Trading with Europeans: Is tracking to final destination possible?

[BilgeRat]

I am working on a rather large trade (for me) with a collector in Belgium (I'm in the US). They are asking me to ship with tracking all the way to their location. I have shipped to Europe before, but I was told at the Post Office that the package would only be tracked until it left the US.
Is there a postal product that allows tracking completely to the destination?

 

[starry_solo]

Pay for shipping online through the USPS website and it should track all the way to the US with the customs tag.

If it's not a lot of pins and your post office lets you get away with it, you can also ship through PayPal.com/shipnow as a "large envelope" but if you look at the requirements to make it a large envelope, most pin packages won't qualify. Plus, as I learned at my post office last week, it's no longer an easy scan to drop it off, they have to enter some information from the package so you end up standing in line longer (unless you don't want the receipt to show you dropped it off and then they will use their handheld scanner)

Guaranteed tracking requires you to ship priority mail or EMS

 

[docfish2u]

I use stamps.com for all of my overseas packages. Then we just drop them off at the post office in the package drop box. You can also then use the customs number to follow your package. Of course just like here, it is only as good as the postal workers delivering the package. If they don't scan them then you are out of luck. Best 16 dollars a month I spend.

 

[Piglet]

If it's sent with USPS then usually I can track it in detail through the USPS website throughout its journey in the US, and from the moment it arrives it can also be tracked with detail on the Belgian post office website. It'll say when it has arrived at customs and you'll be able to see when it's cleared & when it arrives at your local post office for distribution. Not sure how it goes with other services like DHL or UPS though.