eBay Standard Envelope no tracking update. Shipped Nov. 8th

[casey-86]

I sold 2 trading cards on Nov. 8th and used the eBay Standard Envelope service. Today the buyer messaged me saying they have not received the cards yet and there has been no updates on the tracking. I checked the tracking and this is the only thing that is there:

Nov 8, 2023

9:19pm

Tracking number provided

I responded to them saying I have noticed delays in tracking updates from other cards I have shipped with this service and would look into it and see what I can find out. This package should have been delivered days ago and the fact there are no tracking updates has me concerned. I read that this service does come with shipping protection so if the package is lost I can go through that process to recover my losses. Besides that though, I wanted to ask what I should do about this at this point. Should I ask the buyer to wait a few more days? When would be the appropriate time to issue a refund and file a claim on eBay for my shipping protection?

I was excited to learn about this service since I sell trading cards sometimes usually for <$20 so a service like this is perfect for saving money on shipping. My experience with it lately with the very delayed tracking updates and now 12 days going by without any tracking updates or the item being delivered has me concerned about using it in the future.

[casey-86]

I did some research and found a post here on the eBay forums that mentioned you can track eBay Standard Envelope shipments at: https://www.trackmyshipment.co/shipment-tracking

The tracking shows progress there with its current location and an expected delivery within the next 1-3 days. I let the buyer know so they can be assured its on the way. This service certainly has some issues given that its not properly updating on eBay's website sometimes and the fact that the delivery time itself is sometimes very slow. This shipment should have been delivered days ago. Its definitely good for saving money on shipping but it certainly seems like these particular labels travel even slower than a Forever stamp would. This concerns me because a buyer could open a case and there may be updated tracking on the website linked above but not on eBay showing progress, so how would the seller know otherwise?

[1786davycrockett]

@casey-86 

First of all -- in which what city & state are you located, and in which city & state is the buyer located?

[1786davycrockett]

@casey-86 

It is important for sellers using the eBay Standard Envelope (ESE) to understand that USPS considers the ESE to be nothing more than another piece of metered mail.

With that understanding, the seller should ONLY be dropping the ESE off at their local post offices in the lobby slots that are posted for "Metered Mail."  

Dropping the ESE off with stamped USPS First Class envelopes, or at the USPS counter, or in a USPS "blue box," or with a USPS driver, or at your home post office box will delay the the "metered mail" automation process.  This could result in a delay of a single day, or as long as three days (with weekends which include holidays).

And your distance from the buyer makes a difference, as well -- especially with the holiday season soon to be upon us.

[casey-86]

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@1786davycrockett wrote:

@casey-86 

It is important for sellers using the eBay Standard Envelope (ESE) to understand that USPS considers the ESE to be nothing more than another piece of metered mail.

With that understanding, the seller should ONLY be dropping the ESE off at their local post offices in the lobby slots that are posted for "Metered Mail."  

Dropping the ESE off with stamped USPS First Class envelopes, or at the USPS counter, or in a USPS "blue box," or with a USPS driver, or at your home post office box will delay the the "metered mail" automation process.  This could result in a delay of a single day, or as long as three days (with weekends which include holidays).

And your distance from the buyer makes a difference, as well -- especially with the holiday season soon to be upon us.

---

According to this customer service page on eBay's website I can drop off ESE at USPS locations, USPS Blue Box collection bins, or in my mailbox:

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/ebay-standard-envelope?id=...

The whole purpose of this service is convenience for the seller. If I have to go to the post office and make sure it goes into a metered mail bin then I may as well just go with ground advantage at that point or take the risk of using a Forever stamp and hope it gets there. Also if the USPS considers these metered mail, then shouldn't they be the ones putting them in the metered mail bins once they pick them up from my mail box? I don't see anywhere on the link above where these are considered metered mail, so I don't think its my responsibility to make that distinction once the USPS has possession of it. Also the link above does not recommend or suggest me doing the things you said sellers should do, so I should not feel obligated to do so.

[12345jamesstamps]

"According to this"...for it to go through safely it should be a USPS "Metered Mail" slot....since it is what it is...no real stamps are on it so it is not considered a stamped letter. eBay has a contract with the USPS but not everyone is on the same page sometimes. 

