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Question Regarding eBay/Paypal generated Shipping Labels

19Lyds19Lyds Posts: 26,470 ✭✭✭✭
Specifically if any of the members here work for the United States Postal Service.

Does the USPS have the ability to "scan" the bar code of a package label that was generated using the eBay/PayPal/USPS interface in order to "see" or "know" what the contents of the package might be?
I decided to change calling the bathroom the John and renamed it the Jim. I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning.



The name is LEE!

Comments

  • TopographicOceansTopographicOceans Posts: 6,535 ✭✭✭✭
    No, not at all. There are two codes on the label that the post office scans - the postage and the tracking number.

    Neither have the contents encoded on them. The tracking number is just like a UPC found on every item in a store. However the point-of-sale system has to look up that number in a database the store maintains to be able to know it is a can of peas to print that on the receipt.

    The bar code is the electronic version of the tracking number that is printed on the label. There are different formats for the type of mail (1st class, Priority, Insured, etc.)

    There is an exception for International Mail (eBay's Global Shipping). When you print a label for that a customs declaration is required and eBay notes the contents on that form. But it is not encoded into the bar code for the tracking number.
  • LindeDadLindeDad Posts: 18,766 ✭✭✭✭✭
    At no time is it required to disclose what's in a package. Only that it is not Hazardous.

    Take that back but only if a insurance claim is being made but not at shipping.
    You must also sign a statement that you are making a true statement.
  • 19Lyds19Lyds Posts: 26,470 ✭✭✭✭
    There are some that say otherwise and even swear that they've seen it first hand.

    Dammit. Link fixed! I should know better! image
    I decided to change calling the bathroom the John and renamed it the Jim. I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning.



    The name is LEE!


  • << <i>There are some that say otherwise and even swear that they've seen it first hand. >>



    I've heard that too. But I am friendly with all the guys at my local post office, and they say there's no way to tell what's inside of any package. I think that rumor started last year with a story about the USPS logging mail for the FBI. Here was the story. It is part of the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program here
    "Man will never be perfect until he learns to create and destroy; he does know how to destroy, and that is half the battle.”
    - Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

    SOLVE ET COAGULA
  • TopographicOceansTopographicOceans Posts: 6,535 ✭✭✭✭
    Fixed Link

    The tracking number which is both printed with the numbers (for humans) and the bar code (for scanners) is tied to a database at the post office, and the tracking number is the "key" which is used to locate the record in the database for that package.

    The database just contains a data/time stamp, a code (to indicate the status) and the location. It is only used to track the package and the contents of the package is not recorded in the database.

    What you should never do is print the value of the postage on the label. The smarter thieves in the post office look for small insured packages with high postage on them, which means there is something valuable and small that can be easily stolen.

    The last record in the database for that package shows that the carrier was the last person who handled it. He didn't follow the proper procedure and either stole it or lost it. The Postal Inspectors will investigate that.

    But the USPS will cover the claim since there is no proof of delivery. Since they don't know the contents of the package, the seller needs to provide that - which they did with the eBay listing showing the coin. So I'm sure they will pay the claim - usually it takes 3 weeks because sometimes first class can get mixed in with parcels that go by truck, so they wait to see if it does show up.

    So the lesson is NEVER print the postage amount on the package (eBay labels have a check box for that - make sure it is unchecked). You don't want to advertise that a 3 oz. insured item required $16 in postage.

    I assume the carrier stole it and so should the US Postal Inspectors and they will note it in his employee record and perhaps do some tests by putting similar items in his route to see what happens. But the seller should have no worries.

  • robertprrobertpr Posts: 6,862 ✭✭✭
    Paranoia will destroy ya.
  • LindeDadLindeDad Posts: 18,766 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ???? I really have a problem thinking eBay, PayPal, and the USPS data bases are linked.
  • 19Lyds19Lyds Posts: 26,470 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>There are some that say otherwise and even swear that they've seen it first hand. >>



    I've heard that too. But I am friendly with all the guys at my local post office, and they say there's no way to tell what's inside of any package. I think that rumor started last year with a story about the USPS logging mail for the FBI. Here was the story. It is part of the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program here >>

    I recall those stories but in re-reading them, there's still no way to tell what's inside the package or envelope.
    I decided to change calling the bathroom the John and renamed it the Jim. I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning.



    The name is LEE!
  • CoinZipCoinZip Posts: 3,253 ✭✭✭


    If you send an invoice through paypal, it gets payed and you create a shipping label for that invoice, I can see how it could be linked in a database.

