Postage due

[mattgarrdog]

Good afternoon,  I am a frequent buyer of baseball cards and within the past few months have had several envelopes mailed to me postage due.  Usually 40 cents.  My carrier has been patient but it is waning and now they are expecting us to pay.   I politely reach out to sellers who say they are only going by the recommended costs identified by E Bay.   So somehow there is a disconnect between what E Bay is saying and what the post office is charging.   It is an inconvenience to be sure.  Thanks for reading and open to advice on how I can best communicate to sellers.  

[wastingtime101 · Accepted solution]

I'd bring this up with your local postmaster and bring him some physical envelopes (with contents) to inspect while you're there.

It could be a situation where employees at your local PO are incorrectly flagging items that qualify for eBay Standard Envelope.

This page lists the ESE physical requirements:

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/ebay-labels-services/ebay-domestic-shipping-services/ebay...

Let us know how it works out. A lot of ESE shipments have been incorrectly flagged, marked postage due, returned to sender, etc and often it's concentrated to specific areas.

So if you're seeing this problem regularly and the shipments are coming from all different sellers, that leads me to believe the problem lies with someone at your post office being uninformed about this type of shipping service, incorrectly flagging your incoming packages.

[wastingtime101]

FYI kyle@ebay - I know the shipping team was sending out packages to sellers to spot test ESE/USPS issues. Perhaps they have interest in sending a test to this buyer to see what happens since postage due is such a regular occurrence for them. 🤷

[1786davycrockett]

@mattgarrdog 

How many different sellers are you talking about, or is it just one?

How thick are the contents of each "postage due" envelope?  There might be an issue with inadequate flexibility, in situations where the seller is using materials which do not have sufficient "bend."  Are the seller(s) using penny-sleeves, or semi-rigids, or something even thicker?

If your sellers refuse to reimburse you for these "postage due" problems, you do have the option of leaving them negative feedback, which may finally suggest to those sellers that corrective steps may be necessary.

Keep us posted!

[mattgarrdog]

Thank you.  It has probably been 7 different sellers in the last six to eight weeks.    The thickness varies and in most occasions I have been surprised it required extra postage.  I have not had a problem with a seller yet reimbursing me if I raise it with them - I am not that worried about the 40 cents but instead the good graces of a very good carrier our neighborhood is blessed to have.  Since this issue really has sparked lately I just wondered if E Bay hadn't adequately updated rate increases per ounce?   Thanks for your reply

[12345jamesstamps]

There are certain towns in the USA who are doing this. It isn't everywhere. Have to realize how much mail is delivered. I only had one returned for extra postage and I just remailed it in a different envelope to same location. I had something I mailed to a country in a standard envelope that got returned to me saying it wasn't a country. I mailed that with the same used postage cancelled. So it just depends where your stuff is coming from and sometimes it can get that postage due. I don't know how big your city is or where your items are coming from but I think its location more than anything else.

[kyle@ebay]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

FYI kyle@ebay - I know the shipping team was sending out packages to sellers to spot test ESE/USPS issues. Perhaps they have interest in sending a test to this buyer to see what happens since postage due is such a regular occurrence for them. 🤷

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Hey @wastingtime101 that's not a bad idea!  I'll definitely float the idea over to them!

@12345jamesstamps also had a good callout here that it could be specific to the local post office themselves.  So I think this may be a really good way to test that out.  

[mattgarrdog]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write and my apologies for a late response.  No expectation that you continue the conversation but did want to follow-up as the problem has persisted.  The post office is telling me that many of the cards being sent to me in regular envelopes are non-machinable and thus require an extra 40 cent surcharge - that is the common amount I am charged.  Sure enough they have an official document explaining all the multiple scenarios in which somethings is considered non-machinable.  And it doesn't happen to all of them?  Anyway, thanks again and have a great 4th of July. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

Indeed, the eBay guidelines about ESE are very explicit about dimensions but very vague about rigidity/flexibility criteria, which are apparently the same as for First Class letters.  The TOS just says "not too rigid":

https://pages.ebay.com/sell/standarddelivery/termsofservice.html

After looking at the USPS nonmachinable criteria and at eBay's guidelines, I'm surprised that this doesn't happen even more often.  Here's the relevant section of the DMM, 1.2.e:

https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/101.htm#ep1046732

[kitten2go2mfb]

Happens all the time since a supervisor transferred here (nasty, mean to my questions)& new carrier started.Now,they ALL claim excuses to charge.48more per envelope: when I asked why did it pass until it got here?clerk said: we were trained on what2look4 that wasn’t caught b4: i.e. it has a bump(top loader);it has too much play in env;it doesn’t have enough play in env.; it won’t fit through our hand created cardboard slot -so it’s charged as a package… And, they return to sender without notifying you! We see carrier at mailbox by road physically sort & put mail back in her truck on dash & drive off. Sometimes with our packages-saw online she has said, “Attempted to deliver, Customer refused, Cust.request return” or “Cust requested return to Post Office.”They lie. They are taught2lie & get away with it! TT Postmaster with letter.No help.He focused on & replied2one thing only,said,& stuck on,“Refuse anything with postage due, u shouldn’t have2pay”.He’s siding with them and letting them-basically commit mail fraud when they say, “Customer refused or Customer said return to Post Office” etc. She never ever attempts to speak to us, or drives to our door! We have never refused any of our mail!