to hose who use UR tracking numbers: Have you noticed they've become much less reliable recently?

[fergua3]

In the past several weeks i've noticed that UR tracking numbers, which have been so reliable, have become much less so.   Often there are many missed scans, especially in the first half of a package's processing, with the first scan not showing up for 5 days or more and usually after the package is at the mid point of its journey in the US (ie long after it's left ISC Chicago), and i have one now that is 8 days old that has not had a single scan.

Is this just me or have others noticed this trend to?  I hope this doesn't mean they are being phased out, as they have been very helpful for the past few years.

[mrdutch1001]

"Very fishy."....Nooo,it is  just becoming more and more unreliable for the service that you insist on using...

USPS DOES NOT have to scan Small Packet packages....yes it was done in the past but all good things come to an end especially if the original intent was NOT for that UR # to be used as a tracking number ...

Again, this is on you because you choose to use an untracked service...and if a buyer opens an INR case you will need to address that as per eBay requirements...

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

"Very fishy."....Nooo,it is  just becoming more and more unreliable for the service that you insist on using...

USPS DOES NOT have to scan Small Packet packages....yes it was done in the past but all good things come to an end especially if the original intent was NOT for that UR # to be used as a tracking number ...

Again, this is on you because you choose to use an untracked service...and if a buyer opens an INR case you will need to address that as per eBay requirements...

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@mrdutch1001 

My bet is eBay has disabled UR tracking to the USA within eBay Labels. If a shipper contacted a USPS office and gave them the UR number they have access to the full tracking. Only reason I know this is I have tested. Had a parcel that should have been carded for pick up but receiver never got card. I had to locate the closest to depot to discover this.  The delivery scan info was hazy to say the least. Why I needed to confirm. Customer had opened a ticket for late.

The UR numbers do were in a LIMITED number of EU countries but only from the local postal service sites. It's very random.

-Lotz

FWIW many sellers refuse to use eBay Labels. Mostly due it's terrible interface for customs and additional services. 

FWIW #2. USA tracked is not perfect either. Aware of another sellers shipment to USA. Can't recall exactly which but 1 shows the last scan as the 9th in Chicago. The other shows as 15th in Miami. Then no further updates. The item was delivered outside of Miami this past Thursday. Tracking should be somewhat in real time.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Re: Tracked package to USA that was delivered 4 days ago and confirmed by buyer

[marnotom!]

What does tracking on the USPS website indicate, @lotzofuniquegoodies?

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@marnotom! wrote:
What does tracking on the USPS website indicate, @lotzofuniquegoodies?

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@marnotom! 

Last update on cp was June 15 showing moving along. Last 2 update on USPS were June 10 Miami depot followed by June moving to next facility so those 2 basically match. Only difference is the delivered part. The scan variety from my testing can vary between the 2 sites. 

We will skip the part about these inaccurate scans and how ebay treats them when it comes to any open cases but you can imagine the difficulties these discrepancies have known to cause...especially for the seller.

[pjcdn2005]

If the tracked packet scan didn't showing up on the usps site either, that is a usps issue of them not scanning packages. It isn't related to TP in particular.  They miss scanning usps labels as well.

[mrdutch1001]

All of my recent Tracked Pkt pkgs to the USA(May sales) were adequately scanned & delivered with no issues....

and like I have indicated in previous posts/threads on this subject, I have NOT used Small Packet to the USA since Tracked Packet became an economical & affordable method of shipping...

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

If the tracked packet scan didn't showing up on the usps site either, that is a usps issue of them not scanning packages. It isn't related to TP in particular.  They miss scanning usps labels as well.

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The same bad info is repeated on eBay's listing details. It leaves the seller up against incorrect INR's. If you review the dot com board there are post regularly regarding discrepancies with tracing with never anything saying that a fix is being worked on.

Issue being that eBay pushes shipping with tracked shipping. Not much good when the data retrieved by sellers and buyers is not up to snuff. 

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

All of my recent Tracked Pkt pkgs to the USA(May sales) were adequately scanned & delivered with no issues....

and like I have indicated in previous posts/threads on this subject, I have NOT used Small Packet to the USA since Tracked Packet became an economical & affordable method of shipping...

