USPS Tracking Number Problem

[OriginalMaine]

Has anyone else noticed that the USPS tracking number assigned to the label has already been used? 

[OB]

I'm having the same issue.  It's very confusing to customers.

[sales233]

Same here - about 1/2 the USPS orders processed today are like that.  Already getting calls from customers thinking we are scammers 😠

[ReneeM]

Yes, and I can't through on Chat without running around the knowledge base. 

[sarphan716]

same, wondering if these labels will even work. I didn't notice til I dropped off about 10 of them to usps and came back home.

[gjphotosllc]

Same issue here. Over 30 packages. This is what shipstation says on the matter:

https://help.shipstation.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405873531931

Sadly my recycled tracking numbers haven't been updated to show the current location even though the fresh tracking numbers from the same batch have been, and have my post office as the departure point.

Frustrating. Dealing with some complaints and worries. Has anyone seen their recycled tracking number update upon scan?

[Gettar]

Mine are all over the place. There are like 5 different ways it shows. Some even reverting back to showing only the previous shipments tracking..ONLY! I have customers complaining, some are even demanding refunds.

THIS IS A NIGHTMARE. Have to buy labels somewhere else or close for now. Cant deal with the deluge of messages. I cant even answer them, what shipstation told me is not true. They dont update and delete previous shipments tracking upon acceptance.

[OriginalMaine]

I realized this was happening about 25 packages into the day when I started receiving customer messages. The Post Guy hadn't picked up yet, so I contacted ShipStation. They directed me to that article as well. So frustrating.

When the Post Guy arrived, he was puzzled by that explanation and had never heard of it (nor had his manager).  We scanned a package with a recycled number on Wednesday mid day, which should have updated by 7pm-ish that evening, but as of now it still has the old/original shipping data.  

I'm wondering if this is a Shipstation issue or a Stamps.com issue; and if switching to a different carrier would help.  Also, I can make labels through Etsy (directly) without this issue, but when I process an Etsy order through Shipstation, I get a recycled number.  Too bad Etsy isn't my only channel. 

[Whattodo832]

This may be the problem.  I discovered this while reprinting a label so could send a customer a photo copy so they could have piece of mind that there package is on its way.  So I clicked on shipped on the left of screed to view my shipments.  from there I clicked on one of the unhappy clients packages.  Then on the right sidebar there is a print tap were you can go in to reprint the label.  I clicked on Label under the print tap. A Print Warning pops up " this label has already printed. Reprint anyway? I clicked Yes Reprint. The label prints.  Then I realize what's going on.  The tracking barcode and tracking # are missing from the printed label.  However on the screen preview of the label the barcode and Number are there.  (fyi - you may need to scroll down in the preview window to see the barcode & #) I tried numerous times and every time the label only printed the top half never the tracking barcode or number.  And regretfully I do remember  thinking when I printed out the actual labels that went onto the packages that the code was missing. Please note this was my 3rd day using ship station.  I thought at the time shipstation is probably different from ebay and maybe they just use the other scannable code at the top.  Guess not.  So, since there is no scannable TRACKING number barcode on the package there is nothing for USPS to scan to update there system.  So essentially no tracking at all. That is why it's showing the previous shipment using that #. Yes USPS recycles there shipping #'s. How silly is that. Here is my work around.  Even though there shouldn't need to be a work around.  You need to take a screen shot of the shipping label then print from your screen shot file.  or download label to a file then print from that file.  This does work and the tracking number does print on the label this way.  I am unable to print any label directly from shipstation with a tracking #.  Very aggravating. This is an extra step I don't need. but only way to get tracking on label.  Don't know if this is a factor or not but I am using a MAC MINI, CHROME BROWSER, with THERMAL PRINTER 4X6 labels.  I tried on Safari Browser as well with the same result. NO TRACKING.  I hope this helps. If someone can go through this on there computer and verify my experiment I wold appreciate it. So the take away is " can't print through shipstation " must take screen shot of label and print or download and print. OMG what a pain. 

[Moderator-Davis]

Hey there @DakotaChin,

I apologize for the delay in our response! 

