USPS recycling very recent tracking numbers?

[Picks_by_Nisha]

I’m small enough that I buy labels one-by-one from Amazon, so no integration that I could pull a group of numbers from.
On the bright side, since media is exempt from the bizarre “5-8 days means 5 days” rule, I rarely have problems with OTDR. So maybe I can avoid any issues. (besides, slow enough I’m shipping zero orders tomorrow; so no risk there!)

[lake]

The issue of refunds issued for items which have not been shipped back problem has plagued the Ebay forums for months.

No one has postulated this cause. It makes sense.

[Lost_My_Marbles]

We did a test label this morning to see if the recycle issue was still happening.

Happy to say the label is showing correctly on USPS site … Label Created, not yet in system … when we checked it right after making the purchase.

We used the Buy Shipping in Bulk way of purchasing. If someone purchases from the order detail Buy Shipping (individual) method, please post if your label was okay.

[Jenga244]

Interesting, we haven’t had this issue on EBay, at all.

[Dogtamer]

@Dogtamer

What might be encouraging, however, is that KJ has just called for information, in the ‘main’ NSFE discussion, from 3P Sellers who’ve already had (and, in @ least a few reported cases, already lost) A-to-z Claims filed due to this debacle, potentially in an effort to negate the Amabots’ renderings of blinkered judgement:
…

KJ just posted this in the ‘main’ NSFE discussion:

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/3b628bfe-6cc7-40ec-894a-13f196be2402?postId=1e5c8cc3-7eaa-4f85-9a12-9e4df0af56c3

KJ_Amazon

In reply to: A1_Distribution_LLC’s post

28 minutes ago

Can you please share the specific Case/Order IDs for those claims lost due to ‘bad’ tracking?

A1_Distribution_LLC

The issues is now Amazon is now now [not] standing by their AtoZ guarantee with sellers buying shipping through them.

Our partner teams are working to guarantee Buy Shipping protections for affected shipments, and to reimburse sellers with claims affected by this tracking issue.

KJ_Amazon

[Pepper_Thine_Angus]

@Dogtamer

Our partner teams

The use of “Partner” here makes me feel like this is totally outsourced. I’m guessing that’s not the way it was intended but, just sayin.

@Dogtamer

working to guarantee Buy Shipping protections for affected shipments, and to reimburse sellers with claims affected by this tracking issue.

I hope this is true, but as we all know, Amazon says but does not always do.

[MissMeliss]

After seeing people report that the labels they purchased yesterday were okay, I decided to try purchasing shipping for two orders through Amazon buy shipping, and the tracking information for both of them are fine so it does look like they have fixed what was causing the issue. However, I checked the USPS tracking for order shipped on Monday, and the tracking information for them still hasn’t updated.

[Lost_My_Marbles]

Got to love this tracking … one of the recycled ones that was Addressee Unknown originally and shows on USPS site …

Notice that it was in CA 90622 at 7:23am (which would be the post office that the order would go through to get to 90620) and then 1 hour and 14 minutes later it was in MO 64030.

We think both packages are in play at the same time with the one in MO being routed back to NY while our package is in CA about to be delivered today.

Moving Through Network
Arrived at USPS Facility
GRANDVIEW, MO 64030
February 28, 2025, 8:36 am

Moved, Left no Address
GRANDVIEW, MO 64030
February 28, 2025, 8:34 am

-

Arrived at Post Office
BUENA PARK, CA 90622
February 28, 2025, 7:23 am

Arrived at USPS Facility
BUENA PARK, CA 90622
February 28, 2025, 6:40 am

In Transit to Next Facility
February 28, 2025, 5:44 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility
CITY OF INDUSTRY CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 28, 2025, 5:29 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
CITY OF INDUSTRY CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 27, 2025, 9:52 am

In Transit to Next Facility
February 27, 2025, 9:31 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility
SAN BERNARDINO CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 27, 2025, 6:55 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
SAN BERNARDINO CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 27, 2025, 6:48 am

In Transit to Next Facility
February 27, 2025, 1:21 am

In Transit to Next Facility
February 26, 2025, 4:33 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility
AMARILLO TX DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 26, 2025, 8:33 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility
AMARILLO TX DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 26, 2025, 1:19 am

Departed Post Office
ANTON, TX 79313
February 25, 2025, 3:01 pm

USPS in possession of item
ANTON, TX 79313
February 25, 2025, 11:17 am

Where our tracking begins

Where recycled tracking ends

Addressee Unknown
GRANDVIEW, MO 64030
February 11, 2025, 2:03 pm

Out for Delivery
GRANDVIEW, MO 64030
February 11, 2025, 7:53 am

Arrived at Post Office
GRANDVIEW, MO 64030

February 11, 2025, 7:42 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility
KANSAS CITY MO DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 11, 2025, 5:44 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility
KANSAS CITY KS DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 11, 2025, 12:30 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Destination Facility
KANSAS CITY KS DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 10, 2025, 7:24 am

In Transit to Next Facility
February 6, 2025, 6:01 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility
KANSAS CITY MO DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 6, 2025, 5:40 am

In Transit to Next Facility
February 5, 2025

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
KANSAS CITY MO DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 4, 2025, 10:21 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility
KANSAS CITY KS DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 4, 2025, 5:25 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
KANSAS CITY KS DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 3, 2025, 6:12 am

In Transit to Next Facility
February 2, 2025, 10:01 pm

In Transit to Next Facility
February 2, 2025, 11:19 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility
METRO NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 2, 2025, 4:06 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility
METRO NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 1, 2025, 8:44 pm

[Lost_My_Marbles]

OMG … it gets better …
We signed up to get the USPS email about movement of the package.

