Is tracking mandatory?

[schizochupacabra1]

Hello, 

I have bought a few items recently and the sellers don't have tracking for the item. Isn't tracking mandatory.  Especially with USPS, that they have to have tracking? And with these sellers my items never get it delivered. But then they show me some third party tracking company that the item went through my post office but says nothing about it being delivered. 

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi, most sellers use tracking. However it is not mandatory. 

If you do not receive an item and the seller is uncooperative, you need to go to the Resolution Center and open an Item Not Received case. Ebay guarantees you will receive your item or  get a full refund. You have rights here.

Are you by any chance buying from overseas sellers with a long shipment time? 

[duncanvr]

Showing a third party tracking company sounds like that seller is a drop shipper. Tracking is not mandatory I send airmail world wide and currently have 11825 positive feedback. If your items never arrive open an item not received case and ask for a refund.

[nobody*s_perfect]

All carriers, including USPS, automatically include a tracking number at no additional cost for all package shipments.  So I'd be very suspicious of any seller who refuses to share that information, unless the item was so small it could be mailed as a letter or flat (AKA Large envelope) without tracking.

[slati_2013]

Tracking is not mandatory, however for a seller, it the buyer claims they did not receive the item, the seller will lose the case and have to refund the buyer. 

[marnotom!]

As suggested earlier, tracking is more for the seller's benefit than for the buyer's.

Knowing where your item has been may give you the warm fuzzies, but it really doesn't do you much good.  At the end of the day, the only thing that really counts is if the item you purchased is in your hot little hands in the condition described.

[muttlymob]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

All carriers, including USPS, automatically include a tracking number at no additional cost for all package shipments. 

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Actually it is still possible to mail USPS packages without tracking.

For one example, a package mailed with just stamps and dropped in a mail chute in a PO or a blue box.

Other packages, even including Priority, can somehow be sent without tracking also.  Don't know how.  Or why.  But it is possible and does happen.

[dbmm-media]

no

[monster-deals]

Unless you are selling no/low cost items then yeah....it is pretty much mandatory but not from a rules and policy standpoint.

[misfitfun]

are these international sellers?

[postingid2017]

Because I've worked in the legal field and having proof that I mailed whatever to whom, I always had to track documents sent date and the date the Plaintiff/Defense attorney's received.  Therefore, whatever I ship and/or mail - it is track and with mail, I request a signature.  I sent a signed document to my father's new insurance company and I sent it Certified/RRR.  The insurance company sent a letter that they "do not have blah blah blah," and I was prepared for a fight - lucky for them, the signed document was "received" before I had to call 😉 - tracking is a good thing when online selling is involved because each party is aware of the sent/transit/received.  

[darkstone2015]

I wouldn't ship anything without tracking, not even a $0.99 item. Last person that claimed they didn't get their item I just sent them tracking # and copied and pasted the tracking info that their item had been delivered and I never heard from them again. They waited like 2 weeks after it was delivered to tell me they didn't receive it.