USPS didnt do an acceptance scan. No tracking for over a week & refunded buyer. Am I screwed?

[oddsandendsshop]

Hi, I sold an item April 29 and shipped it the morning of april 30. 
USPS never did an acceptance scan, no updates for over a week.
On May 7 buyer opened a case against me for item not arrived. I had no evidence w/o an acceptance scan obviously, and Ebay gives bad marks if you don't respond to a case before it closes, I got nervous and refunded May 8.

Four god **bleep** hours later, tracking updated. Radio silence from buyer. 

I want the money for the item I sent. Is there anything I can do?

[oddsandendsshop]

It also can be affected by no one scanning it or it getting lost for several days, apparently (finally got a scan yesterday).

Crazy to assume this *has* to be my fault, I use the same envelopes, tape, printer, and paper for all my labels and never had this issue before.

[adamcartwright]

@a_c_green 

Well, you said what I mean.

But I will contact the Postmaster about it because it's now been 2 days.

[johnrj1226]

You are more than likely screwed.

[toysaver]

Is the tracking (no scans) identical on eBay and the USPS site?   There are incidents of eBay not showing anything while USPS shows a normal history.  

[fern*wood]

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@oddsandendsshop wrote:

What would that prove without an acceptance scan? That would be the same as paying for a label and never bringing it to the PO in Ebay's eyes.

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The key thing it would do is buy you some time.  Since you know it was shipped, do everything you can to allow more time for someone to get the dang thing scanned along the way. 

[theteamsetguy]

@oddsandendsshop ,

Sorry this happened to you. Did you stand in line to get the packaged scanned and a receipt? If you did this, we wouldn’t be discussing this period. If you did not why didn’t you? Most sellers do this every time they go to the post office. You are in total control of whether your item gets an acceptance scan. From now on, if I were you, I would make absolutely sure to stand in line every time you go to the post office to get your packages scanned. If you did this you will never have this issue again period.

Unfortunately, since you gave the buyer a refund the only way to get paid is from the buyer. Maybe the buyer is out of town or country, had to go hospital, got arrested, got deported, and will respond to you when they get back. 

[powell-collectibles]

I don’t think that most sellers stand in line. Maybe it is true – but I don’t think so. I’m just going by the action at my local post office. I take in my packages, I dumped them in the bin. I see others doing the same. I see a lot of packages in that bin from what have to be online sellers. The people in waiting in line – it is usually someone sending a package to a relative, needing registered mail, submitting an application for a passport.

it is just math. I no longer stand in line to get scans because the likelihood of an item not receiving a scan and having to refund isn’t huge. If I’m selling something very expensive, sure, I’ll stand in line. What I want to spend an extra five minutes waiting in line at the post office every time I go? Absolutely not. Again, it is just math - my time vs the risk of loss.  And I usually have my partner with me - no need to waste her time, too.

[adamcartwright]

@powell-collectibles 

I see sellers pull in with wagons full of packages.

And you're right, they don't wait in line or do the kiosk; they just dump and go.

As I stand there drooling.

[carlmarxx]

I have been recommend   sellers to stop doing drop off's  and  wait in line to have  packages scanned  in  . Ebay  has also recommended this . Since  drop off's end up sitting PO from 3 to 14 days in the back . I had a seller  that did a drop off on 5/5  10:00 am    at the PO  and didn't get a acceptance until  5/8  11:45 Am   . The USPS rep for USPS district  consumer  service   for my neck of woods  had no explanation  why . The seller  I by from  is regular  I do business  with buying from , Recently started  keeping date and time  of the drop off's  do no scan upload on parcels to the other   buyers  .   

[schludershots]

We are having the same scan issue with our local post office.  First off, stand in line and get a receipt from the counter clerk to show you actually shipped the item.  You will have this as a record of shipment. Second, I did lost mail requests on the packages that were not moving as expected thru the system.   Like yours, they just stopped updating.  All eventually turned up and the customers got their products.  You should have done the lost mail request.  Otherwise it looked to Ebay you were not doing anything.

[a_c_green]

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@carlmarxx wrote:

I have been recommending sellers to stop doing drop offs and wait in line to have packages scanned  in. Ebay has also recommended this.

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Yes indeed. For starters, the counter scan (or an Acceptance scan by your carrier) establishes at that moment that it's in USPS possession, not just a provisional scan, no ifs, ands or buts. It also triggers a notification that eBay detects and makes known to the buyer, stating that the package is genuinely on the way. I find that my outbound package status on eBay usually updates within 30 minutes of its Acceptance scan.

Acceptance also stops the clock on the Handling timer, so you won't get dinged for a late shipment if a pickup or kiosk dropoff didn't do a scan as expected, and the package didn't get seen in the mailstream until it reached the origin sort facility. The Front Desk is on-line and anything scanned there is immediately updated across the network.

Our local PO is pretty good at scanning bulk dropoffs, so from the looks of things, people in our town with mass quantities of outbound packages don't have a problem with just leaving them at the end of the counter. I think it pays to study how your PO likes to do things, and whether they're holding up their end of the Acceptance transaction when you're not around.

[adamcartwright]

@carlmarxx 

Thanks. Yes, that'll need to be my plan going forward, no matter how long the line is. 

[carlmarxx]

Glad to help out.

[adamcartwright]

@a_c_green 

When I do a kiosk dropoff at my local post office, it won't be scanned at that location.

Its first scan will be at the next stop, which I have noticed is called the Regional Facility or Regional Origin Facility. 

Sounds like other Post Office locations do it differently?

[coastaltechsolution]

@adamcartwright 

Yes must be different at locations.

When I do a Kiosk scan and drop into bin, it is always scanned later at the same PO