Tracking Number Question

[livecheapordie]

I just sold, and got paid for, two items to the same buyer, both listed with “free shipping,”. I bought and printed a USPS label for one of the items, packed both items in one shipping tube and mailed the tube.  I marked the item that I didn’t buy the label for as shipped.  Then I tried to enter the tracking number from the label as the number for the item that I didn’t buy the label for.  Ebay’s system responded, “This tracking number is not valid or has already been used.”

I’m guessing I made a mistake here, and that if I somehow had gotten a combined shipping label for both items I would have gotten a tracking number that applied to both items.  Is that right?  Is there anything else I should do here?  (I’m not worried about getting scammed by the buyer, because he has previously purchased a number of fairly high-priced [$200 to $500] items from me with no problems.)

[inhawaii]

I'm not sure hpw to fix this problem, but in the future...

On the shipping label page you are able to "combine" orders.

Ship two orders in the same box and print out one shipping label with one  tracking number for both orders.

When you do this, ebay will automatically assign that one tracking number to both orders.

[hartungcards · Accepted solution]

The one you "marked as shipped" - undo that as, "mark as not shipped" (or whatever) - then you should be able to manually enter a tracking number.

[top-down-fever]

Did your buyer use two different user ID's shipped to the same name and address?   If so, Ebay will not allow the first tracking number to be entered into the second item due to a different ID.  You can mark the second item as shipped and enter the tracking number in a note stating two different user ID's were used in the purchases.      

[chapeau-noir]

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@hartungcards wrote:

The one you "marked as shipped" - undo that as, "mark as not shipped" (or whatever) - then you should be able to manually enter a tracking number.

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@livecheapordie  Do this ^^^ Marking the item as 'shipped' confused the system and it thinks it's a completely different order. 

[livecheapordie]

This fixed it.  Thank you.

[a_c_green]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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@hartungcards wrote:

The one you "marked as shipped" - undo that as, "mark as not shipped" (or whatever) - then you should be able to manually enter a tracking number.

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@livecheapordie  Do this ^^^ Marking the item as 'shipped' confused the system and it thinks it's a completely different order. 

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Sorry but this is simply not correct. Whenever I ship a combined order, I mark the second item as Shipped, then paste in the tracking number that I copied out of the first shipment, and that works. Every time.

I agree that this will not work if the two items were purchased by two different guest account transactions, even if going to the same address, but for two separate purchases by the same account and for the same address, there is no reason why the Mark As Shipped/Add Tracking Number steps should not work as usual.

The only thing I can think of for why it's failing is possibly the tracking number was not copied accurately into the second item's shipping details, or a copy-and-paste of the first number inadvertently picked up some hidden formatting or codes in addition to the tracking number itself. (You should see a small Copy link next to the tracking number that is provided for this purpose.)

[jonathanbrightlight]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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@hartungcards wrote:

The one you "marked as shipped" - undo that as, "mark as not shipped" (or whatever) - then you should be able to manually enter a tracking number.

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@livecheapordie  Do this ^^^ Marking the item as 'shipped' confused the system and it thinks it's a completely different order. 

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Sorry but this is simply not correct. Whenever I ship a combined order, I mark the second item as Shipped, then paste in the tracking number that I copied out of the first shipment, and that works. Every time.

I agree that this will not work if the two items were purchased by two different guest account transactions, even if going to the same address, but for two separate purchases by the same account and for the same address, there is no reason why the Mark As Shipped/Add Tracking Number steps should not work as usual.

The only thing I can think of for why it's failing is possibly the tracking number was not copied accurately into the second item's shipping details, or a copy-and-paste of the first number inadvertently picked up some hidden formatting or codes in addition to the tracking number itself. (You should see a small Copy link next to the tracking number that is provided for this purpose.)

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Except @livecheapordie  confirmed it did fix it for them. I would have said the same as you, but maybe something has changed?

[wastingtime101]

You used a round tube @livecheapordie ?

I hope you selected irregular packaging before purchasing the label. If you did not, be prepared for a cost adjustment from the carrier within the next few weeks.