Over the years, people started validating forms submitted on the Internet to save time and avoid confusion. If you try typing letters into a ZIP code form field, it will tell you that only numbers are valid. If you don't have an @ sign or a period (.) in your email address it will tell you that it's not a valid email address.
Why can't eBay do something like this with tracking numbers from sellers shipping via USPS?
A USPS tracking number has 20 digits. I got a fake one from a seller the other day that was 31 digits long. This is obviously not a legit tracking number and doesn't work. The USPS page gives an error and says it's invalid.
Why would eBay allow a seller to use a bogus tracking number like this? They should be validating the "tracking number" form field from sellers and --- if it's over 20 digits long --- give an error telling them it's an invalid tracking number. Contains letters? Invalid. Not enough digits? Invalid.
Ebay shows tracking information from USPS --- so, their system is using an API to get information from the USPS web servers. How much harder would it be to monitor these messages? If the message from the USPS server says: "Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item" then the status on eBay should appear as "Pending" or "Processing" or "Waiting for Seller to Ship Your Item". Currently, the eBay system shows the status as "Shipped" which is not accurate. It doesn't become shipped until USPS receives the item.
Since eBay can monitor the Post Office API they should monitor whether the status changes. If the seller marks an item as "Shipped" and, 4 days later, the status still says: "Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item" then obviously the seller didn't ship the item. There are too many sellers on eBay taking advantage of this loophole and scamming buyers. Once they print the label, the item is considered "Shipped". This creates a lot of confusion and frustration for end users.
So, to solve this problem --- eBay needs to monitor sellers more closely.
1. Validate tracking numbers.
2. If USPS status says "Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item" the eBay status should be "Pending"
3. Once the item starts moving through the postal system the status should change to "Shipped"
4. Any item marked as "Shipped" which hasn't changed in 3 days should revert back to "Pending" status
Many times these bad sellers will print a shipping label and then ignore the customer for 4 or 5 days. When the customer writes to complain, they will say "USPS didn't scan the item" or "USPS must have lost it". The buyer has to waste a bunch of time trying to track down their package and get eBay involved.
Sellers giving fake tracking numbers and not shipping items has become a huge problem on eBay.
