Funds on Hold
I've been selling cards for a while now a lot without tracking. I would put them in a protected envelope and send it on its way with no issue. Now they have a new policy of withholding funds until delivery. Some cards cost less than the shipping and tracking. Is it pointless now to sell any cards this way under the $8 it costs for the shipping? If so, why would anyone sell a card here for less than the cost of shipping?
35 comments
jidane0
OP10 months agoand the phone rep lied, she said if it showed "delivered" that the funds will come off hold
stainlessenginecovers
·10 months agoWhere is that $8 coming from?? Min GA is around $4
jidane0
OP10 months agoUsps. It used to be $5-10 for a larger package but now 2 or 3 cards in a simple orange envelope its almost $9
Unavailable member
·10 months agoUSPS raises their prices two to three times per year. The most recent increase began October 5th. And the cost differs from one zone to the next.
jidane0
OP10 months ago172 items sold
jidane0
OP10 months agoNot pretty much all but way more than 7
onefootflipper
·10 months agoWhy in the world are you using stamps instead of printing tracked standard envelope labels through ebay that are both cheaper than stamps and have insurance.
I hate to just say you are doing it wrong, but man, you are doing it wrong.
I was happy to see you were not selling cards under $4 shipped. Impossible to process cards fast enough to make enough money to make it worthwhile at any lower price point than that. And everyone who claims otherwise is lying. I have timed myself, I have timed the fastest guy at the card store when I worked there, you just can't process ebay cards fast enough at a lower price unless you have a stack of identicals that means you can go like $1 cheaper because you can make one listing and pack many times.
The only reason selling cards for ludicrously low prices even works on tcgplayer is that most of those orders are processed by minimum wage card store employees during times they would otherwise be babysitting a cash register in an empty store.
jidane0
OP10 months agoHow do I print a label
jidane0
OP10 months agoThat's how most if not all single cards were sent to me
reallynicestamps
·10 months agoWhy in the world are you using stamps instead of printing tracked standard envelope labels through ebay that are both cheaper than stamps and have insurance.
Because you don't understand how postage works.
You can buy discounted mint postage stamps here on eBay.
I sell it myself, mostly Canadian.
Over 40 years of stamp dealing we have purchased thousands of collections and almost all include mint never hinged stamps still valid for postage.
And we bought them way way below face value.
One result is I can put $15 worth of stamps on my package, which cost me between $5 and $10, to pay for the Expedited or Tracked USA label, which the PO clerk will print for me.
It takes longer because there is no transfer of information, but it still ends up cheaper than buying and printing the label at home.
A postage stamp is just a receipt for a service the PO has not yet performed.
Canada has never demonetized our stamps, we can even use Newfoundland stamps at face value*.
The clerk accepts stamps instead of cash, and cancels them on the package to show payment.
My customers are delighted!
* Because: Joey Smallwood... what a scamp!
onefootflipper
·10 months agoOk, first off the original poster absolutely is not doing that. Plastering a package with old stamps that you got below face value is a thing that I have never seen anyone other than stamp sellers do. Most people are simply not going to do that. The original poster is quoting counter rates at the post office and asked how to print a label, so they obviously have no idea about discounted postage of any type.
The stamp collector scene also consists of mostly honest older people. The original poster is selling TCG cards which are a category that has a lot of impulsive young male customers who have no problem with disonesty. They spend $10 on a card and it comes with a stamp on it then some of them will absolutely claim to never have gotten it. The claims are actually much higher for that on ebay than on TCGplayer (where sellers usually use stamps) because tcgplayer bans customers who make too many claims, so those customers move to ebay. So you can safely send stamp orders untracked all day long and get almost no claims, but the original poster cannot.
The difference in claims by type of stamped item is huge. Before standard envelope existed I ran the ebay for a card shop and we shipped with stamps. In 2 years I had zero claims on sports cards, the claims on Magic the Gathering cards ran about 3 percent, and the claims on Pokemon and Yugioh cards would exceed 10 percent in some months. All of those claims instantly became so low that it rounded down to zero as soon as standard envelope became our normal shipping method.
kensgiftshop
·10 months agoA lot of items sell for less then what the shipping cost.
jidane0
OP10 months agoor that day
jidane0
OP10 months agoThey also told me with tracking the payment would be deposited the next day and it's not
reallynicestamps
·10 months agoWho are"they"?
The phone reps have a terrible reputation for getting you off the phone as soon as possible
even if that means giving you the advice you want to hear
instead of the advice you need to have.
jidane0
OP10 months agoPeople from ebay. I called and asked since this has never happened in all the years I've been selling on ebay
lawnmowerpartsstore2
·10 months agoOn this Ebay ID your 1st sale was on Oct 15th 2025 and you have only made 7 sales.......
lawnmowerpartsstore2
·10 months agoLet me correct myself here. You have had this ID for a long time and you use to sale on it. But you haven't sold in awhile and your 1st new sale was on Oct 15th. To Ebay you are now a new seller.
jidane0
OP10 months agoThat's not even close to true
jonathanbrightlight
·10 months agoWhat part of what they said was untrue? You have had 7 sales since Oct 15, but before that you had only one other sale in the last 6 months, one more between 6 months and a year ago, and all the rest are over a year old. You are very definitely an infrequent seller.
Your current 50% feedback ratio isn’t doing you any favors either.
jidane0
OP10 months agoThe part where you said my 1st sale was on Oct 15th 2025
jidane0
OP10 months agoRead all of my feedback, pretty much all 155 of them are from sales
Unavailable member
·10 months agoThat may be true but you only have 7 sales within the past 90 days nothing prior to that. All of your other sales do not count since they were from more than a year ago.
And since you just started back into selling you ARE being treated as a new seller and your funds WILL be held for up to 30 days.
This is how it is, like it or not.
jidane0
OP10 months agoYou mean that's all this page shows and it's not actually my first sale?
reallynicestamps
·10 months agoHere' the policy @ebooksdiva
Until you've been selling for 90 days and sold 25 items your payments will be held until tracking shows delivered, or in 30 days if there's no tracking. They can hold the payment for the full 30 days if you're selling in a high risk category.
What is not clear is that occasional and new sellers are treated the same way.
Unavailable member
·10 months agoI already posted a link to that policy. I think perhaps you are replying to the wrong person, please remove the tag thanks.
jonathanbrightlight
·10 months agoI’m a little confused. That text is not in the policy that @ebooksdiva provided a link to, but this is (which seems very clear to me):
reallynicestamps
·10 months agoYou can sell a card for $1 + $8 shipping.
You can sell a card for $8 +$1 shipping.
You can sell a card for $9+ Free Shipping.
Which is most expensive?
Which is most likely to sell?
For that matter, you can sell a card for $9.99 +Free Shipping.
It would be interesting to see if your extra 99c profit makes any difference to sales.
Unavailable member
·10 months agoIt’s not a new policy, the payment hold policy has been in place for quite a while. You are a new or infrequent seller. Your payouts can be held for up to 30 days.
jidane0
OP10 months agoI've been less frequent than this and it was always deposited the day it was bought
Unavailable member
·10 months agoI seriously doubt that.
dhbookds
·10 months agohere's the card program to ship for less than ground advantage......
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/ebay-standard-envelope?id=5308&st=3&pos=1&query=eBay%20standard%20envelope&intent=card%20shippig&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1689
As to prices, I imagine some sellers are counting on multiple sales to the same buyer............