Etsy label tracking shows later than actual

[capricornvintage]

Why does the tracking on Etsy show as later than actual? It makes me look like I am “late” on shipping something when I ship Express for a customer.  If they need it Express, I take it to the post office as soon as possible.  But when I click on the tracking number on Etsy later to check, it shows that I printed the label and it was accepted wayyyy later than I did.  It makes me look like a slacker or a liar.   funny not funny.  AT ALL.  WHY does this happen? 

if I go put the tracking number into the USPS site, it shows as correct, but customers don’t do that.  They follow it here.  

[JMOldeVintage]

@capricornvintage  - Etsy & USPS do not have the best lines of communication. I have always signed up directly with USPS to receive updates on orders I place here. 

For orders sent via Express, you might consider sending a note advising the buyer that for the best "real time" tracking information, they should go to USPS' website. 

[CappuccinoLace]

Etsy appear to be showing the tracking in UTC time not local time.

[BagmakerSupply]

@capricornvintage: Our experience is that USPS label creation is often in UTC (not in your or the buyer's local time zone), but then scans are in the local time zone of where the scan occurred.

[PrimFun]

Are you taking it to the post office within the time frame expected.  It is quite possible your post office only ships express once a day so you have to make that deadline.

In my area it is 11 am.  If I don't get the express to the post office by then it is late as it gets a later scan for later delivery. 

[JMOldeVintage]

@PrimFun  - The OP states that if USPS' website is used to check the tracking information, everything is shown correctly. I take that as a sign that Etsy & USPS may be having a little tiff & aren't communicating well?

But if Etsy is using UTC, well imo that's probably not a good thing. How many people in the real world do anything based on UTC? Or even know what it is? If I were Etsy I'd consider going to "real time" on everything. 

[BagmakerSupply]

@JMOldeVintage: Please don't give Etsy ideas. They are already botching time zone conversions. We notice it most on the Orders and Shipping page where late in the day orders are considered "today" in one place but in a different place the same order is considered "tomorrow". And on weekends those late in the day orders often have the scheduled ship by date miscalculated.

[AAANativeArts]

At my post office it has to be there by 3:00pm. If I give it to my mail carrier, she doesn't get back to the post office until 5:00 so it doesn't scan until sometime between 5:00 and midnight, and doesn't actually leave until 3:00 the next day.

[CappuccinoLace]

@JMOldeVintage  I think they changed to using UTC, because all the star seller stats are in UTC.

It has to be consistent so they can see if things were done in time.

[capricornvintage]

Thank you for all of your replies! I’ll just continue to let customers know the “real time” tracking is on the USPS website for tracking.  I ship very quickly so a regularly shipped order showing “incorrectly” doesn’t bother me as much.

But Etsy making it look like I didn’t take their Express package until after the post office closes at night makes me look bad.  I’ll drop something off and get it scanned in the system within a hour of their order and Etsy tracking says I didn’t even print the label until 7pm .  That is not what people pay Express for.  So for Express I’ll send a message about it.

[AmoreTreasure]

@capricornvintage, I didn't realize this was happening. Thank you for the heads up.  From now on I plan to message the buyer to confirm when USPS received Express packages and give them a link to the USPS track and confirm site for their package so that they can easily track that way.