Ebay Standard Envelope no longer has any tracking at all

[imac7065]

I am currently talking with ebay MSO, and they have informed me that ebay's contract with Pitney Bowes was terminated and there is no form of tracking on any Ebay Standard Envelope for the near future. 

It was suggested that we (the seller) use a third party company called "lettertrack." This company offers the same ESE tracking, but for an additional 18 cents on top of the ESE label price here on ebay..... for context this would be a 26% increase in the cost of every item shipped, and require a subscription, on top of providing personal data (including access to your ebay account) to a third party.  All because ebay has a lapse in coverage they did not disclose to any seller.

I personally find it reprehensible that agents are telling people to use third parties to cover an ebay lapse, and that ebay has not informed any sellers of this new reality. There was no announcement, no warning, no way to know unless you checked your recent shipments and saw no scans for yourself.

The items are still being scanned through sorting facilities, we just cannot see them. We cannot see them, because the company that reports them ebay, no longer works with ebay.  

To make things sooooo much worse, the agent confirmed to me these items will not have any protections for sellers, that we are still just as responsible for tracking as we always are.. but they will "take a case by case look at providing courtesy's to sellers negatively affected by this issue"  

WARNING TO ALL

[1786davycrockett]

@imac7065 

The individual (MSO?) to whom you were speaking provided you with incorrect information -- if the contract between Pitney-Bowes and eBay had actually been "terminated," it would be impossible to print off ESE labels -- but that option remains available, so the Pitney-Bowes contract with eBay remains in effect.

If eBay had actually terminated its ESE contract, there would have been an official statement to that effect -- but eBay has not made that announcement, so the Pitney-Bowes contract for the ESE remains in effect.

There have been many reports from all around the United States concerning problems with ESE "tracking," but these seem to be regional, rather than national:  many eBay sellers are still mailing ESEs and receiving some form of initial notification that USPS is processing those items.

It would be helpful to know what you have been shipping via the ESEs, and how those items were packed, and the manner in which you were actually mailing the ESEs, since all of those are factors that might suggest the reason for your problems.

[imac7065]

Maybe "terminated" was the wrong word... "not renewed" might have been better... technically Pitney Bowes is still responsible for showing these scans... but as of Feb 11th... almost 150 of my ESE envelopes have no scan reports.... I'm assuming that's the day PB decided not to continue their end of the agreement as it was terminated / ended / not renewed... whatever adjective you wish to use here. 

[a_c_green]

---

@1786davycrockett wrote:

There have been many reports from all around the United States concerning problems with ESE "tracking," but these seem to be regional, rather than national:  many eBay sellers are still mailing ESEs and receiving some form of initial notification that USPS is processing those items.

---

Given that eSEs are not scanned by tracking scanners, but rely instead on sorting machines reading their ZIP routing codes and reporting (or not reporting) where they have sent the envelope on its next leg of the trip, I would say that missing data like this is not all that surprising. I suspect that a lot of USPS employees don't know that the sorting machines (not to be confused with tracking scanners) are reporting anything to anyone outside of the USPS itself.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

There have been other reports that the Ebay Pitney Bowes relationship has ended. BUT USPS Informed Delivery continues to show my outbound Ebay shipments to be Pitney Bowes much of the time.

I suspect Ebay MSO, whatever that is, is probably wrong. But they could be right at some time in the future. Miracles happen.

[cardxcraft]

I checked all my ESE, none have auto scans.  On the 20th, I attained TRS status...

[postcardcountry]

No only does my latest ese shipment not show any tracking, my shipping metrics are now being affected.

I received a ding for not getting a shipping scan on time.

I am sure it's going to get worse before it gets better.

[kus1617]

I likewise have taken hits on metrics...currently at 95.5% with about 20 outstanding orders yet to be updated ☹️😠

ETA- Metrics updated to 98.5%...so things are getting better...plus receiving feedback from buyers reporting that they received their items.

[johnjefprks]

I just checked my orders with ESUS and there is no tracking after the 12 of February.

[onefootflipper1]

The 13th seems to be the last time any of my envelopes left any trace in the system. Although most stopped the 2 days before that.

Someone needs to tag whoever works in ebay shipping about this.

[1786davycrockett]

@onefootflipper1 

"Someone needs to tag whoever works in ebay shipping about this."

Sounds more like a USPS issue to me -- they seem to have more than normal issues lately. . ..

[dhbookds]

devon@ebay  kyle@ebay  elizabeth@ebay 

Can you help on this?  Any change to the program?  

[bdmh-enterprises]

---

@1786davycrockett wrote:

@onefootflipper1 

"Someone needs to tag whoever works in ebay shipping about this."

Sounds more like a USPS issue to me -- they seem to have more than normal issues lately. . ..

---

FYI this is a known issue by ebay, though no real word on them doing something about it. There are several threads in Shipping forum on it.

To be clear the envelopes ARE getting scanned and can be tracked on 3rd party tracking sites, but the updates are not getting to eBay.

I guess I get customers that don't babysit their orders and complain at every turn, but others are getting INRs and it looks like as of today most of us are getting hit with 'no validated tracking' defects. So it'd be nice if this gets taken care of sooner than later..

[a_c_green]

---

@bdmh-enterprises wrote:
I guess I get customers that don't babysit their orders and complain at every turn, but others are getting INRs and it looks like as of today most of us are getting hit with 'no validated tracking' defects. So it'd be nice if this gets taken care of sooner than later..

---

There are definitely more INRs triggered for eSE shipments than for actual tracked shipments, because the buyer sees the eSE shipment marked as Delivered before it actually is.

The Delivered designation for an eSE shipment is applied when the package is routed to its destination PO, as there is nothing beyond that point that can read an eSE routing code. Thus some buyers may jump the gun and file an INR, thinking the package has been misdelivered somewhere else, before the package even has a chance to reach them.

[bdmh-enterprises]

---

@a_c_green wrote:

---

@bdmh-enterprises wrote:
I guess I get customers that don't babysit their orders and complain at every turn, but others are getting INRs and it looks like as of today most of us are getting hit with 'no validated tracking' defects. So it'd be nice if this gets taken care of sooner than later..

---

There are definitely more INRs triggered for eSE shipments than for actual tracked shipments, because the buyer sees the eSE shipment marked as Delivered before it actually is.

The Delivered designation for an eSE shipment is applied when the package is routed to its destination PO, as there is nothing beyond that point that can read an eSE routing code. Thus some buyers may jump the gun and file an INR, thinking the package has been misdelivered somewhere else, before the package even has a chance to reach them.

---

It's been almost 2 years since I've had an INR for ESE and almost as long since a delivered scan has been questioned. FYI in many areas geo tagging is used to mark the IMB's used by ESE delivered when the carrier enters the fence of the recipients. These will get an 'out for delivery' scan at the last sorting facility.

BUT.. the OP is about a current issue with the ESE getting scans, but not showing up on eBay's system and thus INR's are getting filed and seller metrics affected erroneously.