No tracking number is not automatically a problem. Three delivery methods never produce one.
When there is no number to give you
The seller delivers it themselves. Common for local orders and for anything heavy or fragile. There is no courier, so there is no courier tracking — the seller tells you when they are coming.
You are collecting it. A pickup order is ready rather than in transit. Nothing is moving, so nothing is being tracked. You get the address and the collect-by window.
You arranged the courier. If you booked the delivery, the tracking is with your courier and your account, not with the seller.
In all three the app does not expect a number, and the store is not marked down for not having one.
When you should ask
A courier order marked shipped with no number. That is the case worth a message.
Metzee measures stores on Valid tracking rate — a tracking number on every courier shipment — so a seller who forgets is costing themselves something, and a reminder is usually welcome rather than resented.
How to ask well
From the order, in one message: "Hi — this says shipped but I don't have a tracking number. Could you send it when you get a chance?"
That is it. Most replies come with the number attached.
If the number is there but shows nothing
Normal for the first several hours. A courier's own system often does not show a parcel until it reaches the first sorting hub, which can be the next day.
A number that still shows nothing after two days is worth raising. How to track an order.
If the seller says they posted it without tracking
Then you have an order with no evidence of movement, and that is a genuine risk to you rather than an administrative gap. Say so politely and ask when they expect it to arrive.
If it does not arrive, buyer protection does not depend on the tracking existing — but having no tracking makes it a slower conversation, which is exactly why the app asks sellers for one. How buyer protection works.
More: tracking says delivered but nothing came, when will my order be sent, what if my item never arrives.