What is a USPS SCAN form and do I need one?
A USPS SCAN form is PS Form 5630, the Shipment Confirmation Acceptance Notice. It carries one master barcode linked to every package in that day's shipment, so one scan gives all of them an Acceptance event. You want one when you hand over a stack of prepaid parcels and need every label scanned.
What the one barcode does
The form links all the packages in the shipment to one barcode. Scan it once and every package in the shipment receives an Acceptance event from the Post Office, entering USPS Tracking as Shipment Accepted. The individual labels still track on their own numbers afterwards. The form covers acceptance, nothing else.
Where the form comes from
PS Form 5630 comes from a PC Postage application rather than from the counter's own system. In Click-N-Ship it lives on the SCAN Forms tab, where eligible labels are added to a form and the form downloads as a PDF.
Buy the day's labels first. Only labels that are eligible appear as available to add.
Open the SCAN Forms tab and add the labels you are shipping.
Note the split: a separate form is created for each ship-from ZIP Code for each ship date.
Mind the deadline. Reprints of the form are available until 11:59 PM Central Time of the ship date, so print it before then.
Print it and take it to the Post Office with the parcels, or display it prominently with them for your carrier.
Labels listed on a SCAN form are ineligible for refund if they are not shipped with that form, and no changes can be made to the form after printing.
What to do if your label tool does not print one
The form is generated by the postage application that bought the labels, not by the counter, so a tool with no manifest feature cannot produce one for you. Two routes cover that. Buy the day's labels in Click-N-Ship or another PC Postage product that creates SCAN forms, or hand the parcels over at the counter and have every label scanned individually. Either way the goal is the same: acceptance events on the whole stack rather than a bin drop that puts one on none of it.
When you do not need one
A single parcel does not need a manifest. The clerk scans the label and that is the acceptance event. Nor does a drop-off small enough that every label gets handled at the window. The form earns its place once the stack is big enough that individual scanning gets skipped, which is exactly when a missing acceptance scan costs you.
Why the acceptance scan is the one that counts
eBay measures handling time from the moment you receive payment until your package is scanned by your shipping carrier. Printing the label does nothing to that clock. When a late shipment is reviewed, an acceptance scan within handling time is one of the two things that can get it removed, the other being delivery by the latest estimated delivery date. A day's parcels left in a bin with no scan sit as label created while the handling time runs out.
Key takeaways
- PS Form 5630 is one barcode standing in for a whole day's shipment.
- One scan gives every package on the form an Acceptance event.
- One form per ship-from ZIP Code per ship date, with reprints until 11:59 PM Central.
- One acceptance scan is what stops eBay's handling-time clock.
The scan is what your store is waiting for
We price and buy USPS and UPS labels and print the day's batch as one merged PDF, with the pick list and packing slips in the same sequence as the boxes. Tracking is posted back to the connected store when the label is bought, so an eBay order is already marked Shipped before you leave for the Post Office. One acceptance scan is what stops eBay's handling-time clock, so get the whole drop-off scanned, ideally on a SCAN form generated by the postage application that printed the labels.
Related questions
No. USPS states that no changes can be made to the SCAN form after printing, and that labels listed on it are ineligible for refund if they are not shipped with it. A label bought after the form was created goes on the next day's form, or gets scanned on its own at the counter.
No. PS Form 5630 is a USPS form and it covers only the USPS labels listed on it. A mixed drop-off means the UPS parcels are handed over separately, through UPS's own pickup or drop-off, and they get their own acceptance record from that carrier.
No. The form covers acceptance and nothing else. Every parcel still tracks on its own label number afterwards, and the acceptance event lands against each package listed on the manifest. Keep the printed sheet with the day's records so you can match the manifest against what actually went out.
That means USPS has the electronic record but no physical scan against the parcel yet. It is normal for a few hours and a problem after a drop-off. See Shipping label created, not yet in system for how long to wait and what to do next.