After confirming with my team i am happy to report that Walmart does their suspension/termination in bulk in specific time frames. So, the Walmart automated system might flag certain orders (like the affected USPS ones) but Walmart has confirmed they will not suspend, terminate, or otherwise penalize merchants for shipments with the affected tracking numbers - which we have provided them directly.

I hope this helps! 

[gjphotosllc]

I've shipped another ~30 packages with shipstation and all have returned good tracking numbers, so it seems the problem is fixed, at least. The old ones are concerning but hopefully, they find their way into the system.

[Whattodo832]

Yes I am having the same issue.  Many of my packages that shipped out on the 24th of November are showing that they were all delivered in August 2021.  This has many of my customers contacting me concerned that they will not get there merchandise.  Does USPS recycle tracking #'s ?  How does something like this even happen.  I have tried to contact my Shipstation accout manager without reply to email or voicemail.  That is also concerning.  I Really hope the packages make it to their desinations.  

[GettingThere]

Same here. My entire two days worth of shipments all have August delivery info and are NOT updating even after 3 days now.  This is horrific and not acceptable especially after all we went thru last year with USPS. 

[Whattodo832]

This may be the problem.  I discovered this while reprinting a label so could send a customer a photo copy so they could have piece of mind that there package is on its way.  So I clicked on shipped on the left of screed to view my shipments.  from there I clicked on one of the unhappy clients packages.  Then on the right sidebar there is a print tap were you can go in to reprint the label.  I clicked on Label under the print tap. A Print Warning pops up " this label has already printed. Reprint anyway? I clicked Yes Reprint. The label prints.  Then I realize what's going on.  The tracking barcode and tracking # are missing from the printed label.  However on the screen preview of the label the barcode and Number are there.  (fyi - you may need to scroll down in the preview window to see the barcode & #) I tried numerous times and every time the label only printed the top half never the tracking barcode or number.  And regretfully I do remember  thinking when I printed out the actual labels that went onto the packages that the code was missing. Please note this was my 3rd day using ship station.  I thought at the time shipstation is probably different from ebay and maybe they just use the other scannable code at the top.  Guess not.  So, since there is no scannable TRACKING number barcode on the package there is nothing for USPS to scan to update there system.  So essentially no tracking at all. That is why it's showing the previous shipment using that #. Yes USPS recycles there shipping #'s. How silly is that. Here is my work around.  Even though there shouldn't need to be a work around.  You need to take a screen shot of the shipping label then print from your screen shot file.  or download label to a file then print from that file.  This does work and the tracking number does print on the label this way.  I am unable to print any label directly from shipstation with a tracking #.  Very aggravating. This is an extra step I don't need. but only way to get tracking on label.  Don't know if this is a factor or not but I am using a MAC MINI, CHROME BROWSER, with THERMAL PRINTER 4X6 labels.  I tried on Safari Browser as well with the same result. NO TRACKING.  I hope this helps. If someone can go through this on there computer and verify my experiment I wold appreciate it. So the take away is " can't print through shipstation " must take screen shot of label and print or download and print. OMG what a pain. 

[GettingThere]

Thank you, but I believe my issue to be unrelated.  However, Shipstation is great, please make sure you call support and get your issue resolved, there is no need to go through all of that.

[Whitewater85]

How do you call support? When I call us directs me to the chat on the website. Then the website chat keeps directing me to the read the article about reusing shipping numbers. 

[Whitewater85]

The funny thing is it’s only my first class labels through shipstation. All my

Priority  pirateship labels are tracking fine. Mercari and Amazon labels are fine. I’m worried about Walmart proactively refunding customers who claim lost after delivery. Or accusing me of dropshipping due to reused tracking numbers 

[Whitewater85]

This happened to me on labels purchased Wednesday AND Friday so it’s definitely not fixed yet.  

[akinindustries]

If ShipStation is not fixing this we are going to cancel our subscription and go with another software. I am getting 50 messages a day and for somewhat reason this only happens on ShipStation. I guess USPS only recycles tracking numbers for ShipStation, very weird

[john38]

Definitely not fixed yet.  So far we are seeing this on shipments from 11/22 - 11/26.  Some track normally, others only show tracking history and scans from when the tracking number was last used in August.

