pwe

Question

Ebay has the wrong setup for shipping trading cards and who knows how to contact them.

To ship a trading card, it will cost .62 cents if you ship without a toploader.

If you use a toploader, cardboard or anything rigid to protect the card, the postage will not be .62, it will be around $1.10 or so.

When i am shipping 1 card, instead of 1 oz like it should be, i need to choose 3 oz. in order for the setup to charge me enough. Going with 3 oz charges $1.12 which is a few cents more than what it should cost.

Ebay needs to fix the shipping charges for this.

I know many of you on here will disagree, but know what you are talking about first

shipscript · Answer

@southwesthobbycardsandtoys wrote:
To ship a trading card, it will cost .62 cents if you ship without a toploader.
If you use a toploader, cardboard or anything rigid to protect the card, the postage will not be .62, it will be around $1.10 or so.

$.62 to $1.10 is no longer a valid rate range for an ESUS letter.
$.63 to $1.11 still appears when I list, which is wrong (old rates).
$.64 to $1.12 is the current rate for an ESUS letter, due to the recent USPS price increase.

But none of this is relevant to your question anyway.

Your complaint is that adding a toploader increases your letter weight to 3 ounces, or else the toploader makes your envelope so stiff that a non-machinable surcharge of 44 cents is added. Just coincidentally, the first class postage for a non-machinable, stamped, one-ounce envelope is $1.12, which matches eBay's 3 ounce ESUS letter rate. So you lucked out with that option.

Now here's the bad news.

If it doesn't look and feel like a letter, it probably won't pass as a letter.

If your letter is non-machinable, it will not enter the high-speed letter sorting machines that can scan eBay ESUS codes. Look closely at all the spindles, belts, and corners in the machine below (quite the slalom course)...and some of the older machines use pinball flippers like railroad switch gear (to help with the visual). This is how letters are sorted.

Shipping - USPS high speed sorting

Yours is a common complaint of sellers who ship in toploaders that are too stiff. There will be no ESUS tracking, and sometimes the letters arrive postage due for either the non-machinable surcharge or for a package rate instead of a letter rate.

You are right that eBay needs to provide better guidance in telling sellers what type of sleeves are acceptable.

Just to help with your understanding, I can ship coins without a non-machinable surcharge by ensuring the envelope is flexible enough to negotiate the turns encountered in a high speed sorting machine (I believe you can test flexibility the same way).

I enclose the item in lightweight cardstock to smooth out the bumps that could snag in the machines, and then space the coins far enough apart (and far enough from the edges) that the envelope can still flex. In my case, I pay an extra ounce for the cardstock. But the end result is that my letters are scanned because they make it through the high speed letter sorters.

Shipping - eBay standard envelope

eastlaneave · Answer

@southwesthobbycardsandtoys

Are you using a true PWE? or are you using "eBay Standard Envelope for Trading Cards, Stamps, Postcards & Coins"?

eBay Standard Envelope for Trading Cards, Stamps, Postcards & Coins is different than a PWE with stamps.

You can ship 1-2 cards with top-loaders using eBay Standard Envelope. You must print the postage label on eBay

I think you are assuming you will pay the $.40 nonmachinable surcharge on top of the first class rate.

Requirements are

- Categories of Trading Cards, Coins and Currency, Postcards, Stamps, Patches, Sticker and Decals, Seeds, and Greeting Cards

- Weight up to 3 oz.

- Value up to $20

- Envelope Size - 6x4x1 to 11x6x1 (use 1" even though it is thin)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can use any ordinary envelope as long as your envelope meets the criteria below. If it doesn't meet these criteria, the shipment may be returned to you, or the buyer may receive the item with postage due.

The Envelope criteria

- No smaller than 3.5â€ x 5â€

- No larger than 6.125â€ x 11.5â€

- Thickness is uniform, less than 0.25â€ inches at all points

- Not too rigid

- Weigh 0.0 to 3.0 oz.

- Contains NO clasps/strings/buttons or similar closure devices

- Has the recipient address parallel to the longest side

(no bubble mailers, they are too thick)

All the details for eBay Standard Envelope are here

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/-/-/ebay-standard-envelope?id=5308 and https://pages.ebay.com/sell/standarddelivery/termsofservice.html

Comparing costs:

- Regular USPS Ground Advantage with regular tracking the lowest charge is about $3.79-$4.36

- Plain white envelope, First Class with no tracking is .68 to 1.38 + PLUS possibly a nonmachinable surcharge if needed.

- eBay Standard Envelope will cost .64 to 1.14

comics-scifi-collectibles · Answer

@southwesthobbycardsandtoys The problem is it can NOT be ridged. See this post by a fellow mentor with screen shots>

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/choosing-a-carrier-and-service/ebay-standard-envelope

A high volume card seller said they use 3 sheets of white paper around the cards to protect them while they go through the sorting equipment and smooths out any edges.