Tracking numbers

[*loosegravel*]

I'm sure that I'm not the only person who's seen the latest trend. I'm a buyer on eBay, not a seller. I've been purchasing items on eBay for about 20 years now. For the most part, I'm a very happy buyer with some very positive experiences. But this latest trend is very confusing to me and quite frankly discouraging. When I purchase items, the response from the seller is normally very prompt. (With the exception of making purchases on a weekend, which is to be expected) The seller will, in most cases provide a tracking number and the item will usually begin its movement through the mail almost immediately. However, in some cases even though a tracking number may have been provided in a very short period of time after I made the purchase, the item is not actually shipped for several days. This can be seen because it says, "package acceptance pending." I've been seeing this more and more. The other disturbing trend that I'm seeing is that eBay sellers are allowed to list items that aren't actually in their inventory. Usually when this happens, the seller quickly will send me a message that says they're out of this item. At least this gives me the option of cancelling the order and then place the order with someone else. I'm currently dealing with one seller right now who provide me with a tracking number for two items on the same day that I made the purchase. (Sept. 14th) On Sept. 26th the shipping status still reads "package acceptance pending" I contacted the seller who responded with "yeah, we're still waiting to receive these items from our distributor." This is fraudulent and frustrating to say the least.

[heckofagame]

Sellers are required to handle shipping within their specified handling time. Just because they print a label doesn't mean they immediately have to sprint to the post office. Or they are waiting for a pickup. 

Sellers are not "allowed" to list items that they do not have unless they are pre-order, but those have a 30-day limit. When the seller is out of stock, be sure that they cancel as "out of stock", not "buyer requested". 

[*loosegravel*]

Thanks for your reply, but these are the trends that I'm seeing. Sellers are able to keep listings active even when they're out of those items. One seller even went as far as to tell me that they have to do this, or eBay makes them take their listings down. It has happened to me on several different occasions. Yes, the seller does normally send me an apologetic message in a relatively short period of time to let me know that they're out of the item that I just committed to purchasing, it's still not right. And, why give buyers false information by providing a shipping number days before the item is actually shipped? 

[nobody*s_perfect]

"Package acceptance pending" does not mean that your seller has not shipped the package.  

It means that the PO has received the package but it was part of a group of packages submitted with a single "SCAN" form, and that the individual separate package scan hasn't been done yet; this is usually done at a sorting center rather than at the sender's Post Office. So what you are seeing is a trend in USPS operations, not a trend in lazy or misleading sellers.

If you want to discourage sellers from listing things they don't have, then you should refuse to request a transaction cancellation. Instead, tell the seller that they should cancel based on "Out of stock". This gets them a defect point which eventually can lead to serious limits on their selling privileges. If they fail to cancel, then eventually you'll have to file a claim for "Item not received" which also will penalize their account.

[kathiec]

Every online venue I purchase from sends me a tracking number when the label is generated, not just eBay. And most know exactly when the package goes out. Ebay, on the other hand, has no way of monitoring when sellers actually ship. To me it's a non-issue. The only thing that interests me is the estimated delivery dates.

[4pawsup*]

I just had a buyer say the same thing to me. I shipped 5 packages on the same day all to different buyers. Well 4 of them stated USPS is in possession of the item. For three days one package continued to say tracking number provided USPS awaits the item. Buyer did not believe i shipped his purchase and kept messaging me twice a day. On the 4th day i shipped another item same as he purchased the first time. That evening the missing package and the second one both showed up. The buyer received both packages on the same day. Now i am the one out the item. I was concerned about my rating the buyer would leave if i did not ship another one. Lesson learned on my part.

[house*of*paws]

Hi @*loosegravel* 

Sellers are allowed to use 'dropshippers' ... which means they may not know that an item is 'out of stock' until someone buys it.  You are assuming that a seller is knowingly listing items that are OOS.

I personally haven't noticed any change in the shipping time of packages over the years ... except it seems to be taking longer for packages to reach me after they've been shipped.

I suspect that the rise of Amazon has increased buyers' expectations as to how long it should take for an item to arrive.  Amazon is abnormally fast because of having their own warehouses, vans and drivers.

[soh.maryl]

Supposedly, a buyer cannot, or at least should not be able to, open an item not received case unless the item is at least 24 hours late in relation to its last estimated delivery date as seen in the listing.

Why not contact the buyer, explain what probably happened, and ask if he would mind waiting another day or two longer because the USPS can be notoriously slow?

[*loosegravel*]

"I suspect that the rise of Amazon has increased buyers' expectations as to how long it should take for an item to arrive.  Amazon is abnormally fast because of having their own warehouses, vans and drivers."

Thanks for the reply. I don't subscribe to Amazon. My experiences are solely from eBay and my purchases here over the years. The changes/trends that I've mentioned here are what I'm seeing taking place within eBay and are from my experience.

[12345jamesstamps]

There is always that money back guarantee so I wouldn't worry.

Most of my items are shipped without tracking.

Package pending basically means seller will ship it...but not that very minute...it could be a few days. It never bothered me getting the saying "package acceptance pending".

So some sellers will not go out in pouring rain or terrible weather or if an emergency came up. I would never do out in a tornado or hurricane. Most sellers here are not of Amazon shipping.

We just had a big convention(thousands)  hosted in the city for 3 days and the last thing I wanted to do is drive to a post office.

Relax...its in the mail.