Broken add tracking number feature | Selling | eBay Canada EN

Broken add tracking number feature | Selling | eBay Canada EN

Buying & Selling

Broken add tracking number feature

Summary: hansatrade is experiencing a persistent issue with eBay's tracking number feature. Despite having sold five items to the same buyer with one tracking number (all items were shipped together), the tracking only works for the first item on eBay's platform, though it updates correctly on CP/USPS websites. This issue leads to defects for the unvalidated tracking on four items and could potentially affect hansatrade's TR Plus status. lotzofuniquegoodies and hansatrade discuss possible temporary solutions, including using a feature for bulk shipping to resolve this issue, which hansatrade tries successfully with the help of pjcdn2005. Additionally, a suggestion by regs43 to disable a force payment option at checkout helps solve the issue of buyers being charged multiple times for combined orders, thus eliminating the need for refunds. The discussion highlights an ongoing issue with eBay's system, but ends on a positive note with a working solution for combined shipping and payment. hansatrade expresses gratitude for the advice, which has improved their selling experience.

The tracking number feature is broken since a few months. I reported it, but apparently no one cared to fix it. Here is the problem: yesterday, I sold 5 items to one buyer, all items were shipped together, so there is one tracking number only. The tracking works on the first item only. Doesn't update on the items 2-5. However, all of them work on CP/USPS websites. It will result in 4 defects for "tracking not validated". Any suggestion? I tried everything, removed and uploaded again to every item separately, as both - CP and USPS - no difference at all, always the same result. Here a screenshot of what will happen next:

The info is false - if I click on every tracking separately, it shows updates on CP/USPS websites. However, on Ebay website is marked as "no carrier scan", except for the first item. I am still above the required 95% validation, but if this error starts to accumulate, I will finally loose my TR Plus status and all associated privilegies.

This started with the introduction of the discounted Tracked Packet. There is no problem with ChitChats multi-tracking. Unfortunately, my ChitChats branch closed for Xmas/New Year, so I was forced to use CP.

hansatrade

458 View listings

Posted 2 years ago · Edited 2 years ago·Last reply 2 years ago

30 comments

regs43

·2 years ago

I believe if not mistaken that you can turn off the forced payment thing

https://www.ebay.ca/bmgt/buyerrequirements

At the very bottom you can unckeck the box that says "Require buyers to provide a payment method before they make an offer." thus you can send invoices after accepting multiple offers, and never need to refund again lol. I have mine off and no one is forced to pay that I am aware of as I often have items sitting in unpaid as buyers continue to shop

hansatrade

OP2 years ago

@regs43 wrote:
I believe if not mistaken that you can turn off the forced payment thing

https://www.ebay.ca/bmgt/buyerrequirements

At the very bottom you can unckeck the box that says "Require buyers to provide a payment method before they make an offer." thus you can send invoices after accepting multiple offers, and never need to refund again lol. I have mine off and no one is forced to pay that I am aware of as I often have items sitting in unpaid as buyers continue to shop

Thank you for your suggestion. Mine was checked, so I unchecked it immediately. However, not sure, if it applies to offers (according to the description, it definitely should). Let us try!

hansatrade

OP2 years ago

@regs43 wrote:
I believe if not mistaken that you can turn off the forced payment thing

https://www.ebay.ca/bmgt/buyerrequirements

At the very bottom you can unckeck the box that says "Require buyers to provide a payment method before they make an offer." thus you can send invoices after accepting multiple offers, and never need to refund again lol. I have mine off and no one is forced to pay that I am aware of as I often have items sitting in unpaid as buyers continue to shop

It really works!!! I got a late offer - 12 hours after the first purchase was made and paid (but not yet shipped). I accepted it and the buyer was not charged! I sent him an invoice without the shipping charge - both of us happy, me and the buyer! Thank you again for your advice! The refunding, then sending explanations and apologies, was really very annoying.

