Makeup Shipping

[mission2911reentry]

Hey team....I have just started dabbling in makeup and am wondering if I can ship with eBay standard envelope. Obviously, profit margins are tight on makeup, so I want to get the most out of my sale.  I have seen some places you can and others you can't.  Can someone help me with this question?  Those of you who sell a lot of makeup have any tips?  Thank you!

[ebooksdiva]

If your item is trading cards, coins and paper money or postcards and stamps you can use eBays Standard envelope.

Makeup no you can't use eBays Standard Envelopes 

[nobody*s_perfect]

The eBay Standard Envelope is available only in selected categories.  Makeup isn't included, mostly because envelopes mailed as eBay standard envelopes must be flexible and no more than 1/4 inch thick. Your cheapest option is USPS Ground Advantage.

[fm2000]

The categories that qualify for ESE greatly expanded a while back, and there was not much notice when the change was made. It is no longer limited to trading cards, paper money, coins and stamps.

However, you can't use ESE for makeup because makeup items are not flexible, and are too bulky for ESE (i.e. regular letter mail). eBay's postage system might let you buy ESE for it, even though it shouldn't be used.

[ebooksdiva]

If you sell this >>>COVERGIRL EASY BREEZY BROW SHAPE+DEFINE - 615 HONEY BROWN - 0.3 OZ/9 ML SEALED 
And you ship it with ESE your buyer will be paying postage due or it will be returned to you with insufficient postage. 
You asked the question yesterday if you can use ESE to ship makeup, the answer you received from 3 people, myself included, was no, yet you went ahead and listed makeup shipping with ESE anyway, it's not going to work. 

[janet9988]

A standard white envelope would not be much protection against breakage of the item.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@ebooksdiva wrote:

If .... you ship it with ESE your buyer will be paying postage due or it will be returned to you with insufficient postage. 
You asked the question yesterday if you can use ESE to ship makeup, the answer you received from 3 people, myself included, was no, yet you went ahead and listed makeup shipping with ESE anyway, it's not going to work. 

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They won't be able to ship it ESE because they won't be able to purchase ESE postage for that category, even though eBay allowed them to offer it when setting up the listing. Maybe they'll be back complaining that they could only purchase a Ground Advantage label.

[aproudparent2010]

ESE cannot be used for makeup.

[mission2911reentry]

Actually someone provided me the link to the new categories (it is a PDF download) that were released without much fanfare. According to the document, this item is included. So I followed the instructions. If it doesn’t work, I will just need to ship ground advantage and I will be just fine with that. 

[wastingtime101]

Here's the thing  @mission2911reentry :

eBay expanded ESE categories about a year ago to include stickers and patches which can be listed across a huge variety of categories. What I assume eBay did was use key words to identify categories that had a lot of stickers and patches listed. It's an incredibly imperfect way to go about it and it's pretty obvious they didn't do a thorough review and properly filter things. That's why you'll see some cosmetics categories on the ESE list. I assume most of the stickers and patches sold in cosmetics are those things that go under eyes, on the nose, etc.

Here's what's going to happen if you sell a product that's in an ESE-eligible category but the product is not physically eligible for ESE. You will have the option to purchase an ESE label. If you make a really bad decision to purchase the ESE label and stick it on a package with mascara, one of two things will happen: the package will be rejected and returned to you, or it will arrive to the buyer with postage due. Both of those are bad experiences for the buyer.

Others have explained that none of the cosmetics you have listed meet the physical qualifications for ESE. Listen to them. Make the smart decision. Ship Ground Advantage and don't advertise a service for which your items don't qualify.

[mission2911reentry]

Thank you. I’m not about to risk customers having to do pay postage due. I tried it with one product and it wouldn’t even let me choose that label for shipping. So, I’ll obviously stick with ground advantage and do what it right. 

[fm2000]

Whether eBay's system lets you print a ESE label or not, you still can't ship makeup items like that. Doing so is a bad idea for you, because the items may arrive damaged or postage due. Remember, either or both of those situations expose you to the risk of costly returns (at your expense) and negative feedback that eBay will not remove (as well as the possibly other drama I guarantee you don't want!) Some of us have been around a long time, learned the hard way, I promise we are not lying to you, we don't want you to learn the hard way too.

eBay expanded ESE to all kinds of completely different categories, and is now available for categories of items that could never fit in a letter envelope (like VHS tapes). This change was, I believe, unannounced. They expanded it from trading cards, coins and stamps to a few other categories (like brochures, stickers and patches), and then later (unannounced) expanded it to zillions of categories. The confusion about this is understandable.