Creating a label isn't the same as "shipped"

[kod-85745]

I'd even go as far as calling it a lie. Don't tell me you've shipped my package if you haven't given it to a postal carrier. Whatever technicality you can summon up is just dancing around dishonesty, this system needs to be made more honest.

[1786davycrockett]

@kod-85745 

Sorry to be "dancing around dishonesty," but don't blame the eBay sellers -- it's all on eBay for submitting that notice whenever a seller has purchased a shipping label, whether a item is mailed during the next few minutes, or the next few days.

Furthermore -- this is the eBay community board:  just a bunch of unpaid volunteer sellers and buyers attempting to help out newer members, and to pass around any suggestions that may be working for us.

So you aren't actually communicating with eBay by using the eBay community boards -- none of us have anything resembling the power to change any eBay policies.

[richard1rst]

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@kod-85745 wrote:

I'd even go as far as calling it a lie. Don't tell me you've shipped my package if you haven't given it to a postal carrier. Whatever technicality you can summon up is just dancing around dishonesty, this system needs to be made more honest.

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I don't dance.

The fault is not with eBay nor the seller, but with yourself for not actually reading the email that eBay sends upon a purchase.

This is what I get when I buy something (the tracking number has been removed since, for this example, it is irrelevant)

(Emphasis added to make the point)

Notice that all the text is in the the future tense - i.e. telling you what is GOING to happen. If you then click the “track order” link it will show, initially, label created, then (in due course) package in the hands of the post office, etc.

Surely you do not expect me to print a label and then hot foot it to the post office to get it scanned, then return home and print another label, back to the post office, etc.

I print labels all day long and bring them all to the post office at the end of the day. Ideally they are are scanned immediately although sometimes it takes a day to appear on line. I have seen cases where a package was mailed and the FIRST scan it got was at the BUYER’S post office. All the way across the country without a single scan. Would you blame me or call me a liar for the post office’s deficiencies?

So to call us, or eBay, liars simply demonstrates a lack of knowledge on your part or your lack of attention to read the thoroughly explanatory emails eBay sends.

[evry1nositswindy]

If you sold an item, you would understand better.  We have 2 pages:  ready to ship and paid and shipped.  When an item is paid, we package the item, print the label, and tape it on the box.  This is then transferred to the paid and shipped page.  There is no in between.  A label is printed or it is not.  When the item is scanned as pick up, tracking is updated.  It updates as it travels.  There is not a mystery, it isn't dishonest.

[yuzuha]

This is hardly exclusive to eBay.

I ordered some coffee from World Market the other day. I got an email around 9 PM saying my order had shipped, but when I checked the tracking, the only entry that showed was "Label created, not yet in system." It wasn't actually picked up by the carrier until the next day.

[mam98031]

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@kod-85745 wrote:

I'd even go as far as calling it a lie. Don't tell me you've shipped my package if you haven't given it to a postal carrier. Whatever technicality you can summon up is just dancing around dishonesty, this system needs to be made more honest.

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This is just an automatic email Ebay sends when the seller creates the shipping label in Ebay.  Sellers do not have any control over that email.  However most sellers will give the package to the carrier on the same day.  Just watch your tracking.  I think you are just reading too much into the email and its intent.

No one is trying to cause you harm.  You just need to have a better understanding of the site and how it works.

[kensgiftshop]

How do you know it hasn't been shipped?

Sometimes they won't get a scan for a day or two.

[mybigsale]

As far as automation goes, there is actual purchase of postage and then the first scan that may occur any time (or never) after the package was dropped off. The alternative is to require sellers to manually enter time of actual shipping for each package. The sellers that aren't shipping when postage is purchased are probably the same sellers that would report the package was shipped when it is still waiting to be packed.

All my online orders from Am?z?n to random sellers have used postage purchased to report "shipped".  For almost all orders no scan within 1 day of "shipped" means the package has not actually shipped.

[toysaver]

"Don't tell me you've shipped my package if you haven't given it to a postal carrier."

I ship smaller stuff and don't usually give my packages to anyone at the PO.  I drop it in one of those big blue boxes.  They could rig up some way to read the label and pinpoint the time I made the drop but that would likely raise the cost of all shipping anything trifold.   

It's easy enough to track your packages and know when it hits the system.  That works for most people.  

[fern*wood]

I'm so sorry I lied to you by staying up late to get a delicate package ready to ship and printing my label, which automatically triggered an email informing you of the tracking number.  I had to further dance around dishonesty by leaving the package for the mail lady the next morning, since I had to leave town to be with my elderly dad and I couldn't find my mail lady anywhere to hand the package to at midnight.   I hope you can forgive me when your package arrives ahead of schedule because I have a three day handling time, but try like heck to be faster. 

[luckythewinner]

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@kod-85745 wrote:

I'd even go as far as calling it a lie. Don't tell me you've shipped my package if you haven't given it to a postal carrier. Whatever technicality you can summon up is just dancing around dishonesty, this system needs to be made more honest.

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First, I think most eBay buyers trust that a seller will deliver the item in a reasonable timeframe, and if that is not the case then eBay offers them both a guarantee and recourse against the seller. 

Second, I think that most eBay buyers do not care about the technical differences between "printed a label" and "accepted by the post office" and "shows movement".

And third, the few buyers who do obsess over those differences can check with the carrier directly.

If I were to make a list things I wish eBay would change, this would be near the bottom of a very long list. 

[bonjourami]

All you should be worrying about is your estimated date of delivery. Newbies like yourself seem to focus on unimportant details because they dont understand how Ebay works.

[gloryglorygifts]

Have you seen the article from the USPS about those big blue boxes? NEVER leave mail in it after a pick up has occurred. They have major problems with theft from those boxes. You may want to consider getting daily pick up from your home/location instead. https://www.iheart.com/content/2024-03-01-usps-warns-not-to-use-their-blue-mailboxes/?fbclid=IwAR0se...

[gloryglorygifts]

Anyone who sells on here pretty much knows that but thanks for the tip.

Giving it to your postal carrier isn't going to automatically get an acceptance scan either. I have daily pick ups from my pob and I'm still not seeing an acceptance scan that went out on the 2nd with 3 other packages. I know where they are, and I know that all were picked up. It has nothing to do with "dishonesty" and everything to do with a sometimes flawed postal system.