eBay Standard Envelopes coming postage due?
Hello,
I’ve been using the eBay Standard Envelope service to mail trading cards since the beginning and never had an issue with post offices charging postage due to my customers until this week. I mail about 1000 per year, I’ve always followed the eBay stated guidelines and I also pay extra for the next ounce up (if it’s 1oz & under I pay for 2, if it’s 2oz & under I pay for 3). I’ve had customers claiming not to have received them at all which I’m fairly sure some are scammers or thieves got to them but never the postage due.
In the past week alone though, I’ve had buyers report their post offices refuse to acknowledge the ESE as a mailing option, saying it’s not real & then they are trying to charge them the full retail rate of $7.30 for Ground Advantage just to get their card orders from me. Keep in mind these all had several scans along the way, so I know they’re bendable & going through sorting machines (I use thin envelopes or photo mailers - never bubbles) and meet all the other requirements for ESE. After advising them to talk to their post offices, explain the service & guidelines, none had any luck so I've been asking them to refuse and “return to sender” and I’ll refund in full since the cards weren’t worth me somehow sending the extra $7.30 to my customers. Crazy thing is, USPS still gets the $1.32 each for postage paid which is non-refundable that I'm out and also I have upset customers now.
I don’t know what is going on, if it was a bad week or something and I really hope this isn’t going to be more of an issue going forward. Since eBay encouraged sellers to use their service and some post offices won’t even acknowledge it now, is there anything eBay can do? Can they communicate more to USPS that this is an active service? I have a lot of inexpensive trading cards and spent a lot of time listing them over the years & don’t even want to think about the time involved removing or making new lots just to make them worth purchasing with Ground Advantage shipping. Does anyone know if the ESE being discontinued or something? Or are post offices just trying to make extra money?
hitboxcollectibles
·5 months agoSomething has changed recently for the worse with how USPS is handling eBe.
In general it's no mystery outside political influencers have deliberately slowed USPS and eBe delivery times in last couple years. A very reliable USPS service that used to deliver within 4 business days has exponentially increased. Letters do eventually arrive... but extreme cases of 4-6 weeks have become more common.
FTR... former USPS carrier here incredibly knowledgeable with how eBe metered shipping works. My items go out in #10 envelope that flexes in middle to accommodate machining and sorting. My envelopes have sealed edge flaps, recipient address (and smart bar code) centered on envelope, and postage frank is within 1/4" from top right corner edges. All envelopes are less than 1/8" thick (much less 1/4") nor are they over 3 oz. Because I am so incredibly diligent with my packaging I have a 99%+ initial track rate (initial scan showing eBe has been dropped off and enroute).
I've shipped 3K+ eBe envelopes and never had postage due/eBe issue... that changed yesterday when my customer was extorted by USPS for additional money to receive their order. Customer had to pay additional $6.98 for a eBe with 3oz of postage already paid. Letter was 1.7oz and 1/8" thick. Despite USPS claiming additional postage was due the letter was 100% tracked and machined (undamaged) the entire way to customer.
Either 1.) ebay is not correctly paying postage to USPS via metered postage franking on label, or 2.) USPS staff is embezzling cash funds netted from fictitious claiming additional postage due.
1786davycrockett
·5 months ago@jujus_warehouse
"Since eBay encouraged sellers to use their service and some post offices won’t even acknowledge it now, is there anything eBay can do? Can they communicate more to USPS that this is an active service?"
The ESE is legitimate business metered mail, contracted through Pitney-Bowes -- the contract number is right on the envelope -- so it is discouraging to hear that some post offices are refusing to honor this service at the delivery point.
Reports of this issue had been mentioned on these boards several years ago; but nothing again until now.
This is not a communications issue between eBay and USPS, but between USPS and a handful of local post offices. For what it's worth, you could possibly file a complaint with USPS against those particular post offices, if you are able to narrow down the particular post offices at issue.
Good luck.
tobaccocardyahoo
·5 months agoI vote in favor of it being the photo mailers which are postage due.
They do not meet the ESE requirements. They do not meet First Class Letter Requirements.
I tried them with ESE, they worked better than envelopes, and I ceased because they were treated as non-machineable.
bdmh-enterprises
·5 months agoIs it only happening to the ones using photo mailers? Those are generally too stiff to be machined. Envelopes that don't meet requirements are usually charged non-machinable, the mailers are more likely to be considered packages. Would advise against using them.
How many we talking here? If it's just a few, probably a fluke/uninformed workers. A bunch is more likely to be packaging.
The most likely explanation for a sudden widespread change, is the upgrading of equipment at a sorting center your mail regularly passes through. Older sorting machines used 16" wheels and could accommodate stiffer top loaders and photo mailers. The new, much faster machines use 11" wheels and things that used to be flexible enough no longer make it. USPS has been upgrading machines over the last few years and their documentation was updated mid-late '24 to reflect the change in flexibility requirements.
They're going to try to charge you the PD to get them back BTW, so probably going to have to have a chat with your postmaster anyhow.
jujus_warehouse
OP5 months agoNot only the photo mailers, it's a happened a few times in the past week with 2 of the 8x6 mailers and 1 of the smaller standard envelope 7x5. The 8x6 photo mailers are white flimsy ones from Amazon, completely bendable and I've been using these since the service rolled out without issue for 2-4 trading cards, they're not rigid like the ones eBay offers in their store and says should work. My post office agreed the white ones are usable and make it through sorting machines with scans, never had an issue with them.
It's the post offices on the delivery end where workers seem to have never heard of the ESE service and I think that's where the issue is.
12345jamesstamps
·5 months agoSo, I was doing a project last week...I ordered from 30 different sellers...just stamps..all arrived from all 30 different sellers.
3 sellers used ESE...27 sellers just used postage stamps.
Nothing got lost...some arrived quicker than others.
Sellers as well as me buy US stamps below face value on eBay auctions to mail our items out.
And US has made football, baseball, sport stamps in the past.
Would it be cool to use sports stamps on the envelopes instead of an label?
Just a thought to throw out there.
I had one seller put a United Nations stamp on one envelope as seen...and I got a seller I guess to be funny put a postage due stamp on his envelope to me.
But everything arrived from different states.
jujus_warehouse
OP5 months agoThe stamps do look cool and I did occasionally use some 3oz non-machinable stamps prior to the ESE but starting running into issues there too with my seller rating dropping due to no scans. I do like being covered for $20 with ESE though when someone claims not have received their order. With the trading cards it happens a few times a month for me, gets to "out for delivery" scan and buyers claim they never got.
tools*
·5 months ago"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence." - Hanlon's razor
kibble-net
·5 months agohttps://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/choosing-a-carrier-and-service/ebay-standard-envelope
You are following all of the requirements for ESE? Correct dimension ratio, non-rigid contents, fully machinable?
I would schedule a meeting with your local postmaster to get this sorted out, if you're doing everything correctly.
jujus_warehouse
OP5 months agoYeah, I actually met with my post office when this service started, went over everything and they said I shouldn't have a problem. All of my shipments are 7"x5" or 8"x6", under 3 ounces, non-rigid or bendable, less than 1/8" thick (under 1/4" required). It seems some post offices recently out east, IL and KY just don't recognize them as a legitimate service when delivering.