Anyone having problems with EIS DHL deliveries?
Summary: transtraders shares their experience of an item they sold via EIS ending up in Alaska instead of Maryland, expressing concern about its misrouting by DHL. marnotom! suggests a possible misplacement and reminds that responsibility lies with eIS after the item reaches Mississauga. Others, including reallynicestamps, agree that the seller might be overly concerned as eIS handles later stages. An update reveals the item has been successfully delivered, although its detour remains unexplained. john_koenig99 recounts their own delivery issue, affirming the complexity sometimes faced with shipping via eIS.
So I sold a fairly expensive item($300) on June 18th. It was sold via EIS and going to Cumberland MD. I shipped it out the next day and it was delivered to the EIS Hub in Ontario on the 24th, and they shipped it out via DHL. I was just randomly checking out my orders delivery status's, which I do every once so often, and when I checked this item it said " Delivery on Hold". Which I thought was weird so I dug further into it and the last 3 status updates on the DHL website show that the item is now in Alaska!!!??!! for some reason and is being "handed to 3rd part agent".
Why is an item going to Maryland now in Alaska?? Is this normal for DHL?
Below is the last 6 tracking updates:
June 29, 2026
8:27 a.m. (UTC -04:00)
Forwarded to a third party agent
1 Piece ID: JD014600012711206177
STERLING - Alaska - USA
June 26, 2026
10:51 a.m. (UTC -04:00)
Shipment is on hold
1 Piece ID: JD014600012711206177
STERLING - Alaska - USA
June 26, 2026
10:49 a.m. (UTC -04:00)
Arrived at DHL Delivery Facility STERLING - USA
1 Piece ID: JD014600012711206177
STERLING - Alaska - USA
June 26, 2026
9:02 a.m. (UTC -04:00)
Shipment has departed from a DHL facility BALTIMORE AIRPORT - USA
1 Piece ID: JD014600012711206177
BALTIMORE AIRPORT - Maryland - USA
June 26, 2026
6:45 a.m. (UTC -04:00)
Shipment is in transit to destination
1 Piece ID: JD014600012711206177
BALTIMORE AIRPORT - Maryland - USA
June 26, 2026
6:20 a.m. (UTC -04:00)
Shipment has departed from a DHL facility CINCINNATI HUB - USA
1 Piece ID: JD014600012711206177
CINCINNATI HUB - Ohio - USA
john_koenig99
·3 weeks agoI had an issue with a sale via eIS to a US buyer. The watch made its way to the buyer relatively quickly, was sent from Canada via DHL and landed in Cincinnati, where it lagged at customs for about 2 weeks.
I contacted eBay about it and an agent told me that the item was delayed because they were waiting to define what service would be the last mile carrier (?). The next day after contacting them, the tracking showed that the package "could not be delivered to the buyer", and it got returned to the sender (eIS). So...the buyer got refunded, and I got to keep the sale's proceeds.
I never found out what happened, as I have shipped similar watches to buyers in the US, Europe and Australia (via eIS) and there's been no issues with these. 🤷🏽♂️
transtraders
OP3 weeks agoUPDATE:
Tracking updated today and says they item has been delivered! Which is great, still can't really explain why it supposedly went to Alaska first.
June 30, 2026
1:38 p.m. (UTC -04:00)
Delivered
1 Piece ID: JD014600012711206177
CUMBERLAND - USA
reallynicestamps
·3 weeks agoThis is not your responsibility
Once your package was accepted at the eIS plant, they took all responsibility for delivery
Never watch tracking.
If your customer is complaining, tell him to open a Claim. Then put your Proof ofDelivery (to Mississauga) into the Claim. It will be punted over to eIS.
transtraders
OP3 weeks agoI am already aware of this and was discussed below in this thread.
Still think its a bad look for me as a seller and for eBay when these "3rd party agents" are used for delivery.
reallynicestamps
·3 weeks agoMany new sellers do get worried about this.
Our buyers are told how long delivery is likely to take. This actually discourages some and we see complaints about that here too.
These posts get more viewers than responders.
marnotom!
·3 weeks ago · EditedI'm going to guess that there was an item or some items bound for Alaska on the same flight as your package and your package ended up with it or them instead of being received at the Baltimore Airport. It will likely make it back to Baltimore from its unexpected vacation in due course.
By the way, you're not having a problem with this DHL delivery, eIS is. Remember that with eIS, you're only responsible for getting the item to Mississauga. There's really no reason you need to be checking the tracking events for your item unless the buyer has made an inquiry or you're looking for entertainment.
transtraders
OP3 weeks agoLets hope that's the case. Its pretty strange though, Alaska is extremely out of the way from Maryland.
Yes I am aware that its EIS's problem, still I would like to know, especially with higher value items, that they are getting to my customers in a reasonable timeframe, otherwise its make me (and eBay) look bad.
marnotom!
·3 weeks agoPerhaps Sterling is a routing point for shipments bound for Asia. My wife once purchased an item from SE Asia that was shipped by FedEx and it went to Alaska first before being routed through Seattle before making its way to Vancouver and then to us on Vancouver Island. Your item obviously isn't bound for Asia, so my theory is that it had to be put on hold and passed along to another carrier when it was discovered that someone had goofed up.
Any idea what the last estimated date for delivery is/was for your item?
recped
·3 weeks ago@marnotom!
FYI
There is a battle between FedEx in Memphis and Anchorage International for the "prize" of the most cargo handled by any airport in North America. Most of the time Anchorage is the winner.
Another thing to consider is that scans are done by a manifest not individual packages so the location of scans may not be 100% accurate as to the physical location of the package but rather the location of the container and it's manifest.