Won't Allow Tracking Number

[out-of-the-mists]

Anyone else have this problem: Buyer purchased two items separately. I combined them and used Paypal multi-order shipping which combined them under the same tracking number. Only one item shows a tracking number in Ebay, and Ebay will not allow me to add the tracking number to the second item, giving me a message in red that says the tracking number was already used and I cannot add a used tracking number for the buyer's protection.

Is this a glitch or a new thing because this is going to be a HUGE problem for me. I use Free shipping with immediate payment and people buy what they want whenever, and I combine it. I've always been able to add the tracking numbers until today. Doesn't this count against us with the new system, if the tracking number is not downloaded to the purchase? I know the buyer can confirm receipt on time, but most of my buyers Never leave feedback.

Thanks! Mists

[a_c_green · Accepted solution]

I suspect that while PayPal "knows" that you combined the two items in one shipment, eBay does not. Can you try adding the tracking number (again) to the problem item's sale record in PayPal, and see if that will propagate it back to eBay from there?

[labs118 · Accepted solution]

Hi look at this weekly chat post message #46
There is a seller who was wonderful enough to share information on how they manage to work around this issue

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/March-30-2016-General-Topics/td-p/25382419/...

[duchess-at-speakeasy · Accepted solution]

Nothing has changed -- you cannot use a single tracking number for multiple transactions (payments).

Your problem is the IPR -- buyers cannot place items in the shopping cart and request a combined shipment with a single tracking number.  For a combined order, you need 1 payment.  Besides, with IPR, you are spending an extra $0.30 Paypal transaction fee for EACH item.

The WOG method I suggested in the March 30 weekly chat (and earlier on the Shipping board) is a workaround to cross-reference each separate transaction with a single tracking number.  There will be no actual tracking link in My eBay or in Paypal for the additional items but at least the number is visible with the notation "With Other Goods."  It is useful as "anecdotal evidence" that more than 1 item is included in a box or envelope.  At least the buyer will know what to expect and it might help settle a SNAD or INR question and prevent a formal complaint.

I should note that this method does affect TRS status -- it counts against the 90% tracking requirement.  The "upload tracking within handling time" part is recorded -- but there is no actual carrier scan for the additional items in a single package.  Another consideration is holding paid orders beyond the seller's handling time. For sellers who are not TRS and don't want it, these details do not matter at all.

One thing I have not yet tried is to use "Other" and type in USPS as the carrier.  It probably still would be considered a duplication. 

~~C~~

[penguins_dont_fly · Accepted solution]

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@duchess-at-speakeasy wrote:

Nothing has changed -- you cannot use a single tracking number for multiple transactions (payments).

Your problem is the IPR -- buyers cannot place items in the shopping cart and request a combined shipment with a single tracking number.  For a combined order, you need 1 payment.  Besides, with IPR, you are spending an extra $0.30 Paypal transaction fee for EACH item.

~~C~~

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All of my BIN items are IPR.

None of my multi-purchase customers has a problem with adding things to the cart. (Though there are buyers who just don't seem to know there is a cart)

I have my combined shipping rules set up, no need to request an invoice.

I just did a manual combine yesterday (brand-New buyer).

I used eBay bulk shipping to combine the 4 individual purchases and printed the label.

I refunded the shipping overcharged through PayPal.

It was simple.

[out-of-the-mists · Accepted solution]

I went back and forth with Paypal about this for several days. Never did get a proper answer. I believe there is a tech glitch between Paypal and Ebay that does not send the tracking numbers over to more than one item, when more than one transaction is combined within Paypal multi-order shipping. I suspect that Paypal cannot send the number twice because the Ebay system refuses it. This is stupid.

[out-of-the-mists]

I want to thank everyone who provided answers to this post. Thank you!! 🙂

[dans501]

Same issue and it's December, 2016.

[whatnicestuff]

Same issue as of Nov 2017.  

[pjcdn2005]

@whatnicestuff

You should be able to manually add the same tracking number to 2 different transaction as long as the buyer used the same eBay ID for both transactions.  If they sign in as a guest for each transaction then the ID is different each time so you wouldn’t be able to add the same tracking number to both transactions.

[whatnicestuff]

You are correct. She is new and used 2 different ID's . This  still going against me and their system is messed up. My tracking was down to 60% because I use Endicia and was updating Paypal which would propogate Ebay but that is broken. Tracking is showing that some items were never scanned when they actually were.  I called about 3 weeks ago and and was told it would be fixed in another week but that didn't happen.