[casey-86]

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@12345jamesstamps wrote:

"According to this"...for it to go through safely it should be a USPS "Metered Mail" slot....since it is what it is...no real stamps are on it so it is not considered a stamped letter. eBay has a contract with the USPS but not everyone is on the same page sometimes. 

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Sounds like their problem, not mine. If eBay says I can drop these off in my mail box then I will do that. I can tell my buyers that it may take a few extra days for their item to arrive which I think is reasonable for such low value items that otherwise wouldn't be worth the cost of ground advantage to ship.

[12345jamesstamps]

 I was able to put 4 trading cards in a standard envelope for .66. Why do I need tracking for inexpensive trading cards. Plus, I buy my USA real stamps on Ebay under face value. Bought $150. stamps that had $257.00 face value stamps in the lot last week. I kinda save more money than most sellers using real stamps.

Sometimes, you might get a return using eBay standard envelope...or a postage due...or lost in the mail.

[1786davycrockett]

@casey-86 

"According to this customer service page on eBay's website I can drop off ESE at USPS locations, USPS Blue Box collection bins, or in my mailbox"

While that is, indeed, what eBay says, it is NOT time-efficient and orderly from the standpoint of USPS operations.

There have been many issues with the ESE since eBay introduced it a few years ago, and nearly every one of these issues was caused by eBay's ignorance of how the United States Post Office ACTUALLY operates.  Since eBay made assumptions without specific verification from USPS, eBay has had to backtrack from some of its previous announcements concerning how the ESEs are mailed.

Additionally, eBay seems to be totally unaware of the manner in which the various categories of USPS mail are handled and sorted; and, while you may, indeed, throw anything into a USPS mailbag, it all has to be separated at the USPS Distribution Center -- and that takes additional time.

So, if you don't mind having your ESEs delayed by as much as three days at a time, just ignore the suggestions from experienced sellers who have been shipping ESEs for several years, and keep the faith with the eBay line.

After all -- it's not MY buyers who are complaining about delays. . ..

[casey-86]

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@1786davycrockett wrote:

@casey-86 

"According to this customer service page on eBay's website I can drop off ESE at USPS locations, USPS Blue Box collection bins, or in my mailbox"

While that is, indeed, what eBay says, it is NOT time-efficient and orderly from the standpoint of USPS operations.

There have been many issues with the ESE since eBay introduced it a few years ago, and nearly every one of these issues was caused by eBay's ignorance of how the United States Post Office ACTUALLY operates.  Since eBay made assumptions without specific verification from USPS, eBay has had to backtrack from some of its previous announcements concerning how the ESEs are mailed.

Additionally, eBay seems to be totally unaware of the manner in which the various categories of USPS mail are handled and sorted; and, while you may, indeed, throw anything into a USPS mailbag, it all has to be separated at the USPS Distribution Center -- and that takes additional time.

So, if you don't mind having your ESEs delayed by as much as three days at a time, just ignore the suggestions from experienced sellers who have been shipping ESEs for several years, and keep the faith with the eBay line.

After all -- it's not MY buyers who are complaining about delays. . ..

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And it isn't my fault that they are delayed. You either ignored or just didn't understand the entire point of my post. There is no reason to use the ESE service if I have to go out of my way to make a trip to the post office (which costs money by the way) if the inconvenience of mail separation happens on their end and not mine. This is not my problem, and buyers can be just as aware of the shipping service they are agreeing to when they make the purchase as I am. They can see right there in the listing which shipping service is offered and what will be used for their purchase. If this service is to improve, that must happen on eBay's side.

Also please keep your little insults to yourself. Its immature and there is no reason for you to say things like that but just to be rude.

[casey-86]

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@12345jamesstamps wrote:

 I was able to put 4 trading cards in a standard envelope for .66. Why do I need tracking for inexpensive trading cards. Plus, I buy my USA real stamps on Ebay under face value. Bought $150. stamps that had $257.00 face value stamps in the lot last week. I kinda save more money than most sellers using real stamps.

Sometimes, you might get a return using eBay standard envelope...or a postage due...or lost in the mail.

---

The ESE labels offer me shipping protection to cover losses if mail is lost. Stamps do not.

