Ebay Standard envelopes and validation metrics

[teb2007]

Good Morning, I use ebay standard envelopes for trading cards and post cards under $20 as a way to decrease the shipping costs for buyers and make it more affordable all around,but now ebay is using the fact that the USPS is not scanning those envelopes against me and my Top Rated seller performance metrics (As they are considered metered mail like the old days and they have no bar codes for the USPS to even scan) I called Ebay and was hung up on twice as I explain the situation , it always seems when you point out a problem affecting us as sellers the phones some how disconnect . Any suggestions or advice ? 

[lacemaker3]

@teb2007,

eBay standard envelope is metered mail, that is correct. They do have barcodes, which are supposed to get scanned automatically by the sorting machines as it goes through the mail.  So yes, you will get marked down as a seller if your eSE mail is not getting scanned.

eSE envelopes have to be machinable. If they are not machinable, then they have to be processed manually, and if they don't/can't go through the machines then they won't get any scans. They can't be scanned manually, only by the machines.

By far the most common cause of these issues is because sellers are not making sure their eSE mail is machinable. Common mistakes:

• The envelope is too stiff or rigid. (Most top loaders are too stiff to be used for eSE.)
• The envelope is too thick, or not an even thickness along the whole length.
• If there is only one item inside, it is in the middle (should be off to one side).
• the postage area is not in the top right corner of the envelope.

[bdmh-enterprises]

Your not the first I've seen complain of this. What metrics are being affected? Because my ESE's don't count towards my seller level as shown in the image below. As you can see the only thing counted towards tracking on time is my Domestic, NON-ESE shipments. ESE are included in the late shipment figures but don't seem to affect it even though I know I have plenty go unscanned. I don't know the ins and outs of the performance standards, but I've been TR for a couple years without issue.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Ebay has not acknowledged any problems with ESE. I suspect it believes that its stated restrictions on ESE are adequate since they eliminate most of the non-machineable orders sellers ship.

Although ESE is "metered mail" I do not believe that is relevant to its flaws. Large Envelope, Priority, Priority Express, Ground Advantage and even Media Mail may be metered.

ESE is "Letter Mail" which has a definition and must be machineable or if not, is subject to additional postage since it must be processes separately from most Letter Mail (and would not have the tracking associated with ESE).

What sellers ship and how they pack determines their success with ESE. Were Ebay to take these problems seriously, they would write a more detailed and restrictive description of the characteristics of an acceptable ESE.

@lacemaker3  has provided a portion of what a more restrictive description would include.

I find ESE to be high hassle, and had my best results with packaging which violated the rules. I will not sacrifice merchandise survival to use ESE and will accept the loss of low end business if the buyer does not want to pay for GA and proper packaging. All too many of the orders I shipped ESE with toploaders did not get properly processed.