Buyer says they never received item, USPS tracking says "Information Available Soon"?

[stickerberry]

Hello all. So a buyer bought a pair of Nikes from me, I shipped them out on July 27. The buyer has now opened a dispute saying they never received the item, I checked the tracking and sure enough there's been no update on it. It only says "Information Available Soon. USPS doesn't yet have a status update on this item shipped from the Post Office. Information is usually updated within the hour of your visit. Please check back soon." 

So I did some digging around on the internet and a lot of people says this usually happens when the tracking number is wrong. Unfortunately I've looked everywhere for the USPS receipt but I cant find it anywhere (definitely taking this as a future lesson to keep ALL my receipts in one place). At this point I'm really not sure what to do, I've sold a number of items on eBay and have never had to deal with a customer not receiving their product. I don't want to accuse the buyer of being a liar but I find it rather fishy that the ONE transaction where I might've screwed up on the tracking number, the buyer is claiming they didn't receive the item. Or maybe they're actually telling the truth and it's delayed? (sorry if I sound so pessimistic, I've dealt with ALOT of scammers on ebay) 

So has anybody ever seen the "Information Avialable Soon" status for USPS tracking? Does it mean the tracking number is wrong or is it truly delayed on USPS's part? Now I'm just worried that I'm potentially out of my money AND my product 😞 

[aldente28]

I usually get something like "label created, not yet in system" when that's the case and USPS doesn't have it yet.

When you enter a wrong number, I think you get "status not available".

Sounds like you might need to get an actual definition for the status you see. That might help you figure out what's going on.

Scammers do exist, but you can't really do anything about it so I'd suggest focusing on figuring out what's going on and what you can do rather than being accusatory. Ebay has its policies and procedures, so pointing a finger won't get you very far. Your best bet is to try to find out what happened, and what if anything you can do to fix it.

[kensgiftshop]

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@stickerberry wrote:

Now I'm just worried that I'm potentially out of my money AND my product 😞 

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If tracking doesn't show it being delivered or recent tracking updates, you'll probably be refunding.

You can try filing a lost package claim or try having the package intercepted and sent back to you if it ever shows up.

[stickerberry]

Say I have the wrong tracking number, will I still be able to file a lost package claim or have it intercepted?

[7198dave]

A couple weeks ago, I shipped a package. It didn't get scanned for like 5 days. It looked like I never even shipped the item. I went to post office, they couldn't find the package and since it had not been scanned, they suggested it was stolen out of my mailbox or lost in transit. But they could do nothing since it was never scanned. That could be your issue. Your package is probably stuck somewhere. I just had a package stuck for 10 days, it finally moved and now it's stuck again.

[postingid7659]

Insist they scan them at the counter, this doesn't happen, you have a record they at least have the package.

Works fine if you don't ship too many at any one time, if you have dozens then that's another story.

Because I still pay at the counter I now have them email me a receipt which lets me copy and paste tracking numbers, so no more errors with transposing numbers or reading them wrong, although I can still possibly transpose the entire number between two listings.  I've done that a few times and if I catch it I email the buyer and explain what happened, tell them eBay penalizes me for correcting it, and provide the tracking number. 

[vintagecraze50]

If you used USPS they are having incredible problems right now getting packages scanned, and there are a lot of delays and lost packages. Get online on USPS and start a package trace report. If it is stuck somewhere the trace might get it unstuck and delivered. This is an incredibly bad time for this to be happening. It’s all over the news that USPS is going broke and they cut overtime for employees so packages are really moving at a turtles pace, left sitting somewhere for days at times. Good luck.

[slippinjimmy]

I had a package in mid-June that went into the ether.

Everything else that was dropped off at the P.O. loading dock that day was scanned and then delivered, that one package never received a scan and has not arrived.

It's only the second time USPS have actually lost a domestic package in 40 years of mail order.

I know for a fact that the tracking number is correct and the label could be scanned, there is pretty much zero chance the buyer is being anything less than truthful.

I have in the past had a few packages which never receive Acceptance Scans or In Transit scans but do pop up at the end with a Delivery scan.

[vintagecraze50]

Information available soon is probably some new thing they have added to disguise their current incompetence in getting these packages delivered. 

[vintagecraze50]

Tell the buyer that you are contacting USPS doing a trace report, lost package report to try to find out what is going on with their item and ask if they can be patient until you get an answer.

[vintagecraze50]

Knock on wood mr Jimmy, as we have had zero lost packages from USPS in 10 years of selling here, but recently three or four and possibly more coming due to this overtime freeze USPS is doing and messing with peoples businesses here and elsewhere.

[stumblebumble]

I see you are in Raleigh according to your listings.  By chance do your packages go to thru Fayetteville, NC sort facility.  If they do, that could be the problem   I had a package stuck there for over 30 days.  I shipped on June 15 (I had my receipt of the scan) it did not actually scan out of Fayetteville, NC until July 23rd and was delivered July 25th.  I called the Post Office several times, and the PO where the shipment was going to as there had been no further movement out of the sort facility.  I was told that sort facilities were short staffed and packages were so backed up, there was nothing moving.  I don't recall seeing that exact wording.   At 30 days July 15th I finally filed a lost package report.  USPS then determined the package was lost and refunded me for it.  I had shipped priority mail.  Finally on July 23, the package appears in the scan and was delivered to the buyer.  The buyer was patient and never bothered me or filed an INR, but I refunded on July 16.  USPS refunded me shortly thereafter, so I wasn't out any money.  But customer got item for free and got refunded.  I just left it at that.  

[liawrig.nq8rdwqa3]

OP, it seems like you go direct to the PO to mail?  Not good.  Get a scale and ship through Ebay or Paypal-ship now.  That way you have electronic receipts in your computer.

Your best bet since it's been more than 7 days is to file a Missing Mail report at usps.com.  Or, you can contact the post office where the regional distribution center is.  I have done this many times.  Find the regional distribution center and hound them to find your package.

Another thing to do:  go to usps.com and get email alerts about the delivery.  I just did this yesterday for 3 packages, one that's a Priority Mail and on the 8th day of being delivered.  The USPS will send you updates.

But -- the PO is painfully slow.  It has been since before Covid19, but CV19 has just accelerated the slowness.  Lack of staff.  And the new guy doesn't want them to work overtime.  Just google "USPS problems" and see what hits you get.

Explain this to your buyer.  It's the USPS fault.

[norskmediashop]

this, just explain to the buyer as vitagecraze50 said and they will usually understand. file a trace report with usps and they usually call you on the same day about it and you can talk to a real person if you choose a call back. Its gets unstuck and starts moving again. We have had to do this several times already with the USPS mess going on, and it worked or helped and all packages stuck were delivered. Also because of this problem we took batches into the post office and demanded they be scanned in front of us, they said no, but we explained the situation and persisted and they did it. Its getting beyond ridiculous the fight one has to go through to ship something now or track it down but put your foot down with them and it works. Ask for a supervisor as well if need be. You have to be persistent no matter the method to get anywhere with this. I hope what they did changes, everything ran smoothly during the first few months of covid till mid july when their new postmaster dropped the ball.  All of this should not be so difficult. But at least ebay is removing defects, again with more persistence. But we got a neutral feedback and defect removed yesterday for late arrival comments.