she almost whispered to me "send your carts with DHL or another express courier, don't take the risk")!

boss0033 said:

Is this common and if not should I be concerned.

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The question is how much did you pay? There's something like customs, you know. If you paid above EUR 21 and if this was stated on the package bill, then waiting this long is common and there'll be additional charges, too. If customs are not the issue - you paid already at purchase or arranged this issue with the seller - then it seems unusually long, yes.

all I can say is that I bought laserdiscs from Germany in early December, the seller said DHL and it did cost 26$.
I believe while I thought "DHL" would be like "UPS" (in other countries maybe?) this turned out being a nightmare worse than SAL.
for weeks the tracking stopped updating (last update in Germany) and the seller was told a strike was the issue (lol).
eventually, last week, the tracking did show the package in the US, and the USPS website is updating as well... still waiting for it to arrive, I can only imagine the box state...

boss0033 said:

So I purchased a board from Germany being shipped to the US at the beginning of the year and everything early on seemed to be going smoothly. However, I have not got an update on the status since 1/3. I rarely get stuff shipped from outside the US but when I have it never took this long. I did reach out to the seller and he said theirs not much we can do and to just be patient. Is this common and if not should I be concerned. Any advice would be appreciated! Here is the history so far:

Fri, Jan 3, 2020 6:13 AM Hamburg, Germany
The consignment is transported to the destination country / area and handed over to the delivery organization.

Thu, Jan 2, 2020 11:42 PM Rodgau, Germany
The international shipment was processed in the export parcel center and is on its way to the region of the recipient.

Thu, Jan 2, 2020 3:26 pm Greven, Germany
The international shipment was handed over to DHL and is being prepared for onward transport to the destination country / destination.

Thu, Jan 2, 2020 9:06 am -
The sender delivered the consignment to the branch.

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Try entering the tracking number on USPS. From my experience (shipping more than enough stuff to the US), DHL might not be the ones making the final delivery. I had my sent packages stuck in New York for two weeks before.

oliverclaude said:

The question is how much did you pay? There's something like customs, you know. If you paid above EUR 21 and if this was stated on the package bill, then waiting this long is common and there'll be additional charges, too. If customs are not the issue - you paid already at purchase or arranged this issue with the seller - then it seems unusually long, yes.

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He bought the board from Germany, not the other way around, americans don't have to pay customs. You got it all wrong.

I've been using ParcelsApp to track all my stuff which is kind of a crawler which checks all the shipment websites for information: http://parcelsapp.com

See if it can find any additional info.

So put the tracking # on the usps site and it says, “ Your package is on its way to a USPS facility. Sign up to get updates, and we'll send you a delivery date and time when available.” I’m hoping this is a good sign

boss0033 said:

So put the tracking # on the usps site and it says, “ Your package is on its way to a USPS facility. Sign up to get updates, and we'll send you a delivery date and time when available.” I’m hoping this is a good sign

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Yes, you're good. It was most likely stuck at customs

I got two DHL shipments from Germany in the last two months. Both took over 45 days. They sat at customs FOREVER in Germany till they left.

There's a difference between DHL and DHL Express too.

If the guy walks to the post office in germany and goes "yo ship this to the US" they will use our domestic service (DHL is part of Deutsche Post) to put in on a plane and ship it over, everything else like sorting and delivery is up to the domestic postal service of your country, which is the USPS. It takes much longer for them to get the package out to the destination.

Now DHL Express works more like UPS or TNT, with their own fleet and sorting centers. It's much, much faster but also really expensive. I had a package from the US arrive in two days a few weeks ago. I never used them myself though.

I had a package sent from Germany by Deutsche Post recently and it took 11 days to arrive. But it was a low value item, so no customs. Here is hoping your board is just held up and will arrive soon.

I'm currently going through the same situation as OP.

I purchased a board from germany...shipped via DHL...

My package was sent out the last week of December. I'm pretty sure my tracking number has displayed the same message for weeks.

THIS THREAD DOES NOT BELONG IN GENERAL DISCUSSION

Well from what i can tell from my low experience with export sales is, when using DHL it will most likely go by surface mail with ship and not with air mail.
If you want air mail with DHL you have to pay extra money. This might have changed, but basicly it was that way in the past.
Another drawback could be high insured parcels might be handled different. Sometimes they wait and collect thouse parcels untill they met the amount or hold em untill the usual shipment day (i had that with a sale here many years back).

A difference is if you send it with Deutsche Post, that is basicly letter mail. Thouse parcels where kinda cheap and where send always with airmail and no extra costs.
However they changed that service last year. This was always a good way to send small inexpensive items fast, cheap and with tracking. Might be still possible with some other service they created newly.
The downside the isurence against loss is very low.

Then there is also DHL Express witch is very fast and very expensive. This is more a courier service and not usually used by normal ppl in Germany.

As for tracking. mainly i use tracking for shipments from china but thouse sites might be ok for other shipments aswell.
www.17track.net
www.1tracking.net

Dr Shroom said:

There's a difference between DHL and DHL Express too.

If the guy walks to the post office in germany and goes "yo ship this to the US" they will use our domestic service (DHL is part of Deutsche Post) to put in on a plane and ship it over, everything else like sorting and delivery is up to the domestic postal service of your country, which is the USPS. It takes much longer for them to get the package out to the destination.

Now DHL Express works more like UPS or TNT, with their own fleet and sorting centers. It's much, much faster but also really expensive. I had a package from the US arrive in two days a few weeks ago. I never used them myself though.

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This is the answer. Seller shipped it DHL, not DHL Express. Just be patient.

I won't use DHL (Delivery Hassles Likely) if there is any other option.

Two different Express orders were lost in the system taking at least 6 weeks to arrive.

Only first world problems in this thread.

My ESP Ra.De for PS4 showed up from France to Ohio like in 2 days. YMMV

lachlan said:

Only first world problems in this thread.

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i bet you only ship via dingo express.