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Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

If you drop ship or sell on multiple platforms like I do sometimes you'll get cross sales where you may not be able to fulfill an order. Especially with holidays it can be more problematic.

At USPS if there is a kiosk self help machine you can scan in your packages, and print off labels of ones you don't have yet and scan it. I usually do this while I'm scanning in a bunch of other packages so it doesn't look weird. This actually protects your ratings from late shipment. It really only helps if you have a reliable supplier and can purchase the goods you need same or next day to prevent issues. Naturally the customer can still open item not received claims so this isn't a fix for being lazy. I have a 3 day handling on my items and just upgrade my customer to express shipping which offsets the delay.

The reason I do this is it provides the appearance that USPS is delaying the package not you. Within 1-3 days after you scan it the tracking updates "in transit to next facility" .... and when it doesn't get delivered on time it says "arriving later than expected", as opposed to no scan and tracking showing "USPS waiting for package". If it doesn't get delivered on time, having the scan keeps your ratings intact which is important for eBay.

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

Why don't you just drop them off in the cargo bay and have the staff scan the boxes there if you have that much?

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

is this in the back in the loading bay? never seen it in the front

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

those are for big sellers who do a lot of business with USPS.
like booksellers ER Hamilton,or DEPARTMENT STORES

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

A kiosk? Maybe not every USPS store has one.

To be clear the point is I’m scanning labels of packages I’m not actually shipping just yet. I just print out the labels and take them with me. So if someone buys something from me and I’m temporarily out of stock, I can place an order from my supplier that same day.... but instead of the customer thinking I’m not shipping their order they will see it updated like it’s in transit.

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

None of the post offices in my area have this. Sounds like a big city thing.

SCAN forms work just as well though for getting tracking numbers validated even if you have to hold back an order for a few days because of stock issues. All postage software can generate them. You just select all the labels you printed in a day, click "create scan form", and give the form to USPS. When they scan the barcode on the form all the labels you printed that day are marked as "accepted". :thumb:

My mail people are spoiled by them now since they used to scan all of my shipments in individually. Our postmaster called me a few weeks ago asking how I make them because she was trying to tell another seller in the area how to do it.

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

Yes, that's the one.

He can also make a setting that for the labels he'll be buying for that day, it'll generate a list with 1 bar code. USPS scans that 1 barcode and it'll auto scan ALL the labels.

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

They're called SCAN forms.

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

Sounds like you need to start printing off a scan form. You're doing a lot of unnecessary work!

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

Use a scan form and drop off all items at once in the back or if you live in a non rural area have a pickup daily. The mail carrier or postal worker scans one form.

BUT a save buyer or anyone who ships can still see that it wasn't actually shipped. It can buy a day or two though.

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

No. He is talking about a kiosk that is eliminating postal workers much like self checkout. These are found in big cities only as of now anyways.

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

Can you get this from Shipstation??

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

Yes.. all postage software has it. Instructions in here somewhere : https://help.shipstation.com/hc/en-u...demo-video-0-0


With stamps.com I just go into the history tab and click "create scan form for all eligible shipments."

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

On shipstation you go to Shipments at the top and then on the left hand side click End Of Day.

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

works just as well

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

The amount of extra work I've done the past 3 years.

:faint:

I still need manually scan with Poshmark, and some other platforms that control shipping labels but this saves me a lot of time. I'll try it out tomorrow. I wonder if the kiosk will scan it.

Re: Shipping hack to keep account in good standing
 

It's just a normal tracking barcode so I would assume so. The only thing different about it compared to a First Class or Priority barcode is the first few prefix numbers.