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Are the post office's 2D barcodes sufficient proof of postage?

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  • custardy
    custardy Posts: 38,365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    The bit I'm concerned about is there is no scan when put back to the delivery office as undelivered and the overlap between collection and a claim with RM.

    There is some issues here (im not 100% current on this)
    If a delivery office uses the computerised parcel booking in system(SPS).
    I would expect tracking to update on the 2D parcels as they book them in.
    For units not using SPS I would expect most wouldnt be scanning standard parcels back to their unit.

    Theres no reason 2D barcodes cannot display the same tracking as SD,Signed for etc.
    They can be scanned and tracked as per the other barcoded products
  • Slightly OT but I have an odd one. I returned an item using a prepaid barcoded label supplied by the seller - when it was handed over at the PO it wouldn't scan. I didn't think anything of it but it's not updated to show delivery - perhaps it hasn't been. However I still have the emailed copy of the label and when I use the QR scanner it appears it's been "doctored" and actually what the QR part is is a link to a website - not the normal RM details that I see when I scan one of my own.

    I'm guessing this is either a mistake or the seller has purposely changed the QR code when emailing me a label so that the return never shows as delivered. Is this possible? By this, I mean, would the useless code not show up somewhere in the RM system and be halted?
  • POPPYOSCAR
    POPPYOSCAR Posts: 14,902 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Slightly OT but I have an odd one. I returned an item using a prepaid barcoded label supplied by the seller - when it was handed over at the PO it wouldn't scan. I didn't think anything of it but it's not updated to show delivery - perhaps it hasn't been. However I still have the emailed copy of the label and when I use the QR scanner it appears it's been "doctored" and actually what the QR part is is a link to a website - not the normal RM details that I see when I scan one of my own.

    I'm guessing this is either a mistake or the seller has purposely changed the QR code when emailing me a label so that the return never shows as delivered. Is this possible? By this, I mean, would the useless code not show up somewhere in the RM system and be halted?


    TBH I would have been concerned at the point when it would not scan.
  • it appears it's been "doctored"


    When questions like this appear on this web site I'm inclined to say it's a glitch or some "feature", and not a hacked bar code


    If someone really is that good at fooling you with a made up barcode, firstly what is the item? The Crown Jewels? And secondly, they would be better off working for the military doing that hacking than being a meagre eBay seller.
    Warning: any unnecessary disclaimers appearing under my posts do not bear any connection with reality, either intended, accidental or otherwise. Your statutory rights are not affected.
  • POPPYOSCAR wrote: »
    TBH I would have been concerned at the point when it would not scan.

    I've had a few that either don't scan at the PO or don't scan on delivery, but I've never had an issue like this.
  • When questions like this appear on this web site I'm inclined to say it's a glitch or some "feature", and not a hacked bar code


    If someone really is that good at fooling you with a made up barcode, firstly what is the item? The Crown Jewels? And secondly, they would be better off working for the military doing that hacking than being a meagre eBay seller.

    Haha! No it's not the CJ hence why it's a bit weird. It's just the QR scan goes to their website. If I scan my QR codes they give (haven't done it for a while so this is not exhaustive) details on the postage, the weight, my OBA number and the method of posting I've used.

    To be clear, they haven't hacked it, it seems like they've replaced the RM 2D barcode (which I call QR but not sure if that's the correct name) with another one.
  • custardy
    custardy Posts: 38,365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    IME there are no sellers details in the RM 2D barcodes.
    As said,service used & address details etc
  • custardy
    custardy Posts: 38,365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    When questions like this appear on this web site I'm inclined to say it's a glitch or some "feature", and not a hacked bar code


    If someone really is that good at fooling you with a made up barcode, firstly what is the item? The Crown Jewels? And secondly, they would be better off working for the military doing that hacking than being a meagre eBay seller.

    nothing hi tec about generating QR codes and putting them into a label
    however,does that mean the seller wasnt charged for the return label if it didnt scan?
  • custardy wrote: »
    IME there are no sellers details in the RM 2D barcodes.
    As said,service used & address details etc

    Mine has my RM account number.

    The point is, how has a QR code got through the system when it's (let's say) been photoshopped for another QR code.
  • custardy wrote: »
    nothing hi tec about generating QR codes and putting them into a label
    however,does that mean the seller wasnt charged for the return label if it didnt scan?

    No I agree, there is nothing high tech about this and ordinarily I wouldn't have done or thought anything out of the ordinary. But I did scan it (partly because I updated to IOS12 and wanted to see what was different!) and that seems to have uncovered something.

    I wonder if this is a new Babz Media type scam?
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