Shipping patches with ESE - how to be sure they qualify

[annadryl]

I just need to be sure I have the right category, is there now an overall one for "patches"? I don't see one. I have mostly old Scouting stuff but also police, military etc. I don't want any surprises when it comes time to ship. I've been successful with stamps but those are all under the broad category of Stamps/.

The ESE policy is vague. Am I missing something? Just want to make sure all my ducks are in a row before listing because patches, stickers etc. with ESE is very new...

Would the sub-categories in Scouts qualify? What about other type patches? Others' listings are all over, probably cuz this is new.

[squinkercat59]

I just changed my listings to reflect the new prices for patches; I have several different kinds, including military, scouts, advertising, some are just souvenirs. The new ESE pricing went through for all of them on the listings; I don't think that cost will show up as an option for items that don't qualify.

[wastingtime101]

Hey @annadryl ! I've been doing a lot of testing with the new ESE categories. All 3 of the scouts subcategories you listed are included.

At the eBay Seller Check In the other day, Nate from the shipping team said they're working on getting a list published for sellers. Not sure when we'll see that. In the meantime, if there are any other subcategories you want to know about just ask and tag me.

[annadryl]

I just sold the first police patch and it did NOT let me ship ESE.

Was under Collectibles/Police/Patches/Oregon Item#115982140688. My other police and fire patches are in those categories. They probably won't sell anyway but I won't relist because despite supposedly being ESE-okay, they're not.

Very disappointed ebay won't make this work. I lost money on shipping a $2 patch.

[richard1rst]

I have had quite a few patches and decals/stickers in a lot of different categories. Sports/military/USStates/NCAA/ and a bunch more. All of them have gone through except one. And that one, in the same categories as the others, was going to Guam. Not sure why that would make a difference since it is a typical USPS ZIP code. But several tries all got that red "can't print" banner. So I sent it standard GA.

[wastingtime101]

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@richard1rst wrote:

I have had quite a few patches and decals/stickers in a lot of different categories. Sports/military/USStates/NCAA/ and a bunch more. All of them have gone through except one. And that one, in the same categories as the others, was going to Guam. Not sure why that would make a difference since it is a typical USPS ZIP code. But several tries all got that red "can't print" banner. So I sent it standard GA.

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In your situation @richard1rst , did the buyer enter Guam in the state field or the country field? If they entered it in the country field that will block ESE. You can cancel 'problem with address' and have the buyer repurchase, entering GU as the state and United States as the country.

[wastingtime101]

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@annadryl wrote:

Was under Collectibles/Police/Patches/Oregon Item#115982140688.

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I advised only on the scouts categories in the screenshot from your original post above.

From all the testing it's been discovered that very few states are included under:

Collectibles>Historical Memorabilia>Police>Patches>[individual state]

Send an email to ebayshippingteam@ebay.com and ask them to add all 50 state leaf categories to the eligibility list @annadryl . That's the address Nate from the shipping team gave out at the Seller Check In recently for this purpose.

As for your Fire patches, this category is eligible:

Collectibles>Historical Memorabilia>Firefighting & Rescue>Patches>U.S.

[richard1rst]

No they had it formatted correctly. Guam USA ZIP. When I printed the GA label it went through just as I would have expected. If the format was wrong then most likely the GA would have also been rejected.

On the other hand I have seen posts from other sellers of a similar printing glitch on routine packages so maybe it was just the computer reminding us who is actually in charge.

[jag65]

I changed over all my patches to the new program (different seller ID than here).  I'm finding many do not qualify for the new ESE rate. So they go first class letter , same cost  but no tracking.  Buyer sees and expects tracking, but seller doesn't know it's ineligible until it gets ready to ship. Buyer looses out on the tracking, for now until the glitches are worked out. I would like a list of the categories they allowed with this new program. I am going to ask the ebay shipping team if its possible. I think they missed many categories.  Or they can create a specific patch category like stamps has.    I've also tried switching categories for my listings to see if qualification changes, and so far no go.