One package we shipped on 11/26 also shows that it's tracking number was issued to someone else on 11/24 and shows scans from the other shipment as well as ours, until the other shipment is delivered to a city, state different than our shipment and then the tracking stops.  Amazon, of course notified the customer that their shipment was delivered and now they are wondering why it was sent to a different city/state than on their order.  Yay!!

[Moderator-Davis]

Hello there, everyone! 

Thank you to everyone for posting about this issue on the community. We’ve been discussing this issue with our support team as we received many reports of this issue last week.

At this time, it looks like a set of tracking numbers was recycled too soon and that is why tracking is not updating for those USPS shipments. We are currently in discussions with USPS and Stamps.com as they work out a resolution to this problem.

USPS labels created after 12:30pm CST on Friday are no longer experiencing this issue. We will follow up with more information about the affected labels and tracking as soon as we have it.

Thanks for your patience.

[john38]

Can you take a look at tracking # 9400111108435012172224.  This was created on 11/26 and shipped from Clearwater, FL but has scans starting on 11/24 from Queens, NY, so it looks like this tracking number was issued to us and someone else a few days earlier.  The tracking history shows both packages working their way through the USPS system until the 11/24 Queens package was delivered on 11/27 to a different city and state.  Now no further scans are showing, but our customer has been notified that it was delivered.  I'm confident that it is still in transit to them, need the tracking to be corrected so it only shows our scans and that is hasn't yet been delivered, ASAP as the customer is irate.

Please help!

Best regards,

John

[Moderator-Davis]

Hey there! I absolutely want to make sure that we can get you the proper assistance. For the individual cases specifically, it is the best idea to reach out to our Support team directly. 

I hope this helps! 🙂 

[Whattodo832]

OK, in that case can you please provide a phone number, and or email address on this community thread that we can use to contact your support team directly? 

[Moderator-Davis]

Hey there @Whattodo832, 

I'm happy to provide that info!

The best way to reach support via email is: Support@shipstation.com. If your subscription plan comes with a phone assistance, the number to call will be listed under the ? icon in your top right hand corner. Similarly, if your plan allows it, the Live Chat Widget is available as well 🙂 

[Whattodo832]

Yes that is my account manager that has never returned an E-mail or phone message.  

[john38]

I appreciate that; however you are the only person that seems to care.

The only reason I brought these details up here was because I spent over an hour with ShipStation support first thing this morning and was pretty much blown off.  They told me was a Stamps.com problem, talk to them.  Stamps.com said its a ShipStation problem.  I'm sure none of us end users really care who's issue it is technically, you are one in the same company.  Own it and fix it. 

We've been ShipStation enterprise customers for years and never before did we feel like no one at ShipStation really cared.

This is the biggest issue we've had to date with your service and we feel left high and dry, with tons and tons of upset customers, that are ultimately going to cost us a bunch of time, money and reputation. 

Best regards,

John

[GettingThere]

I have many from last Wed that still show August deliveries, many are priority.  So we paid for tracking and did not get tracking.  Cannot even file claim as it shows delivered. Talked to counter rep today at PO as I have receipt of acceptance but they get same info

[Chaniilove]

Ask them to pull something like this, this is what my clerks pulled that show both the old and the new scans 

 

[SuperheroDIY]

Same issue for me, and it is VERY frustrating to say the least. I have hundreds of shipments that went out that seem to have this issue, and customers are starting to think they've been scammed. 

The worst part of this is that I will have NO way to prove that any of these shipments have actually been delivered, so could possibly be liable for all those items which were actually delivered. 

It does seem that this is a ShipStation-specific problem. This needs to be fixed retroactively, so that the reused tracking numbers are updated with current info ASAP!

[Gettar]

I already have customers demanding refunds on items that I know were most likely delivered. Ebay kicked out the tracking numbers, left it blank and the USPS show only old info. 2 customers witch will be almost $150 out of my pocket so far! This is BS. They told me it would be ok. They told me that the old tracking would go away when these were scanned. Why did I listen, why didnt I just void them and go to the post office and buy labels!

