International Shipping & Tracking FAQ

Basically

The reason we’re able to offer international shipping at prices comparable to what we offer for domestic shipping, is because the DHL service we use usually hands off its packages to your country’s national postal service for last-mile delivery. 

Since it’s one step more indirect, some of the language they use is phrased a little ambiguously, so collected on this page are some answers to common questions about international shipping, and some things to keep in mind about the process, so you’ll be able to receive your package without encountering any extra hassle!

Should I keep an eye on the tracking?

Yes. In the shipping confirmation email that gets sent when we process your order, you will be given a tracking number. Click through on the tracking number to see where the package is and what it’s doing. Usually this is just going to be a list of places the package was scanned, leading up to its delivery, but occasionally they won’t be able to deliver a package normally, in which case they’ll use the tracking to let you know you owe a customs fee, or that they need you to pick it up somewhere. In theory, local postal services SHOULD be notifying you about stuff like this through other means, but some countries are better than others at doing so. So: please keep an eye on the tracking.

If the meaning of an update is unclear, or if you notice the package has been hanging out in or nearby your city for a couple days without being delivered, you can check the tracking on your national postal service’s website, which may have a more detailed versions of the tracking available. To do this, take the number under “delivery by postal provider,” navigate to your national postal service’s website*, and paste the number into their tracking section.

*(e.g. Canada Post, Australia Post, Post NL, An Post, Postnord, Correos, etc. Or if you're in the UK, DHL tends to delegate to Hermes/EVRI.)

for example:

and then:

The tracking says my package was delivered, but it’s not here

Use the directions in the above item to check the tracking via your national postal service’s website and see if they offer more details on the package. Sometimes DHL uses “delivered” to mean “delivered to the local post office, who will be taking care of it from here on out.” Or the carrier may not have been able to leave it securely at your address and they want you to come pick it up somewhere. Or you might owe a customs fee that needs to be paid. Or if you’re in Canada, they may have delivered it to your community mailbox. If checking with your local post office does not turn the package up, open a ticket on the help desk, and we’ll figure it out.

My package is missing

Follow the directions above to check for the more detailed version of the tracking. If that does not clarify anything, call your local post office and ask them what’s up—there is a decent chance that the package is there, waiting to be picked up. The delegation from DHL sometimes means the local post office assumes that they don’t need to notify you about it (they do), and that DHL’s got that part all taken care of (they don’t).

The tracking is dead

Sometimes a package gets lost. It’s a sad fact of life. The world’s a big place, and pobody’s nerfect. But also it’s perfectly normal for international shipping to take a long time—so let’s say, if there’s no activity on the tracking for two weeks, shoot our support address an email, or open a ticket on our help desk, and we’ll figure out what’s what.

My tracking number doesn’t work

If you click through to look at it immediately after receiving the email, and the page doesn’t work, don’t worry—sometimes the numbers take a couple hours to come to life. Check again tomorrow.

My package is stuck in New Jersey

It’s not stuck, that’s just the most recent scan—your package is in transit, and will be scanned again as soon as it reaches customs in your actual country.

My package is in Germany, but I don’t live in Germany

DHL often routes packages going to South and Central America through their headquarters in Germany. This is normal, and your package will be sent to your actual country shortly.

I asked DHL’s customer service about my package and they said “ask the sender”

Since DHL delegates their deliveries, they probably won't be able to tell you anything about your package after it passes through customs, so they have a tendency to answer all question in varying tones of “it’s somebody else’s problem,” often “ask the sender.” Regrettably, we do not know anything more than what the tracking says, so the move is to avoid DHL’s customer service altogether, and to call your local post office, or use the customer support contact on your national postal service's website instead. If they’re unable to help, open a ticket on our help desk, and we’ll get to the bottom of it!

Customs fees, handling fees, VAT, etc

The likelihood varies from country to country, but with just about any package that passes through customs, there is a slight chance it will pick up an additional fee along the way, which must be paid by the recipient before it can be delivered. The shipping fee we charge at checkout covers only the cost of postage required to send the package, as we do not have a way to predict or calculate any fees in advance, much less any sort of mechanism to cover them at point of sale. Hence, paying these fees is without exception the responsibility of the recipient.