eBay

asdcr8w-0 · ‎04-16-2019

So a buyer just messaged me to tell me (yet another) their package's tracking indicates (it's true):

Processing Exception
CITY STate DISTRIBUTION CENTER
The Postal Service has identified a problem with the processing of this item at HH:MM a/pm on MMMM DD, YYYY in CITY STate DISTRIBUTION CENTER. The local facility has been alerted and is taking steps to correct the problem.

.....................................

These problems started to occur with annoying frequency a few years ago and have been happening more and more. We have called and filed complaints and opened missing package requests and done everything under the sky in the past, all of which has simply resulted in the Post Office making it considerably more difficult to do any of the above by hiding the options and in some cases even getting rid of them completely.
We spoke to our mail carrier, we spoke to the folks behind the counter, we spoke to supervisors, they all said there is pretty much nothing anyone can do. Events like these not only cause the buyer frustration, they also cause ebay to mark the delivery as "late" which results in a defect on my account and eventually ends up costing us more in way of selling fees as "punishment" for our bad behavior.
I suppose in some kind of order some folks may end up losing their jobs as a result, sadly it most likely won't be the one(s) responsible and even if it were I figure chances are slim they had any control over the result either. It could be some folks will stop selling online as well, I do not know.

Love to hear your thoughts.

tracdea1 · ‎04-16-2019

Sounds like it got re-routed due to a postal location being out of commission. Post offices are generally not impenetrable from natural disasters, so sometimes EXCEPTIONS need to be made.

a_c_green · ‎04-16-2019

@asdcr8w-0 wrote:
Events like these not only cause the buyer frustration, they also cause ebay to mark the delivery as "late" which results in a defect on my account and eventually ends up costing us more in way of selling fees as "punishment" for our bad behavior.
[...]
Love to hear your thoughts.

I don't believe you get a Late ding on your record as long as tracking shows that you shipped within your Handling time, do you? Shipment is detected by any in-network scan by the carrier (an Acceptance scan, Origin Sort scan or anything after that).

As for the increasing number of Processing Exception reports, I think it's a case of the USPS network reporting more of everything. In the past, you could have multiple days or a week or more go by with no tracking update at all, whereas now they're reporting a lot more often, and including events like Processing Exception that never got reported at all in the past.

yuzuha · ‎04-16-2019

Processing Exception usually means that either the box or label has been somehow damaged in a way that makes mechanical scanning impossible, so it has to be processed manually by a human being instead. What sort of labels are you using? If you're printing the labels out with a printer, do you cover them with tape to protect them from getting smeared or damaged if they get wet?