regs43

·2 years ago

@hansatrade wrote:
@regs43 wrote:
I believe if not mistaken that you can turn off the forced payment thing

https://www.ebay.ca/bmgt/buyerrequirements

At the very bottom you can unckeck the box that says "Require buyers to provide a payment method before they make an offer." thus you can send invoices after accepting multiple offers, and never need to refund again lol. I have mine off and no one is forced to pay that I am aware of as I often have items sitting in unpaid as buyers continue to shop
It really works!!! I got a late offer - 12 hours after the first purchase was made and paid (but not yet shipped). I accepted it and the buyer was not charged! I sent him an invoice without the shipping charge - both of us happy, me and the buyer! Thank you again for your advice! The refunding, then sending explanations and apologies, was really very annoying.

Glad I could help 🙂

As a sports cards seller, i get lots of combined orders for upwards of 10-15 items so, immediate payment is a turn off for many buyers who want combined shipping! Totally get the annoying back and forth messaging and refunding lol!

hansatrade

OP2 years ago

Thank you all for your advice! Seller Central Rules! 😉

hansatrade

OP2 years ago

A short update: just "shipped" the combined order. This time I did everything on Ebay.ca (what usually I never do). I copied the tracking to the 2nd item. I choose "Canada Post" as carrier. Well ...It didn't work (what a surprise 😄). Both tracking looks almost the same, but the working shows CPC, and the second one shows USPS (where it comes from?). Next defect on the way.

msau4301

·2 years ago

I usually send a combined invoice if I am combining shipping and it does carry over multiple items, I've done it a few times over the past few months as you say and it carried over for them that way. If they were separate orders and you still combine normally I use the "Mark as shipped" from drop down menu then it allows me to add/edit tracking and I put it in there. Have you tried to "Mark as unshipped", then "Mark as shipped"? Will it let you there maybe?

I haven't had any problems recently but I also took a few weeks off so not sure if it is something happening more now. The only time I was not allowed to add a tracking number to combined item was when I had a buyer who used two different names and I combined those items. It kept telling me the tracking number was used for another order but in that case it looked like to buyers even though it was the same person.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·2 years ago

@msau4301 wrote:
I usually send a combined invoice if I am combining shipping and it does carry over multiple items, I've done it a few times over the past few months as you say and it carried over for them that way. If they were separate orders and you still combine normally I use the "Mark as shipped" from drop down menu then it allows me to add/edit tracking and I put it in there. Have you tried to "Mark as unshipped", then "Mark as shipped"? Will it let you there maybe?
I haven't had any problems recently but I also took a few weeks off so not sure if it is something happening more now. The only time I was not allowed to add a tracking number to combined item was when I had a buyer who used two different names and I combined those items. It kept telling me the tracking number was used for another order but in that case it looked like to buyers even though it was the same person.

@hansatrade

@msau4301

The only concern marking as unshipped and then shipped is eBay considers the date you enter the tracking as the ship date. Doing the previously mentioned would make the other 4 as processed late. (The system isn't intuitive to recognize the tracking from CP etc.) I found this out by manually correcting a tracking number a few days later. In speaking to ebay about that this issue, I was "told" they are aware of the problem or we'll pass it on, but it's a who knows when it will be actually fixed.

This all funnels back on eBay's handling when it comes to combined shipping and it being a nightmare at every turn.

-Lotz

hansatrade

OP2 years ago

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
@msau4301 wrote:

The only concern marking as unshipped and then shipped is eBay considers the date you enter the tracking as the ship date. Doing the previously mentioned would make the other 4 as processed late. (The system isn't intuitive to recognize the tracking from CP etc.) I found this out by manually correcting a tracking number a few days later. In speaking to ebay about that this issue, I was "told" they are aware of the problem or we'll pass it on, but it's a who knows when it will be actually fixed.

This all funnels back on eBay's handling when it comes to combined shipping and it being a nightmare at every turn.

