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Shipping 1st Class without tracking advice.

Hi, 

I have sold some flat items (greeting cards etc.) without tracking but that reduces my rating in that "uploaded and scanned" area.  How do other sellers deal with 1st class mailings?  I have certainly purchased items that were mailed regular 1st class and have wondered how those sellers keep their seller levels up.  I understand that if 1st class mail w/o tracking is lost or damaged I will have to reimburse the buyer.  I only do this with lower cost or replaceable items.

Also, my local post office, which is usually pretty good with scans, somehow either misplaced a prepaid label Ground Advantage package of mine or passed it on without a scan.  I usually hand packages to a carrier or clerk but unfortunately, I had dropped this package in the collection box in the evening so I didn't have any proof I even mailed it!  The package was scanned a week later but this will bring down my seller rating in the "tracking uploaded on time and validated" category.  Is there anyway to appeal or explain that situation? Thanks in advance for input!

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Shipping 1st Class without tracking advice.

Hey @whiteparrot2003 . I sometimes ship untracked with postage stamps on my personal non-business account. I'll ship up to the point where I'm still within the tolerance to maintain TRS status because I don't want to lose those seller protections. If ever I got to the point where I was shipping a lot untracked, I would create a separate selling account just for PWE (plain white envelopes) sales and know that account would never rise to TRS. Nothing wrong with having an account like that sitting at Above Standard.

 

All that said - if the item in question is greeting cards, you may find eBay Standard Envelope to be a suitable tracked option. You'd probably want to limit its use to sales of single greeting cards per envelope because too many cards will make the envelope rigid and not flexible enough to qualify.

 

You can download a list of eligible categories on this page and also see physical specs: 

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/choosing-a-carrier-and-service/ebay-standard-envelope

 

If you have any questions about ESE service, you can find a lot of great help over on the Shipping board.

 

Time for dinner and a movie night - see ya later.

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Message 6 of 10
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Shipping 1st Class without tracking advice.

Have you tried using eBay standard envelope? You can buy the envelopes here on eBay and it completely simplifies the process. It ships with a tracking number (dramatically helps your metrics) & costs the same as shipping a letter. I set all of my standard envelope orders to 4 business days shipping just in case of potential delays. Definitely worth looking into for your situation.

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Shipping 1st Class without tracking advice.

I have sold some flat items (greeting cards etc.) without tracking but that reduces my rating in that "uploaded and scanned" area.  How do other sellers deal with 1st class mailings?  I have certainly purchased items that were mailed regular 1st class and have wondered how those sellers keep their seller levels up. 

 

The uploaded and validated metric by itself only affects Top Rated sellers.

 

Not meeting the standard can knock a Top Rated Seller down to Above Standard, but it cannot knock an Above Standard Seller down to Below Standard. 

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Shipping 1st Class without tracking advice.

Even my smallest items ship with tracking, but they have one day handling and 30-day returns. Many times my carrier doesn't scan when he picks up my items. Tracking does eventually catch up, when it hits the destination state. As long as it is delivered within the expected time, you should be fine.

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Shipping 1st Class without tracking advice.

My advice, don't do it.

Ship only with tracking.

Buster Voodoo - Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Message 5 of 10
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Shipping 1st Class without tracking advice.

Hey @whiteparrot2003 . I sometimes ship untracked with postage stamps on my personal non-business account. I'll ship up to the point where I'm still within the tolerance to maintain TRS status because I don't want to lose those seller protections. If ever I got to the point where I was shipping a lot untracked, I would create a separate selling account just for PWE (plain white envelopes) sales and know that account would never rise to TRS. Nothing wrong with having an account like that sitting at Above Standard.

 

All that said - if the item in question is greeting cards, you may find eBay Standard Envelope to be a suitable tracked option. You'd probably want to limit its use to sales of single greeting cards per envelope because too many cards will make the envelope rigid and not flexible enough to qualify.

 

You can download a list of eligible categories on this page and also see physical specs: 

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/choosing-a-carrier-and-service/ebay-standard-envelope

 

If you have any questions about ESE service, you can find a lot of great help over on the Shipping board.

 

Time for dinner and a movie night - see ya later.

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Shipping 1st Class without tracking advice.

Thank you for that helpful information!

Message 7 of 10
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Shipping 1st Class without tracking advice.

I understand that's the best practice.  I would not take the chance on anything of much value - even a greeting card.  I find it necessary periodically to just use 1st Class for low value and lightweight items (labels, single cards, etc.) that won't sell at a higher cost.

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Shipping 1st Class without tracking advice.

Thanks!  That's good to know.

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Shipping 1st Class without tracking advice.

I will look into those.  Thanks!

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