3rd Party Shipping with tracking?
Summary: gadgetguytoys is using Sortswift for shipping trading cards, but their seller status dropped due to tracking issues. They seek advice on whether to switch back to eBay's service. mudshark61369 and others suggest that Sortswift's tracking isn't recognized by eBay. bdmh-enterprises mentions that eBay's standard service may be the only reliable option, while janet9988 suggests opening a second account for Sortswift shipments. fm2000 explains eBay's tracking limitations and questions why gadgetguytoys isn't using eBay's standard service. gadgetguytoys finds eBay's service inconvenient due to delays with stamp purchase and account deductions.
I use Sortswift for all my postage (with tracking) since I deal mostly with trading cards that cost $1 to $5 for the most part (which I offer free shipping on all my trading cards) with some higher end cards and items that I do use Ebay's postage for tracking. My Top Rated Seller status has dropped to Above Standard because my 100% Tracking Uploaded on Time and Validated to 76.20% because the tracking Sortswift uses is an internal tracking number for the USPS but can be tracked on Sortswift.com/tracking which i send to all my customers. I have a 100% Feedback Rating and if you read all my latest feedback responses they have all been extremely positive. Is there away to avoid losing my Above Standard status or do I need to switch back to Ebay's Standard White Envelope service? I switched to Sortswift because Ebay's Standard White Envelope service delays the purchase of the stamp by a couple days which makes withdrawing my funds a guessing game if I need to keep money in the Ebay bank or even how much to keep in there since I typically sell a lot of cards on a day to day basis. Any advise would be very apppreciated..I've also attached a screenshot of what it looks like as it goes through the USPS system
fm2000
·2 weeks ago · EditedAll services that offer letter tracking use the IMB barcode on the USPS end, but have their own abstracted proprietary "tracking numbers" on the user end (I am not completely sure why the IMB numbers are not just used). eBay only recognizes their own ESE tracking numbers, no others will work. Some of us asked eBay about this (especially when it comes to tracking large envelopes) without any response.
Out of curiosity, why don't you just use eBay Standard Envelope? It should cost the same and you will have the ESE (pseudo) tracking included. Your trading cards can go ESE, they don't require a large envelope/flat, so ESE should be fine for your needs. If you don't have enough in your eBay funds for the label, it should just charge your card or take it from your bank account.
janet9988
·2 weeks agoOpen a second account for just those items shipped with Sortswift.
bdmh-enterprises
·3 weeks agoNo other letter tracking service integrates with eBay. You may as well be using a stamp as far as metrics and INR claims go. Standard Envelope is your only option here.
If you sell items daily and use automatic daily-weekly payouts, you will probably not notice the delay in charges. It just becomes money in - money out. eBay will warn you before it pulls from your bank if it's ever necessary and gives 3 days for funds to come in before it does so.
gadgetguytoys
OP2 weeks agoyeah i figured that's was my only recourse....kind of sucks though since I liked just putting money in a virtual wallet and just pulling directly from that and knowing always where my shipping expense is at without having to do anything extra....and from what i hear eBay has been doing some weird things with their shipping settings which you need to pay attention to or you'll be charged more for shipping....thanks for the response
mudshark61369
·3 weeks ago@gadgetguytoys ,
Your rating may have dropped because you are usong Sortswift to ship items via eBay Standard envelope which is metered mail and does not get acceptance scans and often any other scans until the envelope gets to the final USPS regional sorting facility, before reaching the buyer's P.O. when an out for delivery scan is issued, often 1-3 days before it is actually out for delivery, but no delivered scan is added when it is actually delivered.
Do google search for "Is Sortswift an approved eBay shipping method" and select the A.I. response when the page opens.
gadgetguytoys
OP3 weeks agoIt actually does get scans and updates as it goes through the mail system but unfortunately it only gets updates via their internal system (www.softswift.com/tracking) I've attached a screenshot of what it looks like going through the mail system