EBay standard envelope tracking info

[fontanacollectibles]

Hello,

Just wanted to share a problem I'm having with eBay's standard shipping envelope with a sport card sale.

I had a buyer who bought 2 cards off of me. He paid for the 1st full invoice then bought the second. I told him I'd combine shipping and adjusted the second invoice. Problem was eBay wouldn't let me combine his orders so the shipping didn't transfer to the 2nd order. I hand typed the shipping, packaged up the cards, and mailed them.

A couple days later, I get a positive feedback from him for the one card and a delivered notification. 12 hours later he opens a not delivered case on the second card. I messaged him with no reply. I checked the shipping on the second card and the tracking apparently doesn't work when typed into eBay's system.

Think I'll win this with him admitting he got the first card?

Thanks everyone!

[1786davycrockett]

@fontanacollectibles 

From what you have provided, it sounds as if you used the same ESE identification number on BOTH shipments, but with TWO separate invoices -- and that likely is not being accepted by eBay's ESE system.  

After the buyer had ordered the SECOND card, you should have advised the buyer that you could NOT combine the two shipments -- unless the buyer canceled BOTH shipments, after which you could create a "special combined listing" of the 2 cards for the buyer, which could then be shipped in the same ESE.

As for your current situation -- you can try to explain to the buyer that the second card was shipped at a discount (your "invoice adjustment"), and that delivery may be delayed a few days longer.

Unfortunately, you will not be covered under ESE insurance for the loss of the second card, because it was not covered under the first ESE identification number.

Good luck.

[wastingtime101]

As Davy said @fontanacollectibles neither the eBay claim nor the insurance claim will work out in your favor because technically that item was shipped without tracking. You'll have to refund and take this as a lesson - hopefully it was only in the $3 range as many of your recent trading card sales were.

In order to combine an ESE shipment, the buyer has to add items to their cart and checkout with a single payment so you can generate a single tracking number.

I'm not sure if combining separate purchases through the bulk shipping tool would work for ESE (I never tried that myself), but that would be the only other option and if the system did not let you combine then you'd have to ship separately to maintain seller protections.

[harborauction]

Yes, combining separate ESE shipments with the bulk shipping tool can be done but OP didn't know, I guess

OP, it's pretty easy. Just go to your orders awaiting shipment, click the box to the left of the orders you want to combine, go to "shipping" tab above and select "purchase shipping label"  Than will take you to the page where you can combine the orders, adjust weight, etc.

[wastingtime101]

Thanks for confirming @harborauction .

In that case I will post a screenshot of what that looks like so @fontanacollectibles  can look for it in the future.

If the system does not let you combine through bulk labels on an ESE shipment it generally means one of these things is happening:

- The order exceeds the combined ESE $ limit ($20 single card, $50 combined orders)

- Buyer used different IDs for the purchases so you cannot combine

- Buyer used different address for the purchases so you cannot combine

[worldcoinauctions]

For future reference you can print a second label for an order, or just put both into one ESE by combining the purchase when you go to buy the label. 

[12345jamesstamps]

No...will not win.

And you might want to block the buyer for not being honest.

I have never lost anything last year or this year...and I don't use tracking for anything under 20 bucks.

[1786davycrockett]

@fontanacollectibles 

"I hand typed the shipping, packaged up the cards, and mailed them."

That's another part of your problem that I hadn't initially noticed.

Since the ESE generated labels are required to be read electronically, your "hand typed" ESE number from the first shipment would have been impossible for the high speed USPS sorting machines to read, which may have additionally delayed your mailing.

If there was no postage on the envelope (and it has not been returned to you), it may have been sent to the "Dead Letter" office in Atlanta, GA.

Did you attempt to duplicate the previous ESE "stamp"?

[fontanacollectibles]

What I think happened is this buyer knew exactly what he was doing. He bought the first 99c card paid for shipping then a few minutes later bought the second $4+ card which he did not pay  for right away. I messaged him that I'd mail both together and save him the shipping. Upon delivery of the first card which showed delivered he gave me positive feedback for the first card and immediately opened a case on the second card. Basically knew the tracking # I put into the Ebay's system on the second card wasn't tracking and was hoping for Ebay to side with him.  As of right now I have appealed the charge back and have proof of the conversation as it was all through Ebay. My first negative feedback in 20 years. Never combining shipping this way again now that I know Ebay's system and USPS does not recognize the tracking used on these labels. As a small seller, $4 matters to me but I will learn to never do this again.

[fontanacollectibles]

I hand typed the ESE number from the first order into Ebay's tracking on the card he said was never delivered. I did not know that the tracking that Ebay uses doesn't even work in their own system.  Lesson learned.

[fontanacollectibles]

I see what what the buyer is doing.  I knew he was trying to scam me as soon as he opened a refund request when the first card showed delivered and he gave me positive feedback for it. It was immediate.

[1786davycrockett]

@fontanacollectibles 

"I hand typed the ESE number from the first order into Ebay's tracking on the card he said was never delivered. I did not know that the tracking that Ebay uses doesn't even work in their own system."

No -- the tracking that eBay uses DOES work within the eBay system -- but you had already used that ESE number on a separate order:  you can NOT use the same ESE number on an additional order, UNLESS the orders are combined BEFORE the buyer pays -- then the single ESE number can be applied.

But simply typing in the ESE number won't work, since the ESEs must be read electronically, and the USPS "scanning" system is not set up to read hand-typed ESE numbers (the USPS system scans the electronic bar codes on the ESE, and NOT the numbers up in the right-hand corner of the ESE).

Just another idiosyncrasy of "metered mail" versus stamped mail.

[fontanacollectibles]

I didn't hand type the lablel. I typed the tracking number into ebay's "add tracking" line for the item. I didn't know ebay and even the USPS can't track that label outside of that transaction.

[fontanacollectibles]

I recommend everyone add him to your block list if you sell sport cards as it looks like he is hitting more people. "Nice card purchases..." Cause he bought 2 and not just one and  he knows it.

[1786davycrockett]

@fontanacollectibles 

"I didn't hand type the lablel. I typed the tracking number into ebay's "add tracking" line for the item. I didn't know ebay and even the USPS can't track that label outside of that transaction."

The problem, again, is that the number that you had entered into the eBay tracking line did NOT apply to the second transaction -- that number ONLY applied to the FIRST transaction.

Since there were TWO transactions, it was necessary to purchase a second ESE label.

Had the two transactions been combined BEFORE the buyer had made the purchase, the ESE would have included BOTH transactions.

But that didn't happen -- and there was no way for you to use the ESE number for the second transaction, since that ESE number was assigned ONLY to the initial transaction.

While your intentions were admirable, the ESE system is simply not set up for "add-ons" after the initial transaction has been completed.