Order returned

[openmeadowcollectables-2]

I had a order return using eBay standard envelope weighing .6 oz saying I needed 40 cents more postage. Not the first time this has happened.

[wastingtime101]

How are you packing your items? There are 2 common reasons this happens:

1. Package is too rigid. Often happens with sellers using top loaders for trading cards and/or cardboard mailers instead of flexible paper envelopes.

2. Regional issue with misinformed postal employees rejecting envelopes that qualify.

[12345jamesstamps]

Sometimes it's best to use a .66 stamp. I never had anything returned for extra postage.

eBay standard envelope is a "metered mail" and not a "stamped envelope".

[openmeadowcollectables-2]

Shipped in 3 5/8 x 6 1/2 envelope with 1 top loader.

[wastingtime101]

The top loader could be the issue, or it could be a regional PO worker that's over-zealous and/or uninformed.

Check out this video on shipping with ESE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9SPX370_IE

It's made by a regular poster on this board @onefootflippers and he's usually open to answering questions and offering advice on shipping with ESE.

[openmeadowcollectables-2]

The last one that got returned I asked my local post office why they returned it and they looked at it and said they had no idea why.

[wastingtime101]

Could they tell you if it was rejected by an employee at the PO or rejected at the sorting center? Some sorting centers have ancient machines that are more sensitive to package rigidity, and they kick out things like envelopes with top loaders that other facilities process without issue.

All we can do is guess and offer advice based on experience + the experience shared by others that came here with similar problems. It's your PO that would need to dig and provide more info. If you're able to find anything out, please come back and let us know.

[onefootflippers]

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@openmeadowcollectables-2 wrote:

I had a order return using eBay standard envelope weighing .6 oz saying I needed 40 cents more postage. Not the first time this has happened.

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I see some problems beyond standard envelope that the original poster probably doesn't realize they are having.

I don't think there is a human being alive who can list and ship cards at 1.99 shipped fast enough to make it worth selling them.  

You clear about 65 cents each on those 1.99 shipped cards after ebay fees and shipping supplies. 

McDonald's pays $15 an hour and a free burger.

In order to make $15 an hour on those cards (assuming they were free), you have to be able to both LIST and SHIP 24 cards in the same hour. And every card you list has to sell, and you can have zero refunds.  If you refund a single card then you now have to ship and list 27 of them. Misfiled card takes 15 minutes to find? Oh well, you better list and ship 23 in the remaining 45 minutes.

Time yourself, see if you can start to finish, list 24 cards in an hour and file them away, and then pull and ship 24 card orders in the same hour.  

I can't do it. The fastest person at my old card store couldn't do it.

Everyone doing this says that they make up for it because people buy multiple cards, but you know that isn't really true. I look at the feedback left by the people who say that and see that the overwhelming majority of their orders are single item orders.  

Even when I get that once in 3 months whale that orders 50 cards at once it ends up taking an hour to pack the order.

I have found the cheapest list and ship price that I can make work is around $2.83. That clears twice as much per card as $1.99 does.

[12345jamesstamps]

I agree with you somewhat.

If seller used a .66 stamp he might make a better profit.

Tracking is not needed for inexpensive items.

Plus seller had items returned for more postage. Sounds like a lost for inexpensive items to be mailed.

And I actually buy my USA postage in lots on eBay auctions under face value...I can get $200. face value stamps to use for like $100. sometimes on eBay in an auction. Why he would use eBay standard envelopes and pay that kind of shipping for something inexpensive I don't know.

[buyselljack2016]

ESE is slightly more labor intensive than just a 66 cent stamp, but

ESE .................. affords the shipper insurance collectable from eBay for items that get at least one scan anywhere along the way and fail to get delivered.

66 cent stamp does not

[wastingtime101]

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@12345jamesstamps wrote:

If seller used a .66 stamp he might make a better profit.

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eBay Standard Envelope is $0.63 for envelopes up to 1 oz which offers cost savings over a $0.66 postage stamp, unless one buys their stamps at a discount as you do. With the amount of counterfeit postage out there, it can be difficult to spot listings for legit, usable postage stamps at such a great discount.

ESE includes a form of tracking plus insurance, so the loss on payouts for non-receipt claims is less and that alone can negate cost savings from shipping without tracking. Plus there's the TRS benefits one receives when using tracking which is another reason to use ESE. There's also the possibility of a TRS+ discount on fees if one chooses to pursue that avenue. It adds up over time.

Hey, I've always wondered jamesstamps, since you say you ship mostly untracked with postage stamps, how do you maintain tracking stats needed for TRS status? I'm very intrigued!

[onefootflippers]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

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@12345jamesstamps wrote:

If seller used a .66 stamp he might make a better profit.

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Hey, I've always wondered jamesstamps, since you say you ship mostly untracked with postage stamps, how do you maintain tracking stats needed for TRS status? I'm very intrigued!

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Very few stamp sellers are top rated because they almost all ship with stamps instead of tracked as the end up with so many stamps that are only worth face value.

I myself won't buy secondary market forever stamps, that entire little subindustry is essentially driven by crime. For every roll of forever stamps found in a senior citizen hoard there are dozens that are fake, were swiped from someone's employer or that crackhead Bob purchased with a stolen credit card and then sold to his local stamp dealer to get drug money.

[1786davycrockett]

@openmeadowcollectables-2 

"Shipped in 3 5/8 x 6 1/2 envelope with 1 top loader."

Your top loader is probably the problem -- the ESE needs to be flexible enough to nearly wrap around a two inch cylinder at a high rate of speed (about 32,000 envelopes per hour!).

If the ESE can not bend adequately and easily, it will clog up the high speed rollers on the sorting machines, resulting in re-categorization as a "non-machinable envelope," at an additional cost.

Since the value of the trading cards can be no higher than $20.00, use a penny sleeve instead.

I've been using these ESEs for several years now -- no problems, no returns, no unhappy buyers.

[12345jamesstamps]

I don't think I have TRS.  As well as most stamp sellers on eBay.

I didn't lose one item in the USA last year.

Most buyers of stamps don't want to get blocked so they wouldn't file for an item not received.

And I like the idea of my mailings going cross-country in 4-5 days guaranteed vs. items with tracking.

[12345jamesstamps]

I am going to ask that question in the next open forum here where eBay can answer those questions about tracking. 

I have open tracking on some items since February 2023 and someone mentioned due to it not saying "delivered" they are not covered by eBay tracking. 

"one scan anywhere along the way and fail to get delivered"...I don't think that works for "freight forward" as delivered where item doesn't state "delivered"...someone here said not covered...and the words "in transit to next facility". And I also have another one like that as "registered mail" saying "this item is currently in transit to the destination. These are open trackings....are they covered?