Post Office didn't give tracking, now eBay account is locked
The first handful of items we sold on our account were shipped via a Post Office that did not give us any tracking info and when we go back there they say there is no way to retrieve it. All we have is a printed receipt of the amounts, no other identifications.
Ebay has locked our account because we haven't provided tracking for *every* item we have sold. It's impossible, the PO says they have no way of getting the info. So were at a stalemate here with thousands of dollars of other items sold and ebay is holding the money. What can we do?
Note: This is a different account than the one I am posting this message from
23 comments
glgenterprise
·3 years agoI have nothing productive to add for OP, but d*mn if I'm not completely shocked that there are post offices that still have nothing but rolls of tracking stickers and a credit card machine.
Learned something new here today.
pickermall
·3 years agoAt least mark the items as "Shipped" on the other account. Hopefully that will show that the items were actually shipped out, even without tracking
12345jamesstamps
·3 years agoUsing the USPS will have tracking if you paid to have tracking. It sounds like you sold expensive stuff and didn't use any sort of anything with tracking. Sorry, but I never heard of no tracking for anything like a package mailed from the USPS, Fed Ex, UPS and so on.
Or you haven't sold for a while...30 days...and eBay is holding your funds thus far. Hard to say what is going on the "other account" when no one can see it.
glyph01
·3 years agoMoving forward, you’ll definitely have to buy postage online to get the tracking number and drop off the packages which is another can of worms as you ideally want the packages “Acceptance†scanned by the postal clerk at drop off, individually or by additionally generating a Scan Form. USPS Scan Form procedures for their delivery and retail employees.
In the meantime, observe eBay’s policies for Transaction holds. If the issue is account being suspended, contact eBay for business at Facebook for assistance, to explain how you shipped your packages and why you weren’t given tracking numbers (ie. PO lacked the facilities to issue tracking numbers, rural PO). Seems like you’ll have to wait 14 to 30 days as discussed in their policies, perhaps even longer longer (180 days?) for the funds to be released due to the high value and let eBay know that ya’ll are new to selling and haven’t got the process down pat yet and plan on getting tracking numbers from now on. Hopefully, that will convince them to at least reinstate your account while still holding the funds to cover customer complaints from these shipments.
joliztoyco
·3 years agoMany of you have no idea of what you're talking about.
Our P.O. has a roll of Tracking #'s. They peel one off and affix it to your package. It has a UPC code and tracking # on it. They tear the remainder off which has the tracking # along the bottom and on the reverse they stamp it with the PO, Date, and USPS. My PO workers write the name of the recipient on the back ( because they know how exacting I am about keeping records) and hand it to me. Once they weigh and price it, they tell me the charge and I write it next to the name. If I am shipping multiple packages, we do it to all of them. When we're done, the add up all the charges with a calculator and tell me the total. I insert my card, pay it all, and get a simple receipt that displays the PO & Address, Date, Time, Term & Clerk ID # and the total.
Says NOTHING about tracking or Zip codes.
When I go to bigger towns, their PO's have the technology you're describing.
Not all Post Offices are "equal".
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoOK, we understand that some PO's are still operating like it's 1999.
But let's go back to the question asked at the very beginning of the very first reply: "Why didn't you use Ebay's shipping label feature?" Sellers in those quaint locations can save a lot of money and effort by purchasing their postage online. Those labels will automatically include a tracking number. Sounds like you and the friend need to read up on how eBay works.
anasazirose
·3 years agoLOL, as you say, not all post offices are "equal" . There's a tiny post office near us that had to hand write the tracking number on a receipt for me.
toews.trendal
OP3 years ago@monica-sells I believe your last line is what happened. I'm actually helping a friend here and neither of us have every sold anything before on eBay so probably doing everything wrong but gotta learn somehow.
I think prepaid boxes were purchased at Office Max or something and just taken to the local Post Office which aint much, it's out in the country, really small place. The receipt is literally nothing other than a standard credit card payment receipt with line items with amounts, no other data.
It's in the US, yes.
buyselljack2016
·3 years agoLittle "country" office (manual office) that has no Point Of Sale terminal would indeed have no printed receipt with tracking, but if the items sent were "packages" a tracking # sticker would have been applied to each, and a "customer copy" of each of those should have been provided.
The info could actually be extracted from USPS internal documentation, but not likely that it will happen.