[Chaniilove]

Have had multiple packages this past week doing this. My local usps is able to pull the actual shipping manifest to show the new scans and deliveries, hopefully some of you can do this for the packages anyone claims didn’t make it to use for proof. However my post office is acting like I’ve been given fake tracking labels and has said I or my customers may be charged postage due for reusing tracking numbers and act like I’m being sketchy or lying. I’ve had tracking numbers that the original delivery shown was just this month so there’s no way those numbers should be being reissued already! Even after delivery of the one that did get to its destination so far, it never updated on the usps tracking results  

[Whitewater85]

Same here! I shipped a package on Nov 26 which shows delivered Nov 15. At this point I can’t even trust shipstation anymore. I’ve never had this happen wirh Amazon, Mercari, Poshmark, Facebook, pirateship, or ebay and I’ve been doing this over 8 years. 

[GettingThere]

Well I am having customers who I believe are all ready to pounce on this.  If tracking is not updated, they want their money back. I have until Friday, two have warned me.

I stood at PO with these packages to have them scanned in as received (after last year, I make sure they scan them), even with that receipt they themselves can tell me no more that what we see, that (mine) were all delivered in CA in August.

This will cause credit card disputes and their costs, refunds, time and resources. I hope ship station intends on making this right and compensating us for our losses along with issuing a subscription credit for the time and upset involved.

So far NOTHING is being done but them acknowledging it.

I switched over to UPS with all this and now have issue with a service code setup error and am unable to schedule a pickup, the ticket is now open 4 days with no assistance on the matter. I have to call UPS for a pickup and give them my credit card number for payment.  

Looks like ShipStation is going the way of the crapper.

[Gettar]

Here's a kicker.... I sent a return label for a buyer that day. And guess what, it is registering in ebay as delivered and is telling me I have to refund him now. What a disaster.  This fiasco is quickly adding up to a lot of $$. I am pretty sure I am done with shipstation, unless a miracle happens and they do something about this. This should never have happened.

[Whitewater85]

Does anyone here sell on Walmart? I’m highly concerned they will start suspending people for reusing tracking numbers which they’ve done before. Will shipstation provide account reinstatement services? Will they pay for the lost income due to them sending old tracking numbers? Shipstation is trying to sweep this under the rug and it’s a major deal.

[GettingThere]

 ShipStation has a help article about the matter, if it were to be resolved and to never happen again it would not be documented and referred to by them. That article, when did they post it?  Look at the example dates. This is not a first for this issue and won't be a last.  

[Moderator-Davis]

Thank you so much for your patience as we worked with Stamps and USPS to understand what happened with the tracking number situation last week. 

After discussions with both Stamps and USPS we learned that a group of USPS tracking numbers were recycled too early - typically the USPS waits 120 days before recycling a tracking number. This early recycling caused tracking to not update properly for shipments using those tracking numbers and resulted in confusion with many of our merchants’ customers.

The USPS fixed the problem that caused this issue on Friday, Nov 26. Any label created after 12:30pm CST that day should not be affected by this issue. 

Unfortunately, there is not a way to reset the tracking numbers that were recycled. This means USPS tracking will not update on the USPS tracking page or in ShipStation for the majority of these shipments. 

However, for a small percentage of affected labels we are seeing tracking events being properly sent to our system, even though the USPS tracking pages are not updating to display those new tracking events. We do not know why this small group of labels is sending ShipStation tracking events and others are not, but for these labels we will be able to update our branded tracking page tracking events properly if your ShipStation account uses that feature.

For all other shipments, your customers should expect their delivery as normal even though they won’t be able to track the package. At this time, we expect most if not all shipments sent on last Tuesday to have been successfully delivered and the remaining shipments from Wed-Fri to be delivered within the next 3-4 days.

[Gettar]

So that means I am SOL! ? I have no way of fighting the buyers that are trying to force me to give them a refund?

This question is for you Davis?? Am I going to be left out in the wind without a coat?

[GettingThere]

Wow. You did a fantastic job saying we are simply screwed.  I think at the very least we should be refunded the shipping for all parcels with recycled numbers even if they eventually updated and for those it happened to a few free months of subscription.  

I am relying on the honesty of my customers to not go back to cc company and say they did not receive. Should they and I expect they WILL they get a full refund, the product, and we are out the cost to ship.  

This is NOT at all in even the smallest little bit acceptable to leave it at this.