[1786davycrockett]

@casey-86 

"And it isn't my fault that they are delayed. You either ignored or just didn't understand the entire point of my post. There is no reason to use the ESE service if I have to go out of my way to make a trip to the post office (which costs money by the way) if the inconvenience of mail separation happens on their end and not mine. This is not my problem, and buyers can be just as aware of the shipping service they are agreeing to when they make the purchase as I am. They can see right there in the listing which shipping service is offered and what will be used for their purchase. If this service is to improve, that must happen on eBay's side."

Actually, it IS your fault that your ESEs are delayed, as I attempted to point out:  it is quite simple for eBay sellers to streamline deliveries, just by dropping the ESEs into the "Metered Mail" slots inside the post office.

While that may seem to be an inconvenience to the seller, one of the objects of selling on eBay is to provide satisfaction to the buyers; and, if your buyers are complaining about delivery issues, the simple remedy is to mail the ESEs in the most expedient manner possible -- that is, inside the post office in the "Metered Mail" slot.

While you believe that "This is not my problem," it most certainly is -- since you hold the power to send your ESEs in a more efficient manner.

I cannot understand why you feel that these suggestions are "insults":  You requested assistance, but you don't seem to like some of the answers.

[deserdog]

I can make you listen, but I can't make you understand.

[worldcoinauctions]

I've had ESE that showed as delivered and never were received. Others that got zero scans (need at least one for ebay to refund your money) but were still delivered. Kind of a crapshoot! Mostly they get where they are going, sometimes later than when marked delivered, sometimes they never get marked delivered. If someone has not gotten their item I will just refund them in most cases. I have gotten my refund back from ebay on a couple of occasions.

Since I haven't requested a refund on these recently, I wonder if ebay still requires you to get the refund in your paypal acct.? I was quite amused by that.

[casey-86]

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@1786davycrockett wrote:

@casey-86 

"And it isn't my fault that they are delayed. You either ignored or just didn't understand the entire point of my post. There is no reason to use the ESE service if I have to go out of my way to make a trip to the post office (which costs money by the way) if the inconvenience of mail separation happens on their end and not mine. This is not my problem, and buyers can be just as aware of the shipping service they are agreeing to when they make the purchase as I am. They can see right there in the listing which shipping service is offered and what will be used for their purchase. If this service is to improve, that must happen on eBay's side."

Actually, it IS your fault that your ESEs are delayed, as I attempted to point out:  it is quite simple for eBay sellers to streamline deliveries, just by dropping the ESEs into the "Metered Mail" slots inside the post office.

While that may seem to be an inconvenience to the seller, one of the objects of selling on eBay is to provide satisfaction to the buyers; and, if your buyers are complaining about delivery issues, the simple remedy is to mail the ESEs in the most expedient manner possible -- that is, inside the post office in the "Metered Mail" slot.

While you believe that "This is not my problem," it most certainly is -- since you hold the power to send your ESEs in a more efficient manner.

I cannot understand why you feel that these suggestions are "insults":  You requested assistance, but you don't seem to like some of the answers.

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The suggestions are not rude. I appreciate all of them. YOU were rude when you said this:  "After all -- it's not MY buyers who are complaining about delays. . .." The only reason you said that was to personally attack me and to be rude. If you're going to act like this, please don't reply to me. I don't care what you have to say once you start throwing insults like this. The way you worded that was extremely rude and implied I have multiple buyers complaining about shipping problems. I had 1 person, who very kindly asked if I was able to find out anything about the tracking of their purchase (which I did and informed them). I don't have buyer(s) complaining and I always have a positive resolution for the VERY few situations I've had since the beginning. In fact I don't think I've ever had a shipping problem from selling other than this and one other item.

I've been using eBay since 2005 as both a buyer and seller. Never once have I received a negative or neutral feedback. It is not my fault that an ESE shipment is delayed. You're trying to make a situation where a simple sorting at a local post office is going to be the difference between this particular shipment taking 12+ days to be delivered or not. Also I was already able to check the tracking of this shipment (as I mentioned in my first reply to this thread) from another tracking service and it shows the shipment is fine and is scheduled to be delivered probably today. You're making a big deal over nothing AND something that again is not my problem. You may be privileged enough to have a local post office near you and a convenient way to get there every time you make a sale but I don't and the fact you didn't even take that into consideration just shows how inconsiderate you are. You're arguing for the sake of arguing, and I'm done with it.