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@mrdutch1001 

Prior to the tracked offering I used Small Packet Air for USA and Internationally almost exclusively. Never had an issue when tracking was working (turned on) within eBay. Most of the time delivered in 8 to 10 business days. Exceptions winter storms and customs backlogs. It is still important to consider there are sellers that prefer using their own CP account vs eBay for personal reasons. They shouldn't be penalized because eBay has decided that Small Packet Air to USA is service non grata. There was no reason to stop the tracking from working. Also gave buyers access to info if they were concerned about their order if they checked from eBay. 

[mrdutch1001]

Yes indeed, As did I "Prior to the tracked offering I used Small Packet Air for USA "....but knowing that the UR# wasn't  necessarily used as a tracking # aside of its from time to time on eBay as never ever was that UR# accessible as a tracking # when using Small Packet for sales on other selling sites...or through CP Snap Ship,so  I NEVER counted on or relied on Small Packet as providing any kind of tracking and always accepted the fact that the Small Packet Service was just an economical method of shipping. Having said that, Small Packet Air was quite reliable for me...until it wasn't(that being about 3 years ago when Small Packet service was becoming somewhat problematic...)

[fergua3]

i have another package i sent recently using a UR tracking number.  It has tracked perfectly all the way to its destination.  Missed one scan near the beginning but otherwise all scans are showing.  I expect delivery today as its status is 'arrived at unit'.

Lotz, when tracking says 'expected delivery delayed...' that usually means the item has been carded and is waiting for pick up by the buyer OR the item has taken longer to be delivered than the expected delivery date that was initiallly provided by USPS.  I've seen that lots of times in the past and every time the package was eventually delivered; it just took a longer time for whatever reason.

In my experience over the last nearly 3 years of using UR tracking it has been as reliable as tracked packet, no less. The one lost package that prompted me to start this thead is the only severe problem i have had with a UR tracked parcel and i don't believe it's a problem with the UR tracking number.  I believe that it's CP at fault....my package was lost, stolen or sent to a wrong country etc. right off the bat.   Whatever the case it has vanished without a trace.

The other package that was not tracking for several days and i feared was another incident like the lost one has finally shown up along with all its previous scans.  It had been proceeding through the system normally.   So i think that was more of an Ebay/USPS interface issue with the scans being just greatly delayed showing on Ebay..

The only really downside to using UR tracking numbers is that they do not track the package while in the hands of CP and they cannot be tracked on the USPS website, just on Ebay.

And it seems i have to keep repeating this but UR tracking numbers DO PROTECT YOU IN INR CASES.  I won 2 out of 2 INR cases that were opened against me when using UR tracking as both showed delivered.   UR tracking numbers seem to be every bit as reliable as tracked packet tracking, if the postal system does their job correctly.  If they don't then tracked packet doesn't help you anyway, except it has insurance.......but good luck collecting.

[mrdutch1001]

For those who still use Small Packet (and find it reliable) that is a good thing, but for sellers who also utilize other selling sites, that UR# is meaningless and IS NOT recognized in any way as tracking and NOT acceptable as proof in  INR cases...and as I do sell on another prominent selling site,(that also offers discounted rates for CP Tracked Pkt), I no longer use Small Packet as a shipping method....

[marnotom!]

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@fergua3 wrote:

UR tracking numbers seem to be every bit as reliable as tracked packet tracking, if the postal system does their job correctly.

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If the postal system does its job correctly?  Don't those labels say "no delivery scan" right below the barcode?  😜

[pjcdn2005]

Yes but I used to black that out😎

I doubt that the postal workers ever read it anyway, it's pretty small type.

[reallynicestamps]

If anything the barcode on Small Packets is an invoice number.

Bookkeeping for Canada Post.

It is NOT a tracking number.

For a while, USPS was mistaking it for tracking, but it was NOT A TRACKING NUMBER.

EBay was also accepting it even though it was NOT a tracking number.

Since delayed delivery, and even losses in the mail, are unusual and many buyers can't figure out how to open a  Claim*, this was not a problem.

But that UR # was NOT a tracking number.

*Leaving negs in FB instead.