-Lotz

It's not about shipped or unshipped. All 4 items are marked as "shipped", and "tracking provided". But since the tracking doesn't update, they will be shortly marked as "not validated", which is equal to a defect. The 4 other were added at the same time, so not late at all. We are talking here abot two different metrics.

hansatrade

OP2 years ago

@msau4301 wrote:
I usually send a combined invoice if I am combining shipping and it does carry over multiple items, I've done it a few times over the past few months as you say and it carried over for them that way.
If they were separate orders and you still combine normally I use the "Mark as shipped" from drop down menu then it allows me to add/edit tracking and I put it in there. Have you tried to "Mark as unshipped", then "Mark as shipped"? Will it let you there maybe?
I haven't had any problems recently but I also took a few weeks off so not sure if it is something happening more now. The only time I was not allowed to add a tracking number to combined item was when I had a buyer who used two different names and I combined those items. It kept telling me the tracking number was used for another order but in that case it looked like to buyers even though it was the same person.

Sending a combined invoice is not possible if you accept 5 offers from 1 buyer. There will be 5 transactions, with 5 invoices, each with a separate shipping charge. Since Ebay introduced it, sending refunds became my second job 🙄

I tried to remove the tracking, and add again - nothing works. What is interesting, one of the item "refused" to be marked as "shipped". Tried many times, it accepted the change, and after a few minutes it reversed to "not shipped". After 10th try it finally shows as "shipped", but refuses to show the tracking.

hansatrade

OP2 years ago

@msau4301 wrote:
The only time I was not allowed to add a tracking number to combined item was when I had a buyer who used two different names and I combined those items. It kept telling me the tracking number was used for another order but in that case it looked like to buyers even though it was the same person.

This will be not allowed. Had a similar problem - sold items to the same buyer from different accounts and tried to provide the same tracking. Imagine, what happened - "you tried to provide other seller's tracking ..."

The consequences were serious - will do not again (promised) 😆

msau4301

·2 years ago

Didn't realize they were offers and you had to refund all the extra shipping to boot. Yikes, that's a lot of extra work. Maybe the new year will bring us all easy peasy selling and we'll wake up in 2024 to a perfect selling world here, with all the gears working perfectly. We can always dream.

Wishingh a Happy and prosperous New Year to all!

hansatrade

OP2 years ago

Yes, the problem appears only, when 1 buyer sends multiple offers simultaneously (in this case 5). Ebay split this into 5 separate orders, and charged the poor buyer 5 times for the shipping. I refunded the buyer, put all 5 items in one pckage, printed ONE shipping label, added the tracking to all items separately - and will get 4 defects for providing false tracking.

I do not really care aboyt tracking itself - for the buyer 1 working tracking is enough. But why I get "not validated" defect for a trackinh which is perfectly validated?

pjcdn2005

·2 years ago

@hansatrade

If the buyer pays for each item separately you should be able to combine them on one shipping label by using bulk shipping when you buy the label. Have you tried that?

hansatrade

OP2 years ago

Not sure what bulk shipping is? After I accept the offers, the buyer is charged immediately, so no combined shipping is possible anymore. As you know, since some time the buyers are charged instantly if they use the "make offer" feature.

I got today a similar order - a buyer purchased an item, and sent an offer for the second one. I accepted the offer, and Ebay instantly created a second, separate order.

Here how it looks:

pjcdn2005

·2 years ago

I realize that you can't combine an invoice if the buyer pays separately but it is supposed to be possible to combine them only on the label so that it combines multiple orders onto that one label. Then the tracking number should automatically be added to each separate transaction. You still have to refund the extra shipping paid but don't have to add the tracking number separately.

I know that this can be done on the US site and since we have bulk shipping here, it should work here too. I don't have multiple orders to test it but if you click on print shipping label and then on 'print labels in bulk' (top right next to go to Shippo') you can select which transactions you want on one label.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·2 years ago

@hansatrade wrote:
The tracking number feature is broken since a few months. I reported it, but apparently no one cared to fix it. Here is the problem: yesterday, I sold 5 items to one buyer, all items were shipped together, so there is one tracking number only. The tracking works on the first item only. Doesn't update on the items 2-5. However, all of them work on CP/USPS websites. It will result in 4 defects for "tracking not validated". Any suggestion? I tried everything, removed and uploaded again to every item separately, as both - CP and USPS - no difference at all, always the same result. Here a screenshot of what will happen next:

The info is false - if I click on every tracking separately, it shows updates on CP/USPS websites. However, on Ebay website is marked as "no carrier scan", except for the first item. I am still above the required 95% validation, but if this error starts to accumulate, I will finally loose my TR Plus status and all associated privilegies.

