Does tracking protect me from an eBay item not received case?

The evidence eBay asks for

An item not received case is decided on the record attached to the order, not on your account history or your side of the story.

Attempted delivery counts as delivered, so a parcel the buyer never collected is still evidence.

The clock on a case

A buyer can report an item as not received once 30 calendar days have passed since the estimated or actual delivery date. You then have until 3 business days after the report to respond with tracking information, a delivery update or a refund. From 3 business days after the report until 21 business days after it, either side can ask eBay to step in, and at that point the record is what it is.

Where the record usually fails

The failures are rarely dramatic. They are an upload that happened after the estimated delivery date, a carrier picked as free text, a number with no acceptance scan behind it, or a zip that does not match because the buyer asked you to send it to work. The $750 threshold catches people out too, because it is the order total, not the item price, and signature confirmation has to be bought at label time rather than added afterwards.

What to do the day you ship

1. Ship to the address on the Order details page, not one supplied in a message.

2. Buy signature confirmation when the order total is $750 or more.

3. Upload the tracking number with the carrier selected from eBay's list.

4. Get an acceptance scan the same day, at a counter, on a pickup or on a scan form.

5. Check the order a day later and confirm scan events are showing against it.

Key takeaways

• Tracking protects you only when eBay can validate the carrier's scans.
• The shipping scan has to predate the latest estimated delivery date.
• The delivery zip has to match the Order details page.
• Orders of $750 or more need signature confirmation.

With I'd Ship That

Build the record while you are buying the label

Buy the USPS or UPS label against the synced eBay order and the address on the label is the address eBay sent us, with address validation on the order detail before you print. The tracking number and the carrier post straight back to eBay, so the upload date is the purchase date rather than whenever you next open Seller Hub. eBay then marks the order Shipped and emails the buyer, which puts the scan events on the order where a case would read them.

Create a label

Related questions

The tracking says delivered but the buyer says it never arrived. What now?

Respond inside the 3 business day window with the tracking, and check the two details eBay checks: the delivery zip against the Order details page, and signature confirmation if the order totalled $750 or more. A delivered scan to a matching zip is the record eBay asks for, which is why the zip comparison is worth doing before you reply.

Does a scan at my post office count as proof of delivery?

No. An acceptance scan proves you shipped, which is what handling time and late shipment removal turn on. An item not received case needs the other end: a delivered or attempted delivery status with a date, from a carrier eBay is integrated with.

Do I need signature confirmation on every expensive item?

eBay's requirement is orders with a total cost of $750 or more. Below that, the delivered scan and matching zip carry the case. Above it, the missing signature is the whole case, so price the service into the listing rather than deciding at the counter.

What if the buyer gave me a different address after checkout?

Ship to the address on the Order details page. eBay checks the delivery zip against that page, so a parcel delivered perfectly to an address supplied in a message can still fail the test. If the address is genuinely wrong, cancelling and relisting is safer than redirecting the parcel.