Good Category for Ephemera and Using ESE

[m60driver]

I have some small inexpensive brochures and pamphlets that can easily be shipped in an envelope using  ESE, Ebay Standard Envelope, or a single stamp.  Any suggestions for a sort of catch all category to list such ephemera that will then be eligible for ESE?

My current seller level numbers show shipping without tracking at 97% with all other dashboard levels at below 0.20 %.  Anyone know how low I can go on tracking before I loose Top Rated status?

[jonathanbrightlight]

Brochures and Pamphlets are not among the eligible types of items for ESE:

• Patches
• Stickers & Decals
• Greeting Cards
• Seeds
• Trading Cards
• Coins & Currency
• Postcards
• Stamps
  
  

You can certainly send them with a stamped envelope if you choose, but there are two things (at minimum) to be aware of:

Because they'll be untracked, you cannot win an Item Not Received claim.  There will be no insurance, so you'll have to just accept any losses if customers claim they don't receive their items.

You cannot fall below 95% on your "Tracking uploaded on time and validated" metrics and maintain Top Rated Seller level, but many sellers just accept that they will be Above Standard instead and do just fine, or they will sometimes open a separate eBay account that they will sell the untracked items through to keep their main account's metrics ok.  That is allowed, but obviously adds some complexity to your management of items and orders.

[meme6253]

johnathanbrightlight has your answer!

[tobaccocardyahoo]

You may already be underpricing your brochures by offering free shipping. The limited interest makes motivated  buyers, who actually will buy, willing to pay for proper tracked shipping while the availability of free or low cost shipping does not make the item attractive to more buyers. It could be a plan to leave money on the table.

And your current use of untracked shipping is a risk to your seller level. Living with Above Average seller level might not cost you many sales for some items, but it could cost you sales for other items which are more profitable.

Needless to say, shipping a brochure in a number 10 envelope also means a greater risk of shipment damage. Unfortunately, Ebay has appeared to discontinue their Ebay supplies cardboard number 10 envelope which I had used with great successs.

[estate_echoes]

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@m60driver wrote:

I have some small inexpensive brochures and pamphlets that can easily be shipped in an envelope using  ESE, Ebay Standard Envelope, or a single stamp.  Any suggestions for a sort of catch all category to list such ephemera that will then be eligible for ESE?

My current seller level numbers show shipping without tracking at 97% with all other dashboard levels at below 0.20 %.  Anyone know how low I can go on tracking before I loose Top Rated status?

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I sell some similar things. I am starting to think that having much cheaper shipping now outweighs the miniscule benefits of being top rated. 

[m60driver]

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@jonathanbrightlight wrote:

Because they'll be untracked, you cannot win an Item Not Received claim.  There will be no insurance, so you'll have to just accept any losses if customers claim they don't receive their items.

You cannot fall below 95% on your "Tracking uploaded on time and validated" metrics and maintain Top Rated Seller level, 

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I am not concerned about an INR as these items have negligible cost to me and a low sell price.  And so it looks like I have a few more no tracking items to go before I fall below 95% even if I sell nothing else.  I will just have to keep track of the metric.

And thanks for the info.