Have ebay shipping rules changed since 10 years ago? Can I still ship it on my own without ebay?

[lakelyb]

After a 10 or 15 year pause, I will start selling on ebay again.  Have ebay shipping rules changed? Can I still ship it on my own without ebay involved?

If I want to ship a paper thin small object (a collector stamp for philatelists, worth $4), in a regular #10 envelope (about 10" x 3" x0.1"), I can do it with about $0.50 of postage first class.  Do I still have that choice?

[nobody*s_perfect]

Yes.  But it's 55 cents nowadays.

[asset_liquidators]

Yes but without tracking you are going to get a lot of "item not received" cases filed. Actually not sure how that will work out now-a-days since you are also going to be getting defects for "late shipping" since you wont be getting acceptance scans at the PO.

Things have changed a LOT over the years, and not for the better I am sorry to say.

[wastingtime101]

Yes, you can ship with a postage stamp, but if the buyer files an Item Not Received claim you'll be responsible for refunding them since you don't have tracking to prove delivery.

Stamps do qualify for eBay's Standard Envelope program. It includes tracking scans. Sellers have had mixed results with the success of this program.

Specs: https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/shipping/ebay-standard-envelope.html

[lakelyb]

thanks for fast reply.  So we can still ship on our own, without ebay.  Of course without tracking, or proof of delivery, I take a risk.

Does it also apply to packages, like 5 lb in a 1 ft cube box: can I take it to UPS and ship it myself without ebay?

Are ebays rates for packages, equal or better priced, (compared to if i handle it myself with a shipper like USPS or UPS or Fedex)?

[lakelyb]

ebay help is lame about this.  They talk about "choices" for shipping and never mention you have a choice to ship on your own. 

Separately, I am learning a big change is they charge a fee on shipping in addition to fees on the item.  Wow!

[nobody*s_perfect]

eBay has been charging their final value fee on the buyer's entire payment including shipping and handling since 2011.

eBay's label  rates for USPS, UPS or FedEx are lower than you will pay if you handle it yourself at the counter.

[inkman]

You can ship anything you want w/o using any ebay labels or shipping jargon. Philatelists are generally really good about getting items via regular first class mail and not opening cases hoping for free items like I see in many other categories. You do take a risk but I do it day in and day out for lower cost items with no issues (except last year's mess with USPS). Over a certain amount I'd advise to definitely use tracking. Not so much for INR cases but to get USPS to find it when it's been a while in the system and it hasn't been delivered for a while. Saved my butt a few times for items going thru the busiest sorting centers and not being found till I contacted USPS.

Hope that helps and good luck 🙂

[lakelyb]

Thanks for the helpful replies.  Very kind of you to take the time.

[annadryl]

I used to sell stamps and would ship singles or sets in a stamped envelope if it were under $10-15, over that I'd send in a small package with tracking. Of course things have changed and that small pack would now be $3.49 to ship vs. 55 cents. You kind of have to weigh the risks vs. the overall cost.

The philatelist community has always seemed to be a more legit bunch (not scammers), so I wouldn't weigh the risks of buyer fraud like if I was selling iPhones or something, but then again times have changed. Who knows. There's all those YouTube how-to videos on how to cheat.

Same thing for sports cards, post cards, covers et al. If it's only worth a couple bucks... I'd ship it cheap. But be prepared for an occasional INR, and you'd lose.

ONE THING> If you want to keep TRS you have to have tracking on everything, so there's that. If not, ship how best fits your business.

Good luck~