eBay

pingpong517 · ‎09-08-2018

I have a story and big question. A quick story...on my way out of town i had a package to send..i had done the ebay label the night before and was going to give it to USPS Post Office i usually use... it wasn't open at 8:30am..so i drove about two miles to the next one i knew...and figure if they were open at 8:30 -i would give it to them..otherwise maybe just wait til 9am....SO they were open ...and let set this part up:

My town's P.O. is about 5 mile the opposite way...so i use the small p.o. nearer, but sits in the town just across the road( about 2 miles from me, so closer )... the last p.o. i ended up that morning is about 2 miles over a bridge in a different county , but these town all are so close.

ok so I go in because this one is open...I am the only person there..i hand it over and wait to be scanned. THIS IS THE PART IMPORTANT TO NOTE: HE gives me an attitude and says I am suppose to and can only mail this(give it to) the p.o. in the town that is MY return address. HE says it is on the "site" and all on-line created postage is the same rule... homeland security bla bla bla... ALL on-line created labels..so ebay USPS click and ship..stamps.com..etc....ALL have to be and can only be dropped( counter scanned) by the p.o. that is the return address....

SO, my question is ( and who knows if he was 100% r i am just stupid), is this correct..has anyone heard or seen this "statement" or "condition" said to be an OFFICIAL warning or rule....when creating a label...either on USPS site, ebay or paypal..stamps.com..anywhere?

I was a bit stunned by his attitude, OH he did say "i'll do it this one time".... ummmm did he just break the rule /law/homeland security ??? Wouldn't that mean i would need to report him ....if what HE said were true...as he said? He didn't even ask for my ID...you'd think that might have been a good idea ...at least to say ok it matches....BUT the return address? to me it's odd... because first I have used the othe P.O. near me many times since i moved to TX, and many many times before that in CT ..using different towns to drop of packages and envelopes being it was on my way to other stuff....

I like USPS and haven't had issues...I thought another post was being over the top when they said the USPS clerk yelled at them to stand in line...which i do think standing in line is fair...just dropping and leaving them without them giving the ok, is rude too...BUT now i see why the person was mad...the attitude towards on-line sellers maybe?

AND i get if the postage is calculated and say i end up going to another USPS making the postage wrong..BUT that's on me...refunded or charged more to my account that shows and is used... AND i thought you can use ANY P.O. to send a item... and I often use thee blue box...in different locations/towns because they are convenient.

So has anyone heard to this "RULE" or and CONDITION that are on us - when we create a label on-line and then drop it off...

hwa_59 · ‎09-09-2018

The label you print on Ebay or Paypal does expire in x number of days,but yu dont have t o ship same day as you indicated on EBAY,most sellers will ship same or next day or later/

It is misleading for EBAY to say you have shipped just because you printed a shipping label online with them,some buyers are anxious and will nail you for that/

as to expiration,USPS has some guidelines,if you print on their site,it has a longer expiration date.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎09-09-2018

@tiramisu41 wrote:
... When you go to print (at least on eBay), at the bottom of the screen it always asks what day you will be shipping. Does it matter *to USPS* whether you really ship that day or not? ...

Yes, the date matters. From the DMM again, the section above the one I quoted in an earlier post:

4.6.2 Mailing Date Accuracy and Mailing Periods

The date or period when mailers may deposit or present metered mail for mailing is controlled by the mailing date in the indicia under the following conditions.

Complete Date. Mailpieces bearing a complete date in the indicia must be deposited or presented on that date, except that pieces entered after the day‘s last scheduled collection from the Post Office or collection box may bear the actual date of entry or the date of the next scheduled collection from the Post Office or collection box. When authorized by USPS, presort mail accepted after midnight may bear the previous day‘s date. If the mailer knows that the mail is not to be deposited or presented on the date in the indicia, the mailer must use a date correction indicium under 4.5.1.

In other words, the reason that eBay gives you a choice for a future date to print on your label is because the USPS cares about the date that is printed on the label. Many PO's are flexible and will accept a label that's a day or two "stale," but the don't have to.

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎09-09-2018

I thought the date was the date you were planning to ship? You can set it into the future and some POs are very strict on you shipping on the label date.

Has that changed?

tiramisu41 · ‎09-09-2018

@hwa_59 wrote:
The label you print on Ebay or Paypal does expire in x number of days,but yu dont have t o ship same day as you indicated on EBAY,most sellers will ship same or next day or later/
It is misleading for EBAY to say you have shipped just because you printed a shipping label online with them,some buyers are anxious and will nail you for that/
as to expiration,USPS has some guidelines,if you print on their site,it has a longer expiration date.