The email from USPS just sent says the package will be delivered today in MO by 9:00pm when it is to be delivered in CA.

There is no way Amazon will be able to get this straight in Seller Support if the customer contacts them.

[Lost_My_Marbles]

And this customer has requested a refund …

USPS shows

Amazon tracking shows

Amazon email shows

We are going to refer the customer to file an A to Z with Amazon for INR.

[papy]

@Lost_My_Marbles

file an A to Z with Amazon for INR.

Hoist by their own petard lol

[Lost_My_Marbles]

Check this out … USPS site site shows MO scan and we just got this in email from USPS

---

And the Amazon site shows …

... ou ...ou ... me ...

We call dibs on the movie rights … should make for a good comedy.

[Pepper_Thine_Angus]

I believe what is happening is your seeing a hybrid of automatic (not scanned) movements and scanned movements. Final sort into routes is done by hand when they place a package on a truck. Clearly at other points there is a human involved or at least avs reads not relying on the tracking barcode data and that’s a good thing!

[Lost_My_Marbles]

No … there are two packages involved on this one.

The original package originated from NY going to MO. The customer moved with no forward address. The package sat in MO until today when they started to reroute it back to the sender thus today’s MO scans.

Meanwhile in CA, our package got to it’s post office and went out for delivery thus the scans in CA today for our package. We signed up for email notifications for the tracking number and tonight we got the email from USPS that our package was delivered in CA. Before the package was delivered, the customer looked at tracking and saw the MO scan thus their request for a refund for where’s my package. We responded back explaining the issue and said to do an A to Z.

Now that it is delivered in CA, we hope the customer doesn’t do the A to Z (time will tell). Meanwhile, we expect to see more scans as the original package makes it back to NY.

[Jenga244]

This is why sellers should use Amazon shipping…they can deal with this, it’s not the sellers’ problem.

[Pepper_Thine_Angus]

We hope they deal with it and not end up blaming sellers!

[Jenga244]

I get the impression they are going to eat a lot of these because they aren’t going to know the buyer got the package and they will fund it (and the seller will get paid).

All sellers need to do is ship the item, where it’s delivered…..if it’s delivered….. isn’t really their issue.

[Dogtamer]

@Jenga244

I get the impression they are going to eat a lot of these because they aren’t going to know the buyer got the package and they will fund it (and the seller will get paid).
…

Breaking news is to be found in this evening’s Amazon News Headline (link ‘broken’ for display on the Discourse Platform):

https: //sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHNUZGWkNBN0w5M1lEQTI5

USPS issue with invalid or used shipping labels

Fulfill Orders

Feb 28, 2025

191 views

We identified a USPS system issue that affected some shipping labels purchased on multiple shipping label software programs, including Amazon Buy Shipping and Veeqo. Some labels were incorrectly marked as used or displayed invalid tracking information.

On February 27, 2025, we implemented a fix to help prevent this issue from recurring and will provide refunds for labels that couldn’t be used. USPS has informed us that they’ll still deliver any package that was accepted with duplicate tracking information.

If your orders were affected, we’ll take the following actions to protect your account:

• Amazon account health protection: Any affected orders will automatically be protected from impacts to your Amazon account health metrics, including On-time delivery rate, Order defect rate, Valid tracking rate, and Late shipment rate. No action is required of you. We’ve identified impacted orders and will update your account health metrics by March 7, 2025. For issues with other selling channels, we recommend that you contact their respective seller support.
• Refunds on labels purchased: We’ll refund your original payment method for the amount you paid for shipping on any impacted USPS label you purchased on Amazon Buy Shipping or Veeqo. You can expect this refund by approximately March 31, 2025, and no action is required of you.
• A-to-z claim refunds: Labels purchased on Amazon Buy Shipping and Veeqo already include protection from A-to-z claims related to delivery issues, as long as you shipped on time. If you received an A-to-z claim due to this issue, we’ll automatically fund the buyer reimbursement and the customer-reported claim will not be counted against your order defect rate. No action is required of you.

We’re working hard to support you through this inconvenience.

Better it would be, methinks, should Amazon rein in the Reign Of Error it has unleashed with poorly-parameterized Amabots.

[HobbesIsMyTiger]

We will be dealing with the angry customers for weeks, even if this issue is resolved.

[Lost_My_Marbles]

All of our orders involved have now been delivered (as noted on the order detail page of each order’s tracking). We only had one order (the one noted up thread) where the customer contacted us asking for a refund and then tracking showed it was delivered a couple of hours later. The customer has not filed an A to Z claim and has not pushed to get the refund that they had requested. We think our reply email to them and the fact the item showed up a few hours later helped us avoid any further issues.

Depending on your product and the type of customers that your product attracts will determine the amount of customer blow back one receives.

For now, we are done with this one and await the next great Amazon folle.