tracking number requirements

[cmistei1066]

Hello, I am a Canadian seller.

When sending an item, is a tracking number required or just recommended?

If it is required, where does it state this in the ebay website?

[marnotom!]

Tracking is recommended as a measure of protection against false claims of non-delivery and claims of unauthorized credit card use.

How reliant you are on tracking will depend on the type of merchandise you sell, its value, and the likelihood of buyer fraud.

Tracking generally isn't of much use to buyers unless they live in areas where porch piracy is a problem and they need a sense of when their item will arrive, but most of the time buyers obsessively track their items unnecessarily, not realizing that it doesn't make their items arrive any faster or even guarantee their arrival.  (Been there, done that.)  It's been way oversold as a buyer "benefit" when it's the seller that benefits most from tracking.

However, at the very least, given that the bar has been raised by other e-tailers when it comes to shipping speed and trackability I'd suggest you not offer surface mail to your non-US international buyers and not entertain any requests to use it.

[femmefan1946]

Tracking is never required.

But US customers expect it.

USPS has very cheap tracking for mailed shipments, 25c or less if purchased on line.

Meanwhile in Canada, the cost of shipping a 499gr book to the USA Lettermail jumps from ~$11 to ~$18 with Tracking.  (A ~$5 to ~$12 jump domestically.)

So most Canadian sellers of inexpensive products (and we make our own decisions about what is inexpensive) go commando, accepting that the occasional false claim of non-delivery will be more than offset by not buying unneeded tracking and less proveably by greater sales for the lower price.

The basis for Cookie Jar Insurance is that some of that saved money goes in a virtual Cookie Jar as a self-insurance premium against the very rare loss in transit.