ESUS tracking/eBay Delivery Services

[jlamberth]

I know it's been discussed, but I'm tired of trying to send feedback directly to eBay about this.
I'm about to have to completely stop using sellers that ship with eBay delivery services. I do a lot of trading card purchasing so in theory the discounted shipping is great, especially on cards that aren't priced very high. But the service level of actually receiving these has taken a nosedive.
At first, it was every now and then, but I have failed to receive 3 of these shipments since Christmas and I have 4 more that look increasingly like they will never arrive either. Some of these are rare cards including 1 package that contained a serial numbered 1 of 1 which means it is completely irreplaceable.
I've started to become very pessimistic every time I see ESUS in the tracking.
I don't know what the problem is, but something about this process is very flawed.
Are the sellers not following the guidelines to correctly use the service?

Has eBay not clearly indicated to sellers any restrictions the USPS has regarding this service?
Did eBay actually meet with the USPS to make sure both parties were aware of all the necessary steps and actions needed to make this work?
Or is it just that the USPS continues to become more unreliable with increasingly poor service?

I don't know what the problem is, but this shipping option is becoming increasingly unreliable and it's creating unhappy buyers that are losing trust in the platform and it's making sellers look bad and costing them time and money.

[georgeovich]

"Did eBay actually meet with the USPS to make sure both parties were aware of all the necessary steps and actions needed to make this work?"

As a seller who has uses the ESUS numbers daily I think this is the big one. I have been to several post offices in my area and very few employees are aware that this is even a thing. As far as I'm aware, USPS has no way to track an ESUS number if you ask them. I've been accused by buyers of giving a "fake" tracking number because of this, so you're right, this does make us look bad. I use ESUS to keep prices competitive on my low dollar items. 9/10 times it is fine, but the ones that mess up, mess up big time. 

More evidence that USPS doesn't know what ESUS is is that often times the item ever gets scanned in at all. However, a few days later, the buyer writes me a message stating they received the item. I'm happy they got it, but from a seller's pov eBay withholds my payout for 30 days as long as the buyer doesn't complain.

ESUS is mostly good, but it really needs some improvements.  

[professorlizzardo]

I use ESUS labels all the time, but only for international shipping, so this may not be true in your case, but you might want to check to see if parcelsapp.com works for your domestic tracking.

Next time you print a ESUS label, check the bottom part of it for a 22-digit number, likely beginning with 9400.  If that's included on your ESUS domestic label, that would be the tracking number that USPS would have in their system.
At least internationally, all ESUS numbers are "umbrella" reference numbers that other tracking numbers point back to. Shipping internationally, you can end up with several different tracking numbers since every carrier a package passes through assigns it's own.  If it works the same way  in the US, it should only be a USPS number.  It would be interesting to find out if this is true in your case.

[pnwdiecast]

From what I understand ESUS numbers aren't scanned by USPS employees at all, but rather the sorting machines. They just go through with the regular letters. I think even the "delivery" scan occurs before delivery, usually when the envelope is loaded onto the truck or shortly before, at least that's what I've read. In fact, that's the biggest complaint I get from buyers, is that their item says "delivered" but it hasn't been. They're usually delivered the next day though.

Like you said, great shipping option overall but there are some kinks that still need to be worked out.

@jlamberth I'm not sure why you aren't getting your items, usually for me it's fine and items are delivered within a few days. I'd recommend checking your tracking number on Parcelapp.com as the tracking is a little more up to date there. Are you purchasing from just one seller or multiple? I'm curious if some aren't packing correctly and USPS is rejecting them.

[stuff4divas]

@jlamberth   good link for the ESUS tracking>  https://www.trackmyshipment.co/shipment-tracking

been using it for years

[damien22]

I have 22 eBay Standard Envelope packages that sold the weekend of Feb. 3 - Feb. 5, all were dropped off at my local PO on Feb. 6 along with 5 other First Class packages. The 22 ESUS have never updated from “Tracking Provided” status which makes it look as though I just printed the labels but never shipped. The 5 FC packages have been delivered over a week and a half ago. I contacted eBay customer service and did get help from a very accommodating CS Rep that said they would make a note on my account, and then urged me to file a claim. I asked if I should give it more time to see if they deliver and they said, “No, file the claim immediately”. Well, I can’t file a claim until it has been 30 days. Having said all that, I feel your pain, and I’m grateful for the inexpensive postage when it does work, but just as you stated, it seems like I’ve had way more problems then success since Christmas. 

[stuff4divas]

@jlamberth   r u were referring to international tracking numbers? if so, i provided the site that properly tracks those numbers

if u r referring to ebay standard envelope, as another post is suggesting, here is a link that may help>

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/ebay-labels-services/ebay-domestic-shipping-services/ebay...

[cardsforauction]

For your 3 shipments that did not arrive, you should have filed the "Item Not Received" claim with eBay on / around the 27th day after purchase date.  You could have gotten a refund for the items unless,you did that. 

