eBay redesigned tracking to make it more intuitive for buyers and sellers to follow the delivery journey of their packages. The ability to track packages is important to buyers so they can see if the seller shipped and when they can expect to receive their item.
And, as eBay told sellers in Thursday’s announcement, “Tracking your sales is crucial for seller protection, enhancing buyer confidence, and improving overall business performance. It helps you and your buyers monitor shipments, minimizes “Where’s my order?” inquiries and “item not received” claims, and can contribute to a positive seller rating.”
In an answer to a FAQ posted to the page, “How will the new tracking system help minimize “item not received” claims,” eBay said, “Clearer, unified tracking helps buyers see exactly where their order is at every step, reducing misunderstandings and the need to file.”
eBay said it redesigned the tracking experience across Seller Hub and the buyer shipment flow to make it more visual, unified, and easy to navigate.
eBay did not provide screenshots of the changes that will appear at the end of July, but it explained the changes as follows:
For sellers:
Enhanced visualization: Seller Hub now offers a more consistent and intuitive tracking status visualization, such as on the ‘View Order’ page, making it easier to manage order shipments.
For buyers:
Unified delivery overview: Buyers will now see all deliveries for an order in one comprehensive view, including separate tracking for outbound and return items.
Updated order delivery status: If a delivery is delayed, buyers will see a clearer status update, reducing uncertainty and setting better expectations.
eBay said the new design would help build buyer trust and was announced as part of its July Seller Update.
For years eBay has been known for improperly parsing the data they obtain from carriers.
They would routinely display the tracking events out of order such as listing the label creation event after the label had already been scanned; messing up the order of scans within the carrier’s system; and not updating tracking informations.
This is not going to reduce claims as a tracking number does prove the buyer got their item. It only proves they got a package. The buyer can still claim the box was empty or that they got another item instead.
On the other hand when a buyer returns a empty envelope with the return label on it the tracking number does prove the item was sent back to the seller.
Just more smoke and mirrors by eBay. eBay will still abuse and use as before.
Ebay re-designing the tracking is worthless. The Post Office is the problem with the tracking. Unless one can get the Post Office to correct their mistakes and improve their tracking, anything Ebay does is like a Dog chasing its tail – it’s amusing for a short while but the Dog goes nowhere.
The tracking looks OK to me, it just repeats the information it gets from the shipper’s website anyways.
The problem is more on the USPS end with non-update updates and slow service. My packages used to leave the local hub for the regional center where they’d get sorted for whatever direction, usually by midnight on the day I shipped. Now it’s taking closer to 24-36 hours, well into the next day. It’s only about a 90 mile drive, so it must be something in how they’re sorting, maybe they wait for a more full truckload or something.