Given the day/time (you have CC receipt) , and knowing what zips those items were sent to it is possible to get that data. I truly believe that USPS has it recorded someplace. If the items were "packages" that tracking # sticker would have been scanned (should have been scanned) when they were sent. It would be amongst the data for that office someplace in the USPS intranet. There should be a record of every inbound scan, and every outbound scan for that office.
anasazirose
·3 years agoThis is what I was thinking. We have a tiny post office near us. I sent some 1st class packages out and asked for receipts with tracking number on them. Poor clerk had to hand write the tracking numbers, no stickers for the sender here! This was 3 years ago, and I haven't been back to that post office..., just drive right by to the one that's 2 miles away and fully automated.
buyselljack2016
·3 years agoHave not done any small office tracked package shipping label purchases in quite a while. I will have to ask next time I stop by. Just seems very off to not have the duplicate sticker for the customer.
Seems to stick in my mind that it was not that long ago that I was there to drop off my "online label" packages, and the employee tore off a strip of paper with a duplicate sticker for the customer ahead of me.
a_c_green
·3 years agoJust as another data point along those same lines, about how small-time POs cope with the Modern Age, from a posting to another group that I made a couple of years ago:
Back in 2021, I had to mail a last-minute eBay sale that had come in while we were packing for a vacation trip, so I mailed it from the United States Post in downtown metropolitan Union Pier, MI (population 600), which used to be the United States Post Office until the "Office" fell off:
It's open on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. all the way through to 11:00 a.m.
None of yer newfangled printers here. My receipt in the photo came from a tear-off pad with a little tracking number sticker and an official rubber datestamp (showing the previous day's date by mistake). I believe I can use it as a vaccination card as well. (Yes, that is a duck peeking over my hand. His name is Laszlo, according to our daughter, and he rides in the corner of the dashboard in our Sienna.)
buyselljack2016
·3 years ago600, that's the big time compared to the closest (not my PO) one to me.
In my area the hand held scanner, and a credit/debit card receipt printer is as fancy as it gets for many offices. They have a scale that at one point was updated with a new chip when there were rate changes to tell the employee the cost of the item mailing, but in what I suppose was a cost cutting effort, at one time they stopped doing the chip updates, and the employee had to pick up the printed rate fold, and Zip Zone chart to figure out the postage. They do have a printer that spits out a postage label, but the tracking sticker is a separate sticker.
That was a few years back. From my occasional observations it seems that they must have them (chips) again as I don't recall the employee checking a rate fold for a customer's package when I have been there for my dropoff's.
1st 4 offices in my line of travel are manual offices. then I hit one with a Point Of Sale (POS One) terminal. Other direction 4of 5 are manual with the 2nd being POS One.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoOr maybe the clerk is looking up the postage cost using the shipping calculator at usps.com on his phone.
pcobra93
·3 years agoDid you send Priority or First Class? If Priority, the tracking will be on the USPS receipt. If First class and not as a package then there is no tracking. This has been an issue for some time with people that ship i envelopes. You could correct the problem by sending another package with anything or nothing in it to each customer and get a tracking number....upload it to each transaction and when it gets "delivered" it will be the same as if you had tracking originally. There may be other work arounds but that is what i would do if they were holding my money hostage due to "no tracking".....
toews.trendal
OP3 years agoI hadn't thought of that idea, that might work if nothing else does. I guess part of the confusion is it has taken a week of back and forth just to figure out this much, that there is tracking info missing from the first sold items and that is what has eBay all cranked up.
pcobra93
·3 years agoDid the buyers leave feedback? i thought that once they left feedback, the tracking issue with holds on funds went away but so many changes every day make it difficult to keep up. You could message them and explain the situation also. If they still had the boxes with the label, they could message you the tracking number on it.
luckythewinner
·3 years agoIf the receipt is from a US post office and there is no tracking information on the receipt, then you must not have used a service that provided tracking.
brightlightbookseller
·3 years agoContact eBay for Business via Facebook or Twitter. They have more power to help you than the phone support or going back and forth in messages. I don't know if they can fix this, but they're your best shot probably. In the future, though, make sure you do get that tracking, it's important for your metrics and ratings. I find it easiest to purchase labels online (either through eBay or one of the many third-party services) so that you have the tracking number while you still have the package in your hands.
monica-sells
·3 years agoIs this U.S. based Post Office?
if so, any and all receipts (for postage purchased at the Post Office) have the tracking number printed on them....it is standard operating procedure (if you bought postage with tracking)
If you generated labels, those would be available through the program you printed the labels on.....
if you just handed envelopes/boxes with STAMPS on them, there are no tracking numbers
ckimodog
·3 years ago@toews.trendal
Not seeing any sales on this ID. Why didn't you use Ebay's shipping label feature? They notify the buyer of shipment, provide a tracking number and will even pick your item up at your home. Really can't give any advice given the info you've provided. What were you selling?
toews.trendal
OP3 years agoYeah, I mentioned the items were sold on a different account, I'm helping a friend here.