I have purchased from about 6 vendors on this site so far and only 2 of them have provided me with tracking numbers for my purchases. The other 4 have ignored my requests for a tracking number and have not responded to any emails. Sure enough, a few days later I will see the UPS truck just outside my garage to deliver said products. So there is no fraud or anything like that but my question stands.

As a vendor, is it offensive when a buyer persists in asking for a tracking number?

There must be a side to this that I am not seeing since this has happened on multiple occasions. On my side of things, its not that I don't trust the vendor, I usually just would like to plan ahead so I can be home when it arrives and get straight to work on the car...

Vendors and buyers, I look forward to your thoughts.

I do not believe it is, but others may see it as stated for a (trust) issue. Some people do offer it & others may not. I (do) ask if a (tracking number) is available and then go from there. If they do not response, then maybe they a have a reason or you can always do business else where, Right?

If they find it offensive they need to get over it! You can barely trust your own family now of days let alone someone online. I will say however I have never had a problem with any vendors on here.

I actually think a tracking number should be provided no matter what. After the problem I just went thru with a vendor its very important. I ordered the 16th of last month and just got my package yesterday. If I knew it was going to take that long I would have went somewhere else. Come to find out after calling them, pm'ing them, asking for a tracking number I never got a responce back. I was promised a call back 2 times and got scammed into there so called sale. They called it a sale but I ended up paying the exact amount they quoted me on the phone thru there website. I told them my problem and they said it was my fault because I didn't call in the order which I did. They never shipped it out because they were waiting for a part. And I was never contacted about the problem. With the tracking number I could have avoided this run around because I could have found out the day it was shipped. Pretty much no communication.

I actually have a family business that deals in gaming parts around the world, when we ship we always get tracking numbers for our customers. It helps the business to find out where its at if needed, and it will make the buyer feel more comfortable with there purchase.

I will only buy from vendors with tracking numbers from now on. Also, S*** Turd Motors does not provide a tracking number, and will just let your order sit there til there ready to do something about it. Atleast this was my case. Sorry for the rant but IMHO a tracking number is very important, so is communication with customers.

I always ask for tracking numbers, even from companies that I deal with quite often. Even small companies have never been offended by that. If they are, time to shop somewhere else.

I agree with all of you. I have never had any problems with vendors on this site but I am extremely surprised that over 65% of my attempts to get a tracking number have gone ignored. I'm starting to feel like I am being offensive even asking .

Any vendors want to chime in with their experiences?

I'm a vendor (not here, but in the industry) and I can tell you exactly what's going on.

Lets say you order an Earls fitting from Vendor A. They don't have any in stock at the moment for whatever reason, so they request that their parts supplier (Warehouse B) dropship the fitting to you from their inventory. Well, Warhouse B is out of stock as well, so they have the fitting dropshipped directly from Earls to you. The problem is that Earls doesn't provide tracking information automatically to Warehouse B. And Warehouse B may have a policy against spending copious amounts of human resources on the phone every day tracking down tracking numbers for dropshipments. So, tracking is never obtained, but the order processes and ships fine anyway. But lets say Warehouse B does track down tracking. It can sometimes take a day or two depending on workload and response time from the vendor. Sometimes the part is delivered before tracking info is relayed from manufacturer to warehouse to jobber to end user. The aftermarket auto parts distribution line doesn't have a solid proess for relaying tracking information bewteen manufacturer and end user right now, so in many cases, it's just not possible.

I'm sure it has nothing at all to do with being offended. If vendors had tracking infomation at their finger tips for shpments that ship from locations other than their own, then I'm sure they would pass that along automatically. But it's just not so. It's not that they're ignoring you - it's just that they don't have an answer for you.

That is some really good info. I knew there was a scientific explanation to this . That makes perfect sense. Thanks.

That is very true, and it goes the same way with the gaming parts business. But I just think that the vendors should atleast let the customer know that it will be shipped from another company direct to them. I just think communication is very important. And I kno 2 vendors on this site that I can barely ever get answers from. If I didn't communicate with my customers in a timely manner I would expect to lose there business.

Tracking is like 75 cents..If the part is pricey, yes you should just supply the tracking number.