[mrdutch1001]

" if the postal system does their job correctly"...which equates to the fact that postal systems are NOT required to scan and/or consider that UR # as a tracking number. Way too many eBay sellers relied on that UR number and that is what has created so many threads/posts on its reliability and/or lack thereof ...

Sellers relied on that UR# to the extent that THEY blame eBay and/or the postal system and THAT is what is wrong here...

The only blame here is on those sellers who still use Small Packet Air as a "trackable" shipping service; and put their trust into that UR# and rely on it too much as a legit "tracking" process.

Reality folks, reality....

C'est la vie!

Que sera, sera!

[fergua3]

lol.....i just don't get the push back against UR tracking from you guys.   Of course it's not trackable on other sites, just ebay.  This IS an Ebay message board still isn't it?  I wasn't promoting it to be used anywhere else, in fact in my last post i specifically said one of the downsides of it is that it can only be tracked on Ebay.

It IS a tracking number otherwise it would not scan when the USPS scans it.  It has to be formatted correctly for a USPS scan to register and UR numbers are.

To call it NOT A TRACKING NUMBER is very strange when many peope for years have been using it for tracking quite successfully.   It may not have been INTENDED as a tracking number but it looks and acts like one......it even wins INR cases like one.  So, from now on i'll call them "UR numbers that work as tracking numbers" to be more correct, even though it makes zero difference to anything but semantics. 

They have worked as tracking numbers, they still work as tracking numbers and it was very nice of Ebay to coordinate with USPS so they would show up on Ebay tracking.  It's been a big help to many Canadian sellers over the past few years.  Except for my one lost package, all the problems i've had with UR numbers in the past were glitch related.  ie missed scans or scans taking ages to be  posted for various reasons.  But these are the same problems that happen with tracked services too.

Oh, and by 'if the postal system does its job', i meant if they deliver the package instead of not deliverying it, for whatever reason.   

 And on RARE occassions there is no delivery scan with UR numbers.......that's probably because the delivery person did see 'no delivery scan' below the barcode.  But most delivery people are so used to scanning everything they handle it's faster just to scan than to read fine print on every package.

[marnotom!]

When this quirk of Small Packet was first discovered many moons ago, the conclusion we came to is that USPS scans these items for its own internal reference and that these scans—for whatever reason—get picked up by eBay in tracking event data dumps sent by USPS.

I don’t know if I’d call the reaction to your posts “push back.” I think there’s just a lot of disbelief over the fact that someone is posting about the unpredictable nature of tracking for items sent by a service that’s advertised as untracked.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@marnotom! wrote:
When this quirk of Small Packet was first discovered many moons ago, the conclusion we came to is that USPS scans these items for its own internal reference and that these scans—for whatever reason—get picked up by eBay in tracking event data dumps sent by USPS.

I don’t know if I’d call the reaction to your posts “push back.” I think there’s just a lot of disbelief over the fact that someone is posting about the unpredictable nature of tracking for items sent by a service that’s advertised as untracked.

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@marnotom! 

@fergua3 

When I was using it as normal day to day business, from the eBay scans it showed my inbetween scans when they hit Richmond and went on to LAX or SF. Then were tracked balance of way.  When I had 1 for Cyprus, it went by way of Mtl and then the depot in Long Island before forwarding to Europe all logged in ebay. We didn't complain because it was a nice feature. After eBay implemented USA tracked promo all my USA SPA transactions immediately poofed off the Seller Level Page only counting tracked or in a blue moon expedited.  

For smiles and chuckles I just checked recent transactions back as far as I could go and tracking for anything before mid April 24 is locked. The valid transactions still work in CP.

Add on.

Historical data used to be something eBay was very good at. Key words. Used to be. Now limit seems to be 75 to 90 days.

[byto253]

USPS scans everything, the barcode on the UR labels is not just a decoration 🙂  I think the "no delivery scan" is for the consumers to indicate they will not get tracking. 

Internally they track, and I believe that is for national security issues as well.  It just happens that eBay is so tightly integrated with the USPS information that the tracking info shows up in eBay, while it is not provided on the postal sites. 

I had 2 UR packages recently and both provided full end to end tracking.   The cost difference between tracked and small packet is pretty small so I rarely use it now but for me it is a viable option.