USPS package seems to have gone backwards...

[nitco4810_ueolqozz]

I bought an item from someone in Socal, the package left socan and got to my city in Sacramento it said it departed West Sacramento Post Office.. 8 hours laters, it somehow went BACK to Socal.... Any idea on what might have caused this???

 EVERY time someone ships USPS, it's a problem getting my package.... i tried to post a JPEG picture of the usps tracking  but ebay won't let me for some reason....

[partial*eclipse]

Then you can tell us the tracking number so we can look it up ourselves on usps.com.  Sounds like there was something wrong with the details of your address, such as a  missing apartment number.

[thatisrathernice]

As a seller I can tell you this happens often. Sometimes a mistake is made when scanning, sometimes it actually does leave and then come back, sometimes the packages go to states they shouldn't be going, etc. There is alot of different scenarios that can happen and they are all caused by human USPS error.  As long as you are getting your packages on time I wouldnt worry too much about what the tracking says. 

Hope this helps!

[deep-garnet-red]

I would be contacting my local post office to find why it's always a problem. 

[mygivenalias]

If you don't receive the item and the tracking shows that it got routed passed your address, you're protected under eBay's policy. So you should be fine on that end (if you're worried about that since you mentioned not being able to upload a picture on ebay).

I've also had a package get to my city then go back to orgin then finally get to me, so it does happen. But I agree with everyone else that if this is a constant problem that you should contact someone at your local post office. I would also check my eBay and Paypal accounts to make sure the correct address is listed. 

[a_c_green]

Posting the tracking number will be helpful. I can think of two possibilities for a looping package, both of which I've seen occurring just recently:

1) After it goes into a container for travel from one sort point to the next, tracking follows the container rather than the package itself. If it misses getting scanned on its way out of the container at the other end, tracking will continue to follow the container instead of the package. The container may travel a daily route back and forth. This will clear itself up as soon as there's another direct scan of the package rather than the container. (Their in-house tracking system notes which entry is a direct scan and which is a container scan, although those details are not visible to you on the USPS website.)

2) One or more scanner timestamps are out of whack, and are logging the wrong time, frequently off by 12 hours so it's reporting an AM time as PM or vice-versa. When you look at the tracking arranged chronologically, those scans can come up in the wrong order. See if any of your suspect scans fit the timeline better if you read them as AM instead of PM, or the other way around.

Anyhow, keep in mind that it's not lost, just possibly misdirected, and it'll get to you soon enough.