SHIPPING COSTS ARE TOO HIGH FOR MANY COINS AND COLLECTABLES. EBAY CAN HELP BY RAISING EBAY STANDARD ENVELOPE MAXIMUM TO $50.
Summary: kass3694bmj expressed frustration over USPS weight changes, price hikes, and additional charges for rural shipments, affecting their ability to offer free shipping on coins sold through their store. They suggested that eBay could address these rising costs by increasing the maximum value for eBay Standard Envelope shipments to $50. Several participants echoed similar concerns about shipping costs and strategies, such as raising item prices or shifting costs to shipping charges. They discussed using stamps, dealing with insurance limitations, and the impact of ongoing increases on small valued items. Overall, people are looking for ways to manage these challenges while maintaining buyer satisfaction.
The recent USPS weight changes, numerous price hikes and the extra charge for rural areas has made it difficult for me to offer free shipping on many of the coins in my store. This is particularly hard to understand to what the post office considers rural areas. Recently, I have to pay $8.40 to ship small less than 1 oz coins I sold in the $25-35 range to these RURAL areas that turned out to be not far from major cities. I understand this is a business and and rising shipping costs are beyond the control of ebay. To remedy this, as many would suggest, is to raise prices or start charging for shipping, as many sellers in my category have done. I'm also a collector, and this may sound absurd to some, I do care about the hobby and the many loyal buyers I have over the years. I lowered the prices of some coins in the mid $20's range to $19.99 so I can ship via ebay standard envelope and actually save some money that way, but that does not solve the bigger problem. Ebay should consider raising the maximum to $50, and I understand if ebay want to charge little more to cover insurance and other costs, or keep the maximum insurance coverage as it is at $20. I know this does not fit well with ebay new business model, which is to rely on promotions and piling-up fees on everything including shipping charges. I believe, in the long term, it is in the best interest of ebay to provide sellers and buyers with a platform that offer fair prices and reasonable shipping costs.
fm2000
·Sep 9, 2026 at 4:26 AM · EditedThey should (there has been a ton of inflation since the ESE program started), the problem is their third insurer probably won't go along with it (I am sure there is some actuarial justification for a $20 limit, like how they cap ESE at 3oz instead of 3.5 which is legal for letter mail.) They should increase it to $25 max at least and (finally) include a large envelope option like Etsy does. Their insurer will probably fight them tooth and nail on both. I'd just be happy to have tracking on all machineable letter mail to keep TRS and the heck with insurance on small value items, I am sure many who use ESE are more concerned about their tracking metric than insurance but I digress...
bdmh-enterprises
·Sep 8, 2026 at 11:12 PM100% agree. Absolute nonsense you can send 2 $20 cards but not 1 $40 card. Also, PIP insures several of the other letter tracking services and ALL the ones I've looked at insure up to $50 regardless of number of items. There's no reason eBay can't get the same service.
Until then I'll add ridiculous shipping fees to get to the item's value. I've gone up to $15 and only got a couple questioning it. The buyers you actually want will understand what's going on.
onefootflipper
·Sep 8, 2026 at 10:49 PM · EditedMessage erased, leaving forum due to threatening forum member following me around on the internet.
inhawaii
·Sep 9, 2026 at 10:13 AM"You can artificially raise the limit by shifting some of the cost to the shipping cost."
Yes. I do it all the time. I charge $5 S&H for all my ESE stuff.
The way I look at it, better than having to charge the customer $8.40.
bonanza125
·Sep 8, 2026 at 10:48 PMEbay is the selling platform not the carrier. There is nothing anyone can do about it. It's to the point where anything worth under $8 isn't worth selling because it will cost more to ship than it's worth for many items. I really hate to break this news to you but it will get worse. There is an expected holiday increase coming in October. Annual increases are going to be a normal thing for now on. Be prepared. Start to bulk lot your stuff.
12345jamesstamps
·Sep 8, 2026 at 10:29 PMI needed to ship something expensive to Canada today.
Registered it was $28.44 for the envelope.
Bought four(not one)four priority mail stamps on eBay for $45.00 + tax (total cost)a while back.
I used one today for my envelope registered to Canada.
I lost a few dollars using the stamp but it saves me money...like free shipping.
Got to think outside the box.
Plus, no tariffs since I use postage stamps and not shipping labels or put invoices inside of my items...