There have been some posts on the new tracking window so the last couple of days I have been watching mine. I am not sure if this is as a result of how this is coded or if I am not understanding how this is supposed to work.
I was under the impression this new functionality was to give a quick current status to everyone and then if the seller or buyer wanted to, they could click a link to see the detailed information.
I sell something, the USPS picks up the item and off it goes to its new home.
On the old tracking window, all of the available USPS tracking scans were available. The new tracking window is supposed to show a quick status at the top and then the option to go further into details. The issue is the new status is not actually showing the current status, at least from my view.
Here is an item that sold over the weekend.
Here is the quick view on eBay. It shows the item was accepted but the In Transit is not filled in. If a buyer looks at this, they can (and are) confused because although their package was accepted it does not look like it is moving.
If they click the show tracking details, this is what they see, the item was picked up and it has processed through the Distribution center. It is "In Transit"
This is the tracking status of the same package on USPS. Note that the USPS status shows it has left the distribution center and it is obviously in transit.
Here is the detailed tracking on the USPS site (that does not match the scan status in the detailed tracking on eBay for some reason).
When an item has any USPS status/scan update after the initial acceptance scan like as shown above, the In Transit should be filled in on the quick view at the top of the new tracking screen. The package has moved, it is in transit.
It can take days for the "In Transit" to update, sometimes it never hits that status and goes straight from accepted to out for delivery or from accepted to delivered on the top view which gives the impression to the buyer that their package is not moving.
I understand that this can happen if there are no intermediate scans, but I do not understand why it is not showing In Transit when there are intermediate scans. Now the buyer or seller has to do the extra step click another link to see the real status, which they did not have to in the past. It was all visible on the tracking page that was changed.
I cannot remember if the old version was also not showing the incorrect in transit status but now that this is the only view to a buyer without them taking an extra step, it should populate correctly.
Am I missing something on how this is supposed to work?
1 BEST ANSWER
Accepted Solutions
@blingfling123 wrote:
Okay last comment 🙂
Out for delivery/delivered
This item was in the below status. In transit checked, out for delivery not checked.
But look at what happens when it IS delivered.
The blue dots are gone. There is now the green delivered dot.
This tells me the Out For Delivery dot is redundent becase it never gets filled out.
So in closing,
The original view showed the dots and the status. Now the new view shows the dots with the click for more information.
The dots are not representative of what is actually happening with a package and one of them is redundant.
We were always at the mercy of the carrier during the process of delivery.
Because only half of the story is shown (and not shown correctly) we are now at the also at the mercy of the new eBay display during the process of the delivery.
The ultimate goal of this is to share current and correct information to a buyer who wants to know the status of their item.
You mentioned that the team was going to be looking at ways of making this more obvious as to what is actually happening but I hope that you can share these use cases with the team so they can kind of understand why we are all scratching our heads at what is displayed and how it is displayed.
Thanks
Thank you for the detailed info @blingfling123. I believe they're aware and why they said they have changes in the works to make things clearer, but I'm passing these posts on as they may be helpful in determining what those changes end up being. Thank you again!
@blingfling123 wrote:
There have been some posts on the new tracking window so the last couple of days I have been watching mine. I am not sure if this is as a result of how this is coded or if I am not understanding how this is supposed to work.
I was under the impression this new functionality was to give a quick current status to everyone and then if the seller or buyer wanted to, they could click a link to see the detailed information.
I sell something, the USPS picks up the item and off it goes to its new home.
On the old tracking window, all of the available USPS tracking scans were available. The new tracking window is supposed to show a quick status at the top and then the option to go further into details. The issue is the new status is not actually showing the current status, at least from my view.
Here is an item that sold over the weekend.
Here is the quick view on eBay. It shows the item was accepted but the In Transit is not filled in. If a buyer looks at this, they can (and are) confused because although their package was accepted it does not look like it is moving.
If they click the show tracking details, this is what they see, the item was picked up and it has processed through the Distribution center. It is "In Transit"
This is the tracking status of the same package on USPS. Note that the USPS status shows it has left the distribution center and it is obviously in transit.
Here is the detailed tracking on the USPS site (that does not match the scan status in the detailed tracking on eBay for some reason).
When an item has any USPS status/scan update after the initial acceptance scan like as shown above, the In Transit should be filled in on the quick view at the top of the new tracking screen. The package has moved, it is in transit.
It can take days for the "In Transit" to update, sometimes it never hits that status and goes straight from accepted to out for delivery or from accepted to delivered on the top view which gives the impression to the buyer that their package is not moving.
I understand that this can happen if there are no intermediate scans, but I do not understand why it is not showing In Transit when there are intermediate scans. Now the buyer or seller has to do the extra step click another link to see the real status, which they did not have to in the past. It was all visible on the tracking page that was changed.
I cannot remember if the old version was also not showing the incorrect in transit status but now that this is the only view to a buyer without them taking an extra step, it should populate correctly.
Am I missing something on how this is supposed to work?
Let me see what I can find out @blingfling123. 😊
velvet@ebay wrote:
@blingfling123 wrote:[...]
I understand that this can happen if there are no intermediate scans, but I do not understand why it is not showing In Transit when there are intermediate scans. Now the buyer or seller has to do the extra step click another link to see the real status, which they did not have to in the past. It was all visible on the tracking page that was changed.
I cannot remember if the old version was also not showing the incorrect in transit status but now that this is the only view to a buyer without them taking an extra step, it should populate correctly.
Am I missing something on how this is supposed to work?
Let me see what I can find out @blingfling123. 😊
velvet@ebay: I noticed the same thing on my shipments, such as this one (below) that's actually been In Transit with multiple scans along the way since last weekend. I think I can see what was intended by whoever coded it, but it takes some squinting:
The blue checkmark indicates that that process step has been completed, and the next line segment and empty circle are highlighted in blue, indicating the current stage of the shipment. We're not going to see a blue checkmark there until the Out for Delivery scan occurs in the next segment. This will take days.
Which is fine, except that at a glance, it's not easy to interpret it that way, especially if squinting at a small screen, or if your eyes are not sensitive enough to pick up the blue highlighting. I would suggest abandoning that intermediate phase where the line shows blue and the next checkmark circle shows blue-but-empty. Just check off the events as they occur, rather than waiting for the next one.
Thus, once the item shows Acceptance, bang out the first check mark. Once it is actually in motion, such as via a Departed scan or an Arrival at Sort Facility scan, then check off the In Transit indicator (because it really is In Transit, for an undetermined amount of time). Once the Out for Delivery scan is reported, check off the third marker, and hopefully the Delivered checkmark will be done soon after.
Trying to show a sort of fuzzy intermediate status where Acceptance has occurred but In Transit is for some reason not filled in, even though the line rule is highlighted, is way too subtle for the average user on the average device to see reliably.
If the powers-that-be are reluctant to take out that "in progress" highlighting, then find some other indicator to use for the current segment. For example, I would suggest using green instead of blue for completed segments. Keep blue for the "in progress" segment, but fill the empty circle with some other indicator such as a Right Arrow ("(>)") to show that it's active and moving towards its destination. Once the Out for Delivery is reached, that status gets the blue arrow, and the In Transit status goes green with a completed checkoff.
@blingfling123 wrote:
velvet@ebay Thank you.
Hello again @blingfling123! They've come back saying it’s currently working as intended but that the team is aware of the experience and have changes in the works to make things clearer. Thanks for the feedback!
I'm Baaaaaackkkk!! 🙂
Okay I did a lot of monitoring yesterday and I think @a_c_green has it right in that the check mark is the "completed step" but it is still not displayed correctly, nor does it reflect when something is completed.
I am going to post a couple of comments here so that they are not all jumbled up and I will note when they are all done.
First Comment - Acceptance Scan
Item 1
The below item was shipped yesterday. It had it its pick-up scan in the morning. My carrier uses the new scanners that do not need to be docked to register, they are wireless and always connected to the matrix, the status is updated on the USPS site before they even get back in their van when I hand them my packages.
This was the eBay status when that happened. Note that the while picked up scan is on the tracking in the eBay system. There was no "status" above the dots and the accepted dot was not checked.
Some time yesterday afternoon, but well before the item made its way to the dist center the status above the circle changed to the below saying the carrier has the package. If the status is the carrier has the package that means it has been accepted. Still no blue check mark filled in for accepted.
The truck gets to the dist center and the item is checked in and then checked out "processed through". Not sure if it means anything from a scan/eBay perspective but my dist facility is not a small sorting facility. They are a PDC/PDF facility. The accepted blue check did not get checked until AFTER the processed through the distribution scan. The status then changed to it's on its way to the buyer.
This is an issue.