This started with the introduction of the discounted Tracked Packet. There is no problem with ChitChats multi-tracking. Unfortunately, my ChitChats branch closed for Xmas/New Year, so I was forced to use CP.

@hansatrade

Did you use CP or eBay Labels?

This is directly from the eBay December Newsletter. It should work the same way for CP/Fedex.

Upon purchasing your label, your tracking number will be automatically uploaded to your order, and you can drop off your items at one of over 1500 UPS Access Point® locations across Canada.

Learn more

Trust UPS to keep your customers happy with packages that show up on time. And with UPS Tracking Support, you’ll always know right where your shipments are.

It should work for either 1 or multiple of the same wb numbers. Sounds like another glitch for eBay to address. I still routinely see eBay tracking with no updates but CP/USPS as showing delivered. Similar to the reports on dot com. And it shouldn't matter if it is ported to eBay or manually entered. As long as it is entered correctly the system "should" validate as being real.

-Lotz

hansatrade

OP2 years ago

I used the Ebay's discounted CP TP. The automatic upload of tracking applies only to the 1st item, and the first tracking works perfectly. The same tracking applied to 4 other items is "dead". Because the buyer made 5 purchases, all of them were paid separately (buyers are now charged immediately after we accept the offer). So I got 5 payments, with 5 shipping charges. I refunded 4 of them. Still, uploading the tracking separately to every item should work, as it works well with ChitChats (I often have bulk-buyers, who buy 2 to 10, or even 80 (!!!) items at once).

All my "not validated" defects show full tracking history, if clicked directly on the tracking number. As a TR Plus seller I must provide 95% of "validated" tracking to keep all my privilegies during 90-day period. Since I sold hundreds of items during the last three months, I am still above the required 95%. But for how long?

This is an obvious error, very easy to verify - why they don't care? Why the false, erroneous data is used to evaluate the service I provide?

lotzofuniquegoodies

·2 years ago

@hansatrade wrote:
I used the Ebay's discounted CP TP. The automatic upload of tracking applies only to the 1st item, and the first tracking works perfectly. The same tracking applied to 4 other items is "dead". Because the buyer made 5 purchases, all of them were paid separately (buyers are now charged immediately after we accept the offer). So I got 5 payments, with 5 shipping charges. I refunded 4 of them. Still, uploading the tracking separately to every item should work, as it works well with ChitChats (I often have bulk-buyers, who buy 2 to 10, or even 80 (!!!) items at once).

All my "not validated" defects show full tracking history, if clicked directly on the tracking number. As a TR Plus seller I must provide 95% of "validated" tracking to keep all my privilegies during 90-day period. Since I sold hundreds of items during the last three months, I am still above the required 95%. But for how long?

This is an obvious error, very easy to verify - why they don't care? Why the false, erroneous data is used to evaluate the service I provide?

@hansatrade

Pre tracked being the default for US shipping, the bulk of my orders were shipped using small packet air. Because those tracking numbers were verified delivered they were included in my TSR numbers. Magically when tracked appeared small packet air numbers poofed. I now show inaccurately 73 items shipped for the previous 365 days. 14 out of 15 with verified tracked shipping. The 1 not included was a letter. (That letter was delivered as per feedback received.) Unfortunately that is not considered as valid verification. At this rate it will take something substanially happening to get back my TSRs for shipping to the USA within the next 20 to 25 years. Optimistically speaking.🤣

Suggestion de jour: Revamp TSR's. 100 transactions or 1000.00 is sales. Combined. That 10% is really not a hill of beans but would be a good perk for all the sellers that qualified for it.

