We ship 100+ postcards a month using eBay Standard Envelope (ESE). For the past year it has worked out pretty well and very economical. We did address a few "non-machinable" issues that were resolved with a thinner envelope. We have a 100% feedback rating.
Recently, we are having almost daily issues of customers not getting their ESE tracking and packages in a timely manner. eBay should probably increase the estimated delivery date that customers rely on. Many of our shipments are taking weeks to finally show up on tracking and ultimately be delivered. I recently got a "defect" from a customer that filed and received a refund since I had no tracking to provide. Today the tracking finally showed up - and the package will be delivered shortly (will the customer pay me back?). Yesterday and this morning just got two more "Where's My Package" customer inquiries on shipments from July 10th, 12 days ago.
This morning I spoke with our local postal clerk who said mail is no longer sorted locally but all shipped to the USPS processing center in Green Bay. I told him some of our tracking finally shows up 10 to 20 days marked from Milwaukee. He said sometimes Green Bay gets too busy so they forward to Milwaukee for sorting and scanning. I get the feeling that metered mail like ESE is getting a lower priority in the USPS system. They most likely prioritize Ground Advantage and regular full price First Class mail.
I am seriously considering just self-insuring and going back to the old days of just putting two forever stamps on the envelope and mail through regular first class mail. Most of the postcards I sell are under $15 and not worth shipping via Ground Advantage. Since tracking won't be provided, I will probably lose my top eBay status, including 10% discount on some fees.
The USPS is a mess! Frustrating for us and our customers....
