problems with combined shipping using stamps.com

[168and328]

We switched from Endicia to Stamps.com about a month ago. Things seem to be working fine till recently. We are now having problems with combined shipping resulting in orders shipped to the wrong places. Here are some of the things we observed:

1. Whenever there is a problem, we see that the note section has all the ShipRush information but there is no tracking number in the eBay sales record.

2. When we were using Endicia, after a combined shipment, the next screen is the one showing all the combined orders. It does not do that anymore. The next screen is now the order manager.

3. When we check the combined orders, Endicia would show all the completed records till we manually clear them. Under Stamps.com, we notice that sometimes ShipRush would clear all the entries and other times no. We are not sure why and how the combined orders are cleared.

4. Under Endicia, we only occasionally cleared the completed combined orders. Everything works just fine. As ShipRush now appears to work differently as documented in (3), we are not sure whether not clearing the completed entries affect new combined orders or not.

Can you shed some light into what's happening here? We have been using Endicia for two years prior to switching to stamps.com. We never had problems like what we experienced in the last two weeks. We have had numerous customer complaints that they never received anything. The ebay sales record has no tracking number. When we used the tracking number in the notes section, if there was one, is really a tracking number for another order.

[SYSOPS]

1. Whenever there is a problem, we see that the note section has all the ShipRush information but there is no tracking number in the eBay sales record.

By any chance is this with First Class Large Envelope\flats when you see this issue?

Items 2, 3, and 4, we do not see that behavior here in testing. The Combined Screen comes back up, with the orders processed in the Combined area. What build\version of ShipRush are you using?

SYSOPS

[168and328]

1. All the examples we have are shipped using either domestic first class parcel so far. There has not been enough time so we don't know whether any international customers are affected. I can send you some screen shots if you like showing the notes sections are filled but there is no tracking number in the ebay sales record.

2. We are currently on version 9.6.0.49564

3. We are very familiar with how things worked under Endicia. The screens and actions after a combined shipment is different between stamps.com and endicia; at least that's what we perceive. Are there supposed to be differences?

Peter

[SYSOPS]

[quote]1. All the examples we have are shipped using either domestic first class parcel so far. There has not been enough time so we don't know whether any international customers are affected. I can send you some screen shots if you like showing the notes sections are filled but there is no tracking number in the ebay sales record./quote]
No need for a screenshot. This is due to a change at eBay that you're seeing. They do not allow the same tracking # to be used on different orders. We've opened this question with them as we see that this can impact users who do combined shipping (such as yourself). Case 30868

2. We are currently on version 9.6.0.49564

I'd suggest updating to the most current.

3. We are very familiar with how things worked under Endicia. The screens and actions after a combined shipment is different between stamps.com and endicia; at least that's what we perceive. Are there supposed to be differences?

The differences that you're seeing might be due to a version change, not a carrier change. Updating to the most current may help.

SYSOPS

[168and328]

1. Amazon does not allow the same tracking numbers to be used on orders to multiple orders to different customers. This requirement makes sense as one cannot in one shipment sending one parcel to multiple customers of different addresses. If eBay now has the same requirement, it would make sense hence explains why we are not seeing the tracking numbers.

2. We can upgrade to the latest version. That's easy enough. However, we never had trouble with ShipRush combining orders incorrectly. While (1) explains why the tracking numbers are not in the ebay sales record, there is still a problem why combining orders are not working correctly. I don't think we could have made this many mistakes in combining orders; especially when we have been using the Endicia version for two years. Let's hope your developers can track this one down and figure out what's going on.

[168and328]

We checked all the problematic shipments and they all have to do with combined orders being sent to the wrong address. I don't know whether there was a bug in the software or human error but there are just too many recently. Here is what I suggest:

1. We will download to the latest software so we know we are current.
2. I will ask my staff to put in extra manual validations so we can stop a parcel leaving from our premise if the shipping label has the wrong address.
3. Can you put in an extra validation in your software? If a combined order contains different shipping addresses, it should require a manual override. This is a useful feature on its own right as it is not normal that a seller would combine orders destined to multiple addresses onto one shipment. This feature will help minimize, perhaps even stop, shipments being combined incorrectly and shipped to the wrong address.

I will keep you posted if I continue to see problems. Can you let me know whether you can add the extra validation as suggested in (3)?

Peter

[SYSOPS]

3. Can you put in an extra validation in your software? If a combined order contains different shipping addresses, it should require a manual override. This is a useful feature on its own right as it is not normal that a seller would combine orders destined to multiple addresses onto one shipment. This feature will help minimize, perhaps even stop, shipments being combined incorrectly and shipped to the wrong address.

I have passed that along to development as a feature request. Case 31203

Thank you,
SYSOPS