-Lotz

pjcdn2005

·2 years ago

@lotzofuniquegoodies

Magically when tracked appeared small packet air numbers poofed. I now show inaccurately 73 items shipped for the previous 365 days. 14 out of 15 with verified tracked shipping. The 1 not included was a

letter.

The 14 you see are just for the last 3 months and the 73 is sales to US buyers in the last year. You're saying that you has more than that amount of sales to US buyers in the past year but they aren't showing now?

As far as reaching US trs status, since you have global trs you are receiving a discount for Canadians and US sales so that's a perk that we already have.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·2 years ago

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies
Magically when tracked appeared small packet air numbers poofed. I now show inaccurately 73 items shipped for the previous 365 days. 14 out of 15 with verified tracked shipping. The 1 not included was a
letter.

The 14 you see are just for the last 3 months and the 73 is sales to US buyers in the last year. You're saying that you has more than that amount of sales to US buyers in the past year but they aren't showing now?
As far as reaching US trs status, since you have global trs you are receiving a discount for Canadians and US sales so that's a perk that we already have.

@pjcdn2005

Prior to the tracked rollout discount the small packet air shipments were being include for the past year. Now they are mia. It's like eBay no longer recognizes Small Packet Air as a valid shipping method...Even when the tracking is manually entered and the item confirms as delivered. I yes, I have had a few more than 15 transactions in the last year. The screenshot confirms that. This will substantially affect getting back to 100 transactions when eBay chooses to remove on a whim or due to bad programming.

-Lotz

pjcdn2005

·2 years ago

@lotzofuniquegoodies

Please read my post again, I did not say you only had 15 transactions in a year. The 15 transactions is under tracking uploaded on time..... and that number has always been for 3 months. If you go on .com, click on performance, seller level and click on tracking uploaded.....and scroll down. It shows you the 3 month time period they are using. Right now it is Oct 1-Dec 31 . Nothing is disappearing, you're just thinking it is a different time frame.

You said that the 73 sales are incorrect as well. That number is only for sales to US buyers for the year and has nothing to do with tracked or untracked sales. It it will always be different than the numbers on .ca.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·2 years ago

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies
Please read my post again, I did not say you only had 15 transactions in a year. The 15 transactions is under tracking uploaded on time..... and that number has always been for 3 months. If you go on .com, click on performance, seller level and click on tracking uploaded.....and scroll down. It shows you the 3 month time period they are using. Right now it is Oct 1-Dec 31 . Nothing is disappearing, you're just thinking it is a different time frame.

You said that the 73 sales are incorrect as well. That number is only for sales to US buyers for the year and has nothing to do with tracked or untracked sales. It it will always be different than the numbers on .ca.

Not true. In the past when I checked by month for the year total transaction that number matched the other combined total for the year. Small packet Air was always included in that number for both USA and Global.

-Lotz

For global I show 108 with 67 tracking uploaded on the time. The difference would be anything sent letter or pick ups. I am seeing now that it is applied to 3 months. Just was saying in the past (pre tracked discount promo) the total number included small packet air) Now those numbers are MIA

hansatrade

OP2 years ago

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
It should work for either 1 or multiple of the same wb numbers. Sounds like another glitch for eBay to address. I still routinely see eBay tracking with no updates but CP/USPS as showing delivered. Similar to the reports on dot com. And it shouldn't matter if it is ported to eBay or manually entered. As long as it is entered correctly the system "should" validate as being real.

-Lotz

The problem is not new. It's why they request 95%, and not 100% must be validated. However, recently it looks like a massive failure. ChitChats even issued an official statement last month:

Incorrect Tracking Status For Some Shipments

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you may be experiencing with tracking discrepancies in some shipments. Rest assured, our dedicated team is actively investigating this issue to provide a swift resolution. We understand the potential confusion this may cause for your customers and assure you that we are committed to keeping you informed throughout the resolution process. Thank you for your patience and understanding.