USPS IMB tracking and mail label

[lovefish2006]

Hi I stumbled onto an old thread talking about using USPS IMB to do free tracking.
I put some research and homework into it and found that it does work. It just takes a bit of a hassle.
I'm thinking of making it easier for every people to use this, the flow is like this:
1. after applying for USPS BCG account, Mailer ID and Intelligent Visibility service
2. a tool can generate address label along with IMB, so that we can print and stick it to the envelopes
3. the tool would also keep track of the orders we put in to the IMB mapping, so that we can figure out which order arrived and which didn't
4. the tool should provide tracking information, something we can forward to our customers so that they have some level of confidence that the mail is coming.

Is this something you'd be interested? Do you think this should be a phone app or a web site?
How much are you willing to pay for this? As one time app purchase, or ongoing subscription fee?
Let me know what you think and for the first 5 helpful feedbacks, I'll get this tool to you for free to use.

[wastingtime101]

Most sellers that want to use this type of tracking will:

a) have items that qualify for eBay Standard Envelope (ESE) which automatically integrates the tracking and comes with insurance

b) have items that don't qualify for ESE and if they want that type of tracking they will use an existing service like Letter Track which is easier as they don't need to apply for their own approval with USPS

[kensgiftshop]

If a seller wanted to use it, couldn't they apply for their own BCG account and print from there?

[lovefish2006]

Is LetterTrack free? If they let you use their MailID, what if you send something bad, will that be tracked to them?

[lovefish2006]

That's the problem. I tried it and found you need to use USPS encoder to generate the label, and every time you do, you have to type in all the fields. And the only free field you have is the sequence number, but that is usually not enough to fit any orderid. So you'd need to keep the book for yourself.
And for IMB tracking, USPS provides the IV, but it's not exactly easy to use. For non-technical people, this is close to impossible mission.

[bdmh-enterprises]

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@lovefish2006 wrote:

Is LetterTrack free? If they let you use their MailID, what if you send something bad, will that be tracked to them?

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It is not free. IIRC it's about $1 plus postage for a single item. There's other services as well, they all charge some fee beyond the postage.

But they don't matter on eBay since most things that can be sent as a letter qualify for ESE with discounted postage, free tracking and insurance...

[wastingtime101]

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@lovefish2006 wrote:

Is LetterTrack free? If they let you use their MailID, what if you send something bad, will that be tracked to them?

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It's as low as 18c per envelope, depending how many you purchase upfront. Why not just click the link in my last post?

[lovefish2006]

Thank you!

[lovefish2006]

Thanks for your reply! ESE is nice. I wonder why some products qualify but others don't.

[lovefish2006]

I'll put together a prototype for trial

[lovefish2006]

http://www.firstclassmailer.org/
Let me know what you think.