Myself, I've never had problems receiving the ESUS, but I've heard of people like yourself not receiving the item.  As far as the rare 1 / 1, you should have emailed the seller and asked to pay extra $4.00 to ship the card 1st Class mail with tracking number if you know they are about to ship ESUS.  If the seller charges $4 or more for shipping, I would think the package is automatically going out 1st Class Mail and I would be shocked if it came ESUS.  In my opinion, the ESUS shipments are good for cards $10 or less, but I've gotten items shipped with ESUS that are worth more.  The sellers know the buyers want low costs, so they have to ship with ESUS otherwise buyers will complain about it and sellers won't sell their item with a high 1st Class shipping cost so I understand why sellers use it.  It's great when the ESUS system works and sucks when it doesn't.  It's the cost of doing business.  If you get most of the shipments than you save a lot on shipping costs, that's a good thing for buyers. 

[pjcdn2005]

@damien22 

Have your buyers filed a claim saying that they didn't receive those items? If not, it's very possible that they have them but they weren't scanned as delivered, that seems to happen oftn. I would just wait until you hear from them.  If you don't then assume that all is well.

[pjcdn2005]

If you are buying or bidding on a card that you consider irreplaceable and the sellers listing shows that they are using ebay standard envelope, you might want to ask the seller before the purchase if they could upgrade the shipping at your expense to first class so that it has the proper tracking.

[1786davycrockett]

@jlamberth 

"Did eBay actually meet with the USPS to make sure both parties were aware of all the necessary steps and actions needed to make this work?"

Since USPS considers the ESE to be only standard metered mail, eBay was not required to "meet" with USPS at all -- eBay simply was required to register with USPS as a legitimate business requesting metered mail service -- the same as other businesses which use metered mail (for those of you who still receive "snail mail," most of your utility bills, credit card bills, and so on use "metered" mail, sometimes with pre-printed envelopes, and sometimes with hand- or machine-generated machine mailings).

As has been mentioned previously, USPS employees do not  physically "scan" the ESE -- their hand-scanners are not designed to recognize metered mail.  Instead, the metered mail is (hopefully!) scanned at the next USPS Delivery Center, which is often located in another city and possibly another county.  While there MAY be notifications posted along the delivery route, don't count on it -- and the "Delivered" scan only means that the ESE has been delivered to the USPS office associated with the ZIP Code on the ESE -- and it may take several days thereafter to actually be delivered to your buyer.  And there is no USPS scan for the delivery scan to your buyer.

NONE of the ESEs which I have sent out have ever gone "missing" -- at least, none of my buyers have contacted me about missing mail!  But, as most sellers are aware, feedback from buyers is only about 30% -- so don't jump to conclusions if your buyer doesn't give you feedback -- it does not mean that your ESE is missing -- it simply means your buyer has chosen not to leave feedback.  SO DON'T PANIC!!!

Finally, let's not forget that the Postmaster General who was appointed during the previous administration has made SERIOUS cutbacks in service from USPS -- and part of that is streamlining services wherever each local USPS thinks is possible.  Many of us are encountering significant delivery delays; and, unfortunately, we will probably need to get used to it:  this is the new USPS normal.

[damien22]

Yeah, so far 4 have opened "Items not received" requests in which I refunded. At this point I'm waiting for day 30 to file the lost items claim to try to recover the funds. The crazy thing is these particular packages never received that first "Origin Processing" update to tracking, which has never happened before, and it's only the eBay standard envelopes that were mailed on this particular date.  Every ESUS shipped prior to and after this day have at least gotten scanned and tracking updated somewhere along the way. It's just weird, it's like they never made it to the sorting facility. I also mailed out 4 First Class packages that same day and they were all delivered like you would expect. 

[50suck]

ESUS was doing fine for me until like a week or so ago. Now I got a bunch of things that have not gotten scanned 

[bobberbear]

We have a postcard collection & have ordered vintage PC from various eBay sellers for a number of years.  Started noticing some of the ESUS labeled envelopes came postage due or even showed orders as delivered even though the items were not delivered to our address. Have called USPO several times & was told USPO does not recognize tracking numbers on these ESUS mailings of eBay. Right now another order said it was delivered on the 8th of March, but it still has not showed up at my address. Another separate order from another seller who also mailed the order in the esus envelope showed delivery on the 8th & DID come on that day.  Of those this past year which we put in for refunds of not delivered & did finally show up, we contacted & reimbursed the sellers.  Know it is not their fault & eBay should pursue this problem for their customers.! Would like to avoid these problems for if we decide to let go of any of our collection in the future.

[deame-40]

Hello!  I am going through this right now.  The ESUS is showing status as delivered, but I have not received anything yet.  Nothing is showing up on my informed delivery either.  There is no standard USPS tracking number, so how do I know if the package has been lost or it is still on its way.  The seller says to check with the mailman.  Like we rarely have the same mailman from one day to the next.   Any advice?