    The easy way is to use a bar code reader and read it, there are 100's of apps for smart phones to read bar codes....

    Coin Club Benefit auctions ..... View the Lots



  • << <i>

    << <i>

    << <i>There are some that say otherwise and even swear that they've seen it first hand. >>



    I've heard that too. But I am friendly with all the guys at my local post office, and they say there's no way to tell what's inside of any package. I think that rumor started last year with a story about the USPS logging mail for the FBI. Here was the story. It is part of the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program here >>

    I recall those stories but in re-reading them, there's still no way to tell what's inside the package or envelope. >>



    Right, the USPS doesn't know what's inside. My guess is that some people read a misleading headline on Drudge Report or Zero Hedge, their paranoia kicked in, and they ran with the USPS looking in all your packages as truth. If the USPS had the ability to look inside packages, it would encourage theft, and that would be a liability. It's better for the USPS not to know what they're delivering as long as it's no hazardous.
    "Man will never be perfect until he learns to create and destroy; he does know how to destroy, and that is half the battle.”
    - Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

    SOLVE ET COAGULA
  • BAJJERFANBAJJERFAN Posts: 30,977 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Since you can use the PP system to create and print shipping labels for packages that have NO ASSOCIATION with an eBay auction, it's hard to imagine that the tracking number from a PP or eBay generated label will contain some secret code related specifically to the particular eBay category that item being shipped was sold/listed through.

    FWIW I was chatting with my carrier and he said that they leave the PO with a list of all items with tracking numbers and when they get back they have to reconcile that list as far as to what got left/delivered, notice left, etc. He also said that it was HIGHLY frowned upon to scan packages as delivered BEFORE they left for their delivery route.

    I think a lot of these issues arise from one or more folks at the various POs and other terminals to follow SOPs, either intentional or otherwise.
  • TopographicOceansTopographicOceans Posts: 6,535 ✭✭✭✭
    The OP is basing the proposition based on what some guy on the Internet said.

    Sometimes a little logic is useful.

    Picture yourself at the first meeting at the USPS where someone proposed to link the tracking number with all the vendors (eBay, Amazon, Sears, Home Depot, Kmart, etc.) who ship so that pictures of the items in the package could be displayed at the post office.

    I know it's the government, but you have to assume some person would raise the point "Now, WHY are we doing this?"

    Worry about how vendors store your credit card information before worrying about imaginary threats to your security.


  • BAJJERFANBAJJERFAN Posts: 30,977 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>The OP is basing the proposition based on what some guy on the Internet said.

    Sometimes a little logic is useful.

    Picture yourself at the first meeting at the USPS where someone proposed to link the tracking number with all the vendors (eBay, Amazon, Sears, Home Depot, Kmart, etc.) who ship so that pictures of the items in the package could be displayed at the post office.

    I know it's the government, but you have to assume some person would raise the point "Now, WHY are we doing this?"

    Worry about how vendors store your credit card information before worrying about imaginary threats to your security. >>



    How long until PayPal gets hacked?
  • DollarAfterDollarDollarAfterDollar Posts: 3,214 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The people at my post office specifically say they don't want to know contents and aren't suppose to know, just make an electronic declaration whether contents are hazardous.
    If you do what you always did, you get what you always got.
  • TopographicOceansTopographicOceans Posts: 6,535 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>How long until PayPal gets hacked? >>



    PayPal is less of a target since they only store the account numbers and they adhere to the Payment Card Industry Security Standards

    The big money is with the magnetic stripe data off the card. Not only does it contain the account number and expiration date, but security information used by the issuing banks.
    Since it's 1960's technology it's easy to make cards with stolen mag stripe data.

    But things are changing in October 2015. The "smart cards" we have been hearing about for decades will finally be implemented in the US. They are called "chip and PIN" or EMV (European MasterCard/Visa) and have been used in Europe for a decade. There is a computer chip in each card with a key code that is updated after each use so it changes all the time, so making a copy makes the card unusable.

    Currently credit card fraud is absorbed by the banks who make money on processing fees they charge the merchants. VISA and MC have mandated that unless merchants switch to Chip and PIN cards by 10/15, the merchants will bare to the entire loss.

    There are billions of dollars lost annually to credit card fraud. Every PIN pad in the country has to be changed to support Chip and PIN cards (gas pumps have until 2016) which costs a lot of money. And the cards themselves cost $3 each to issue, as opposed to $1 each for the current ones. And there are billions of cards issued with all the different gift cards nowadays. But it is still less than the cost of fraud, which will be greatly reduced here in the US just as it was in Europe.

    Eventually coins will replaced by electronic funds.


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