@hwa_59, while it might be misleading of eBay to tell the item has shipped in response to a seller printing a label, unfortunately that is exactly what happens. When a Tracking # is entered into the transaction (whether that be automatically via eBay Labels or when you buy/print your postage elsewhere and manually enter the number) that triggers eBay to send the buyer a shipping notification. That's why a lot of sellers get buyers messaging them saying: "What does it mean when my shipping info says Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item, OR Pre-Shipment Info Sent To USPS, USPS Awaiting Item?"

What eBay *should* do, is send a shipping notification to buyers when eBay has been notified by USPS that they are in possession of the item (IOW they've scanned it), but they don't.

As far as whether it's kosher to print a label one day and send the package out the next (or a couple of days later), here's some additional info from Stamps.com: https://stamps.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/303/~/am-i-required-to-send-my-package-on-the-da... which is a lot more "user-friendly" than what's on the USPS website.

Apparently, if you *don't* ship on the date you indicated on the label when you printed it, you're supposed void the label and start over providing the correct date. (News to me!) You can, however, post-date your labels (up to seven days in the future for most all mail, but only three days in the future for Priority Mail Express and International labels). If you buy your labels from eBay, however, they only allow you to post-date any/all labels three days in advance, probably to avoid problems with Priority Mail Express and International shipments.

I've found nothing anywhere that says if you print a label with a mail date of tomorrow, but decide to drop it off at the PO today, then that's a problem. I've done that a few times when I realized I wouldn't be able to get to the PO the next day as I thought so I rushed over and dropped everything off by closing time the afternoon before. Didn't have any problems or issues, so I am assuming that is okay.

Regardless, due to all of the above I will probably NOT be printing labels from now on indicating a same day shipping date as I have a two-day handling time on purpose so that I am not having to run to the PO or deal with a pick-up every day. Haven't had an issues so far, but also don't want to have any in the future, IYKWIM.

And, thanks very much to everyone who responded to my initial inquiry and provided more info about this issue. Very informative. Appreciate it!

umoraski · ‎09-09-2018

This Post Office Clerk sounds like he had too much coffee that morning. I have dropped my mail off at different Post Offices before - but close to my house. They never said anything to me. But one time something was said and it did make sense - they told me that there is a Route number on the label that the mail truck takes. I don't know if this is true, but I did see a number in a square. So now I always print my label using the Zip Code of the PO I am using. I was also told, because sometimes I do have 4 or 5 pieces, that they get credit for the mail dropped off if it has their zip code on it.

cherry*fizz · ‎09-09-2018

I have 3 places I drop my packages, either my home PO, the airport PO which is about a mile away and shaves at least a day off the delivery, or from my mothers work, about 4 miles away. I try and change to the correct ZIP but I don't always drop it at the one on my package and I have never had a problem. And the airport is 55111, mine is 55417, so they aren't even the same first 3 digits even though it's literally a mile away in the same city.

yuzuha · ‎09-09-2018

@cherry*fizz wrote:
I have 3 places I drop my packages, either my home PO, the airport PO which is about a mile away and shaves at least a day off the delivery, or from my mothers work, about 4 miles away. I try and change to the correct ZIP but I don't always drop it at the one on my package and I have never had a problem. And the airport is 55111, mine is 55417, so they aren't even the same first 3 digits even though it's literally a mile away in the same city.

Yep, I live in DC but work in MD, so most of my stuff gets dropped off at the PO down the street from where I work. I work about a mile away from where I live but the zip code there only shares the same first 2 digits... it's never made a difference.

buyselljack2016 · ‎09-09-2018

@cherry*fizz wrote:
I have 3 places I drop my packages, either my home PO, the airport PO which is about a mile away and shaves at least a day off the delivery, or from my mothers work, about 4 miles away. I try and change to the correct ZIP but I don't always drop it at the one on my package and I have never had a problem. And the airport is 55111, mine is 55417, so they aren't even the same first 3 digits even though it's literally a mile away in the same city.

As others have posted now, and before the first 3 digits matching would be assured to have the same shipping cost, but as with your example it is not limited to the first 3 digits being the same.

If the items are processed at the same NDC the shipping is the same. Here Zips 130-139 are processed at the same location, and the postage is the same.

Did not read some of the loooong posts so I don't know if this has been mentioned, but some sellers are seeing/using the "new shipping label" that will be shoved down our throats, and it does not have the option to change the "shipped from" Zip Code.