How do you ship an item with $1 postage and not receive a defect?

[nicdou27]

I sell military patches and chevrons. Since they are inexpensive and lightweight, I usually send them in a large envelope, charging only $1.00 postage. My seller dashboard shows a defect for no scan. Other than increasing my postage charge, or raising the item cost, is there any way I can prevent a defect?

[orangehound]

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@nicdou27 wrote:

My seller dashboard shows a defect for no scan.

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You may be using the term "defect" generically, but a "defect" on eBay is a very, very bad thing for a seller.  Just to be clear, eBay does not give a "defect" for a package that doesn't get a scan.  Defects are penalties for either (a) not resolving a case with a buyer or (b) cancelling a sale because you can't deliver the product (damaged, out of stock).

If you don't use tracking on your packages, then the impact will be that you will not qualify for "Top Rated Seller" and your shipping metrics will hover in the "Above Standard" range.

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Other than increasing my postage charge, or raising the item cost, is there any way I can prevent a defect?

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You cannot get into the "Top Rated Seller" range unless 95% of your shipments have tracking that is scanned within your delivery window.

[mudshark61369]

@nicdou27,

Since the patches an chevrons do not weigh much and several can be sent in a 4x6" envelope, without going over 15.5 oz.. If you purchase and print your first class postage through ebay, not only do you get an online discount for the postage but tracking is included free.  If you want you can set up a shipping rule for similar weight items. Example: Buy 1 pay $1, each additional add .25cents.