eBay USPS Shipping Question

[gregr2]

I recently sold a card on eBay for $25. The seller paid, I printed the shipping label using the eBay system with tracking. I packed the card up, put the label on it, put it in my mailbox, lifted the flag. Came home from work and the flag was down, our mail is in the box. I go to check on the status of the shipping and it states "The seller has provided a tracking number. The tracking status will be updated once the shipment reaches the carrier."

Now 4 days later when I look at the tracking it still says the same thing. I contacted the buyer and told him that I mailed the card and I wasn't sure why the USPS site did not show any tracking. I also told him that if it didn't show up I'd issue a refund.

Is there anything else I should do?

Thanks
Greg

[earlywynnfan]

Give it some time. There are several threads here about the tracking system of the USPS. It may be taking a tour around the country, it may make go back and forth between your main branch and Tacoma, it may park in Boise for a couple weeks.

[gregr2]

Thanks Ken, I have read quite a few posts where items either got stuck in one location or traveled the country for a bit but I don't recall seeing one where the tracking never started. Hopefully it all of a sudden starts showing up. Thanks

[nebboy]

Call your local post office and talk to manager, he/she will ask your mailman if he remembers picking it up. Or they can use the Usps tracking to flag location. Call ASAP

[autograf]

I never put it in my box or a drop box any more if I use ebay system to print the label. I take them to the window and ask them to scan them. That way I have proof that I mailed them. Especially if I insure them through the ebay printing. They will not pay a claim of you don't have that acceptance scan. Already had that happen. And you should always use the ebay system cause you get decent discounts on postage through there. Especially on a priority mail package that has some weight to it. Plus you get free tracking where you have to pay for it when you purchase the postage at the window. Good luck. They are getting better but there's little intermediate scanning, mostly origin and destination so it can be gone for a while with little info on where it really is.....

[D. Bergin]

I've had it happen before. Package gets picked up, and on-line it looks like you never gave it to a carrier for days and days.

Finally when it gets to where it's going, all of it's tracking destinations repopulate into the on-line system.

I think it's an occasional glitch.

[gregr2]

Thanks everyone, that makes me feel better. I think from now on I'll take them to the post office and have them scan them in for me.

[bobbyw8469]

I never put it in my box or a drop box any more if I use ebay system to print the label. I take them to the window and ask them to scan them. That way I have proof that I mailed them. Especially if I insure them through the ebay printing. They will not pay a claim of you don't have that acceptance scan. Already had that happen. And you should always use the ebay system cause you get decent discounts on postage through there. Especially on a priority mail package that has some weight to it. Plus you get free tracking where you have to pay for it when you purchase the postage at the window. Good luck. They are getting better but there's little intermediate scanning, mostly origin and destination so it can be gone for a while with little info on where it really is.....

I can't agree with this more. They simply don't scan cards that get put it drop boxes. 95 times out of 100, the buyer got the card. They simply game the system in that the card never got a scan.

[Luke]

Yeah, I've had a couple that never get a scan until they reach their destination. It's weird, and can be nerve-racking, but I haven't actually lost a package in a really long time.

[buymycards]

First of all, it is the carrier's responsibility to scan the package as "accepted" when he/she picks it up. Then, when the carrier takes it back to the PO, the clerk or supervisor or Postmaster should make sure that the carrier has scanned all packages that have been picked up.

You should talk to the Postmaster and let him/her know that the carrier on your route is not doing the required scanning.

There is no excuse for this.

Rick

[Dave Farquhar]

Regarding lost packages, I used to ship a lot of packages (1,000-plus a year) and never had more than 10 get lost in a year. As much as people say about the USPS, they get the package there more than 99% of the time. It's just that the times a package goes from St. Louis to Kansas City via Birmingham Alabama, or the package arrives looking like it got run over by the truck, people don't forget.

I've had at least a couple of my recent purchases not get scanned properly, so they didn't track, but they arrived on time or early, so I didn't worry about it.

[gregr2]

Well it looks like the package finally got scanned when it arrived in Kansas City, so crisis averted. Interesting that some packages seem to get scanned quite a few times as they leave hubs and this one didn't. I'm glad it is now showing up in the system.

[Jewish-collector]

I have an honest, question. I apologize if it is too obvious, because I really don't know.

What advantage and/or savings do you get when printing the shipping label using the eBay system rather than just hand writing the shipping address on the package & mailing it the old fashion way via the post office clerk ?

Thx.

[gregr2]

From my understanding, the shipping is discounted when you use their system.

[glchen]

Right, the advantages of using eBay's system are (1) shipping is discounted, (2) the tracking number is automatically uploaded into eBay's system so buyers immediately know the progress of their package (and as part of eBay's Top Rated Seller's program, you need to upload tracking info within a business day of payment and (3) the shipping label is pre-printed so less chance of package being lost due to messy handwriting. Of course, to use eBay's system, you usually need to know the weight of the package, so unless you ship the same way all of the time (e.g., small bubble envelope, 1 PSA card, 2 thin strips of cardboard, packaging slip = 3oz) or have a scale, this can be difficult.

[ValKehl]

I believe another advantage of using eBay's system is that $100 of free insurance is provided for Priority Mail shipments, vs. $50 of free insurance if you don't use eBay's system.

My wife and I continually sells a variety of relatively inexpensive (mostly under $30) items on eBay, and we live in a high-rise seniors condo building that has a keypad entry. We leave the outgoing packages on the floor by the bank of mailboxes for the entire building for pickup by our USPS carrier. I have made friend with our regular carrier, and some time ago I asked him when outgoing packages first get scanned into the USPS system - he responded that he does this as soon as he return to his truck, which is reassuring. Still, when, we ship something more valuable, roughly $100 or more, we take it directly to our local branch post office and watch them scan it, just to be extra safe.

Alan, re your question as to how much savings one obtains by using eBay's system vs. hand-writing the shipping label and taking the package directly to the post office, for Priority Mail packages, it depends on the weight and distance. For example, for a 2 lb. package sent Priority Mail to Zones 1 & 2 (not very far), the USPS' retail price is $5.80, whereas via eBay we pay the USPS' commercial plus price of $5.09, which is discount of $.71 or 12.2%. For a 2 lb. Priority Mail package to Zone 8 (far West), the retail price is $11.25 vs. the commercial plus price of $8.95, which is a discount of $2.30 or 20.5%. Here's the link to the USPS' price lists (formally known as Notice 123): http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/notice123.htm

Also, delivery confirmation is free when using eBay's shipping system. It used to be that the shipping discount gave eBay sellers the opportunity to make a bit extra on their eBay sales, but then a few years ago, eBay and PayPal got smart (or greedy) and began applying their commissions to the seller's shipping charge in addition to the selling price of the merchandise.

FYI, one can also establish an online account directly with the USPS and then create & print shipping labels for packages, except for First Class packages (which one can print labels for via eBay's system). One does receive a discount from the USPS for doing this online, but I believe the discount is less than doing this via eBay, and I don't think delivery confirmation is free (I seldom have occasion to do this, which is why I'm not certain).

Val