If the carrier is in possession of the item that means it has been scanned. An item does not get a picked up scan or an acceptance scan unless it has been accepted by the USPS system. From what I have been able to see, the same applies to the other carriers. If I drop off a package to a UPS drop off location, even if I get a receipt from that location, the UPS acceptance scan within their system does not happen until UPS has it in their hands.
It should not take another scan for it to show up as accepted and the blue dot get filled in and here is where it can go sideways.
For USPS - If the distribution scan does not happen (and yes, this happens a lot) the accepted won't show until it hits the next dist center, sometimes days away. There are many reasons why the initial dist scan does not happen/register. When it is the holiday season the increase in instances of this happening is huge.
I have seen an item go from picked up to delivered with nothing in between.
Based on what I have seen with the dots and the process the buyer would never see a status of accepted or on its way to the buyer in this situation.
This gives erroneous information to a buyer. If there is a delay or no scan update the eBay system is not showing it as accepted. It also makes me wonder with respect to CS on the same.
If there is a scan by the carrier, that blue accepted circle is actually done. It should not be reliant on another scan that happens elsewhere to be completed. That step was complete when the scan was done.
*** The other question is, with this new process, I hope eBay has not changed the way they are tracking the metrics for uploaded and scanned on time because come the holiday silly season, dist center departure scans go from being done around 9pm the same day to well after midnight (basically the next day).
On to the next comment.
Comment two.
In Transit.
Here is an item that was shipped the other day. It is not going very far so the steps are close.
This item has had 7 total scans. While on this one these all happened within the same 24 hours for a regular package that was not going far, these steps can be spread out over a matter of days in general.
Picked up
Arrived my dist
Left my dist
Arrived Jackson dist
Left Jackson dist
Arrived at Madison
Arrived at Madison Unit.
The status at the top does not change with every scan update. I am not sure if that is a result of the fact that eBay only pulls on a specific schedule or not.
This is where I think @a_c_green is going with the visual. That in transit dot is not filled out and it is really not intuitive that it IS in transit. There have been multiple scans along the way. I am not sure why that box cannot be filled out once a scan is done after the acceptance scan. This item is clearly in transit. In transit is a current action, not a past action.
Same Item - Now the item is out for delivery. The status and scan is on the tracking in eBay and on the USPS site.
The In Transit was finally checked. But the Out for delivery is not checked even though that is the status above the dots and the scan. This is where I think the completed check comes in on the next comment.
Okay last comment 🙂
Out for delivery/delivered
This item was in the below status. In transit checked, out for delivery not checked.
But look at what happens when it IS delivered.
The blue dots are gone. There is now the green delivered dot.
This tells me the Out For Delivery dot is redundent becase it never gets filled out.
So in closing,
The original view showed the dots and the status. Now the new view shows the dots with the click for more information.
The dots are not representative of what is actually happening with a package and one of them is redundant.
We were always at the mercy of the carrier during the process of delivery.
Because only half of the story is shown (and not shown correctly) we are now at the also at the mercy of the new eBay display during the process of the delivery.
The ultimate goal of this is to share current and correct information to a buyer who wants to know the status of their item.
You mentioned that the team was going to be looking at ways of making this more obvious as to what is actually happening but I hope that you can share these use cases with the team so they can kind of understand why we are all scratching our heads at what is displayed and how it is displayed.
Thanks
@blingfling123 wrote:
Okay last comment 🙂
Out for delivery/delivered
This item was in the below status. In transit checked, out for delivery not checked.
But look at what happens when it IS delivered.
The blue dots are gone. There is now the green delivered dot.
This tells me the Out For Delivery dot is redundent becase it never gets filled out.
So in closing,
The original view showed the dots and the status. Now the new view shows the dots with the click for more information.
The dots are not representative of what is actually happening with a package and one of them is redundant.
We were always at the mercy of the carrier during the process of delivery.
Because only half of the story is shown (and not shown correctly) we are now at the also at the mercy of the new eBay display during the process of the delivery.
The ultimate goal of this is to share current and correct information to a buyer who wants to know the status of their item.
You mentioned that the team was going to be looking at ways of making this more obvious as to what is actually happening but I hope that you can share these use cases with the team so they can kind of understand why we are all scratching our heads at what is displayed and how it is displayed.
Thanks
Thank you for the detailed info @blingfling123. I believe they're aware and why they said they have changes in the works to make things clearer, but I'm passing these posts on as they may be helpful in determining what those changes end up being. Thank you again!
