wooden_flower Volunteer Community Mentor.
GloryBells • 
usps workers do not scan the standard envelopes - the info comes from the electronic sorting equipment. If there was not a single scan, the envelope was lost or damaged before getting to the first major processing center near you.
If you have to issue a refund on a standard envelope shipment, file a claim for your loss. See the protections tab here -
https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/choosing-a-carrier-and-service/ebay-standard-envelope
Your buyer has 500 feedback, so I don’t think they are a scammer. I would tend to believe that he never received the card. I know that doesn’t help, and doesn’t get the feedback removed. Next time, I’d wait a bit before replying to the feedback - calling your buyer evil is not a good thing. Plus, eBay would have forced you to refund - you weren’t being nice.
Yikes! Your reply to that feedback was not very professional.
@ericcardshop wrote:The card was shipped 11 days ago cross country. I did not have to refund the customer. Ebay did not ask me to.
I have shipped items with Ebay envelopes that show no updates and the buyer gave me positive feedback stating how the item was as described, etc. This is a loop hole.
If your buyer had opened a not received claim, eBay would not have given you a choice - you would have to issue the refund.
I guess even machines are not perfect.
If you had to give 5 refunds, then you have 5 claims to file.
I am sorry that the buyer made such a quick and rash judgment. He obviously did not look at your feedback before leaving his comment.
Yes, there is a hole in the system if a letter is never scanned. It is a calculated risk the seller takes and is why eBay limits the letters to $20. With a plain stamped envelope, with no tracking or insurance, any buyer can claim non-delivery, yet most of the time they don't. With eBay's letter, there is some tracking and some insurance. But, if the letter is never scanned, then it travels as if it were a stamped envelope. Sellers must build that into their business models.
No Scan:
eBay's ESUS numbers are not USPS numbers, and can only be tracked through the major high-speed sorting hubs that handle third-party metered mail. The proprietary codes can't be scanned by postal employees, so there won't be an actual "acceptance" scan or "delivered" scan. That means you can drop your letters in a mailbox, the same as presenting them to a clerk, since your local PO can not scan the codes.
- If a letter doesn't make it through any sorting/scanning equipment, there will be no scan.
- If the letter is too stiff or jams in the equipment, it will be ejected as non-machinable, and won't get a scan.
Here is another post on the same topic of trading cards that won't scan, with more details on how to successfully get a letter scanned:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Ask-a-Mentor/ebay-standard-envelope-constant-issues/m-p/34267694#M6084...
Scanned but no delivery:
The last major sorting hub will estimate delivery when the item leaves the hub to begin traveling through local distribution centers. That "delivered" estimate can be off by hours or days.
If there is no actual delivery by that estimate, I ask the buyer to give the item at least 3 more days to appear. If more than a week late, the buyer should open a "not received" request, and the seller can make an insurance claim through eBay's insurance plan. If the delivery address is in the Houston area, there is a major hub slowdown due to missing automation that could extend delivery yet another week.
A seller can open a claim near the bottom of this page, but if the letter was never scanned, then a claim would be denied:
