eBay

sin-n-dex · ‎09-28-2017

OK, I haven't problems often, but today I've got one.

Courier receives box of shipments and takes them to Niagara Falls, NY, USPS outlet. They all get scanned for origin (and have subsequently been scanned with Rochester NY, and "en route to destination" scan).

Item #1 not scanned - the guy asked for tracking 12 hours after the sale (before I even packed it). He hasn't contacted me again since I gave him the tracking once I printed his label, but I anticpate when he can't track it by the end of today he will be contacting me to ask what's going on.

Item #2 not scanned - customer contacted me around lunch time yesterday to ask why it's showing shpped with no tracking. I explained the canada thing and courier thing and told him by Wednesday evening he'd see tracking. So far, no tracking. I requested notifications by phone to watch this parcel. Even if they missed the origin scans it should show up in Rochester, and again en route.

Can anyone tell me why some of my items got scanned and not others, so I can explain to my customer when they contact me and get all upset?

Before anyone says ask the courier, I emailed them tonight to confirm there were no with held parcels. I do customs paperwork online for everything, once I do that online and indicate it will shp, they're supposed to transmit to US Customs and take my item across. I'm guessing the issue is with USPS not updating their scans (but it's been more than 24 hours since the others were scanned). If my courier was a day late with those two, they should show up tonight. (I do tell my customers the courier needs to be on time for my time to be correct, just in case there is a delay, so far no complaints from customers).

Both of these guys sounded a little hot to trott on getting their items shipped, what are the odds of those being the two parcels that aren't scanning?

C.

a_c_green · ‎09-28-2017

@sin-n-dex wrote:
Courier receives box of shipments and takes them to Niagara Falls, NY, USPS outlet. They all get scanned for origin (and have subsequently been scanned with Rochester NY, and "en route to destination" scan).

This first paragraph of yours has me confused about the rest of your post: If the Niagara Falls PO has done an Acceptance scan on all the packages, as you say above, then they're all in the USPS system now, right? The courier is now out of the picture: he's done and gone, yes?

If they have all reached Rochester, then they're all on the way to their various destinations. The "En route to destination" scan is a new automatic log entry that's added exactly 24 hours after the last actual tracking entry was made (you should see that its time is an exact match to a preceding one 24 hours earlier), and one or two more may appear in the next day or two if the package isn't scanned again by then. But even if it isn't, you have the initial scans to prove that it's on the way, so just ask your buyer(s) to be a little more patient, and assure them that their purchases will be arriving soon.

sin-n-dex · ‎09-29-2017

@a_c_green wrote:
@sin-n-dex wrote:
Courier receives box of shipments and takes them to Niagara Falls, NY, USPS outlet. They all get scanned for origin (and have subsequently been scanned with Rochester NY, and "en route to destination" scan).
This first paragraph of yours has me confused about the rest of your post: If the Niagara Falls PO has done an Acceptance scan on all the packages, as you say above, then they're all in the USPS system now, right? The courier is now out of the picture: he's done and gone, yes?

If they have all reached Rochester, then they're all on the way to their various destinations. The "En route to destination" scan is a new automatic log entry that's added exactly 24 hours after the last actual tracking entry was made (you should see that its time is an exact match to a preceding one 24 hours earlier), and one or two more may appear in the next day or two if the package isn't scanned again by then. But even if it isn't, you have the initial scans to prove that it's on the way, so just ask your buyer(s) to be a little more patient, and assure them that their purchases will be arriving soon.

Thanks for replying. Sorry for not being clear.

The acceptance scan, etc, was done on all but two. I'm wondering if there's a possibility there' a delay in the scan showing up, or they skipped scanning it... it's never happened before.

Thanks,

Colleen

a_c_green · ‎09-29-2017

sin-n-dex wrote:
The acceptance scan, etc, was done on all but two. I'm wondering if there's a possibility there' a delay in the scan showing up, or they skipped scanning it... it's never happened before.

Ah, okay... yes, it's entirely possible for one or two scans out of the batch to go missing, at least temporarily, for all kinds of reasons: somebody fumbled their scanner button-pushing, one or two packages just got plain overlooked (e.g. two guys emptying a bin but only one has a scanner on him), or a system hiccup (e.g. upload failed and the software is set to wait a while before retrying). Basically, nothing to worry about, although I know buyers can get antsy regardless.

One option you could explore is to print out a SCAN sheet ("Shipment Confirmation Acceptance Notice"), which gives the USPS a separate sheet of paper with one barcode to scan at Acceptance time that automatically registers all the listed packages in one swell foop. Whether you can generate one depends in part on how you prepare your packages and which software you're using for your labels. (I understand some third-party outfits make this a little easier to prepare than the eBay interface, which requires you to do them all in one session.)

I don't use a SCAN sheet as I rarely have more than a few packages which are always readily accepted individually. (I did ask them one day how many SCAN sheets they see in a typical day. My clerk, who's been with the USPS for 12 years now, said he'd never seen one and wasn't entirely sure what it was. The one at the next counter said he'd never seen one either, but thought one of the girls on the afternoon shift got one once. I'm sensing that they are not widely used. )

As for your batch, unless your courier is a beady-eyed shifty character who keeps shaking each of your packages to see which ones rattle, I would assume that they will all turn up on the radar sooner or later, most likely today or tomorrow, as they pass through regional sorting facilities with automated 360° scanners that don't miss. Keep us informed!