I'm being dragged around in circles by an ebay seller. For weeks the AusPost tracking number has been tagged "Sent", with no further in transit bulletins. Annoying and frustrating. I'm starting to suspect I am being played. The question is in the subject.
Thanks
Only "Sent to you" with an exclamation point icon on the left of it, Tracking details show only "Tracking number provided", which is what has aroused my suspicion.
Is the exclamation point a link?
Sounds to me like AP never received the article.
Have you tried looking up the tracking number on the AP website? Could be an eBay glitch but unlikely.
What is the recent feedback of the seller like?
ap never received
Either this, or didnt get scanned at 1st processing stop.
@MS Paint: my ebay app is light mode too..i didnt even realise there was a dark mode option!!! what have i been doing with my life :(
i also wish the amazon app had a dark mode… unless…
eBay is notorious for having tons of drop shippers who will claim they ship from Australia but actually route from China. eBay considers a parcel "Sent" when a tracking number is generated for it, but a parcel isn't truly on its way until AusPost receives the actual item.
The big giveaway tends to be a 1 to 2 week delay between the tracking number being generated and a "we got your parcel" event being generated in AusPost tracking.
Thanks. That fits with what's happening.
It's a service part for a BMW motorcycle, which I'm now picking up on Thursday from a parts shop in ADL. I've already stopped Amazon buys. This will be my last ebay one I reckon.
What happens when you deep dive into the sellers profile? Where is their location? Click on profile > about
This will be my last ebay one I reckon.
Because you had to wait a couple of weeks for an automotive part? Are you new to online shopping?
This is precisely what I seem to be encountering with a lot of ebay sellers, especially those who make out they are Australia sellers with Australian stock.
I had one a couple of weeks ago who had a delivery time of 1 week. No problem. I ordered the item and then almost immediately received a message from the seller telling me that due to some "glitch" on eBay's end the delivery time would be 2 weeks instead. I knew instantly he didn't have stock here and he was drop shipping from China.
I called him out on it and he googled my name, found my number and called me and started making threats.
Sure can. APost & ebay can game customers, and do. I consider it to be fraud on some occasions when either of those parties puts certain terminology on items NOT in transit or in the system, for real. This scam has enabled and amplified drop shipping. Sellers should not be allowed to self scan,period.
TLDR
The crook brothers scratching each others backs
I hate it when they guarantee 1 business day processing… and yeah sure after a day they provide a tracking number that remains as "Auspost has received information from the sender" for the next 4 days.
It sucks how I can only start counting when it says "Item has been received by Aupost".
Yep, the only thing worse than the tag team of fleabay and Straya Pox, is the limp lettuce ACCC who enable the behaviour by looking the other way.
There's no such thing as "self-scanning" - AusPost needs to scan the parcel for it to actually show up properly in tracking (i.e. "We got your parcel"). eBay doesn't help though when it marks parcels as "sent" as soon as you generate a postage label for it. This can go both ways though as AusPost frequently misses the first scan, so enforcing sending times based on it will lead to many unfair complaints when a seller has posted the parcel, but it doesn't get scanned until it gets to the distribution centre a day or two later.
There's no easy solution to weeding out the dodgy drop shippers who claim their items are located in Australia. The closest we could get IMO is imposing a 3 day time limit between the label being generated and the first scan appearing for AusPost. That should give genuine local sellers enough time to print a label, send out the parcel the next day and not be screwed over by AusPost if they skip the first scan, while making it impossible for drop shippers to do the label shenanigans described in this thread.
It's scanning by stealth.Creating an illusion.
Easy solution? No bar codes on pre sold pkgs.They get affixed only within Aposts system, by their staff then scanned.
Sellers can use all sorts of APost approved terminology to feign 'sending/sent/in transit/ etc, when the item is O/S, or parked up somewhere.It's a host parasite situation between ebay & APost. Where both are hosts and both are parasites.
You can paint it however you want sellers can use the system to deceive customers, and both big players know,encourage and profit from it.
No idea why you even care. If something takes too long to post then you simply claim it and get a refund all the whilst the item magically appears because it's too late to remove from the pipeline.
It's so easy sometimes I purposely buy from dropshippers when I want to be cheeky. It's gold.
Of course they can, many times eBay sellers get around the promised 1 business day handling by simply generating an order with Auspost. It'll have a tracking number and all but when you check the status it'll say something like "Auspost has received shipping information from the sender" or "your order has been created"…. but they don't actually get the item to even send until like 4 days later.
This is especially common when their item is drop shipped.
Can an eBay Seller Generate an Auspost Tracking Number without Sending Anything?
Not just limited to eBay, any business can do it via their AusPost/StarTrack Business account. You log in, punch in all the details and pay, get a tracking number and then provide that to the customer without me dropping anything to the PO. When it's at the PO, it then gets updated on the tracking as being with AP.
Yes, I can create a tracking number, costs nothing until I manifest. I can also cancel before manifest.
AusPost has various account types so the process can vary.
It’s probably being sent from China
Rabbit hole with no happy outcome,if you value the time already wasted.Best solution is a long term one.Ditch ebay, minimise exposure to APost if you can, and don't rely on their tracking when you do have to use them.
I cant argue with any of that.
Well that was exhausting. Dealing with nefarious seller, I mean.
Got resolution in the end. Money is back in Paypal and the ebay account is closed.
Thanks for the feedback.
Ive purchased items late Saturday and late that night or on Sunday received notification of parcel sent with tracking. Ive received the items no problem but wondered how they were allowed to do this.
Mypost business account.
Yes.
What does the tracking show so far on eBay?
It should look something like this.
I have circled the important part which is where Australia post has accepted the article.