🔍️ Browsing Agent

Siena's Browsing Agent: Automated Shipping Tracking via Web Scraping

In the ever-evolving landscape of e-commerce and shipping logistics, tracking packages efficiently has become crucial for businesses and customers alike. Siena's Browsing Agent emerges as an innovative solution that bridges the gap between shipping carriers and business operations through sophisticated web scraping technology.

What is the Browsing Agent?

Siena's Browsing Agent is a specialized web scraping tool designed to extract shipping information directly from carrier tracking pages. Unlike traditional integration methods that rely on direct API connections with carriers, the Browsing Agent simulates human interaction with tracking websites to gather real-time shipping status updates.

How Does It Work?

The process is remarkably straightforward yet powerful:

1. When an order contains a tracking URL, Siena's Browsing Agent visits that URL
2. The agent "reads" the contents of the tracking page, much like a human would
3. It extracts critical information such as shipping status and estimated delivery dates
4. This information is then processed and made available within Siena's responses to your customers

Primary Use-Case

The Browsing Agent plays a crucial role in WISMO automations, providing businesses with the ability to:

• Monitor real-time package status updates
• Track estimated delivery dates
• Respond quickly to shipping status changes
• Provide customers with accurate delivery information

Benefits Over Direct Integration

• No need for individual carrier API integrations, which allows you to have multiple different carrier options and enables better tracking for international shipping 
• Access to the same real-time information visible to customers
• Flexibility to adapt to carrier website changes
• Reduced dependency on third-party services

Supported Carriers and Limitations

The Browsing Agent currently works with several major shipping carriers, including DHL, USPS, FedEx, however, it's important to note that the system has certain limitations. Notably, it cannot support carriers that implement Captcha systems on their websites, such as Auspost.

This limitation exists because Captcha systems are specifically designed to prevent automated access to web pages.