ebay Standard Envelope

[olympiclinic]

Hey fellow ebay sellers, will we be able to use the "ebay Standard Envelope" to ship other things like Event Ticket Stubs, Sports Patches, Pins, Photographs or Postcards and stuff like that.  Stuff that is just an ounce or so and are inexpensive.   If they will not allow this I will be increasing my minimum shipping charge from $3.50 to $4.00.

[rebell45]

Looks like it will start with only sports cards at first. Expanding to other categories in the future.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ebay-introduces-more-affordable-shipping-solution-for-selli...

[aspme]

I Certainly hope they expand it to other Categories as well.   I sell a lot of Small Automotive Gaskets for $3-5.00  and they ship with just a stamp and envelope, but WE get dinged for no tracking info every time we ship that way

[richard1rst]

I also sell a lot of things that could go that way.

I have to wonder:

eBay says this is an exclusive to them. But I seem to recall about a year or so ago the post office was experimenting with tracking (for an extra fee) on first class letters. Once this rolls out I intend to bring a sample to my post office and ask if this is one of those things (like Cubic Pricing) that the post office has available to those who know to ask for it.

I find it unlikely that the post office would make a service available to eBay only and not the other mass mailers. Stamps.com, Pirateship, etc. If so then we can use it for anything that fits even if it means buying the postage elsewhere (as long as we upload the tracking).

After all Pirateship has Cubic Pricing and eBay does not yet they accept the tracking numbers.

[richard1rst]

Following up on the above:

This is from a post office news release one year ago. (emphasis added)

USPS Tracking® is included at no charge for First-Class Package Service-Retail and First-Class Package Service-Commercial. Although First-Class Mail® postcards, letters, and flats are not eligible for USPS Tracking, those items are eligible for other extra services that provide barcodes for scanning. These extra services can be purchased, providing some tracking information.

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-are-the-Types-of-First-Class-Mail

A year later - who knows if it will now be more readily available. Hope springs eternal.

*****

By the way - anyone else run into this?

I tried to make this post a few minutes after making the one above it. I was told that I was “post flooding” and I had to wait 3600 seconds (really? they couldn’t just one hour?) before I could make another post.

[keystoneiss]

I would think this should be available for selling collector stamps and other 1st class letter rate items as well.  I would suggest that anyone interested start pinging eBay about it now. 

Trading card folks squeaked and got the grease.  Stamps out sell trading cards.  Right now there are less than 400K trading cards ads and over 5 million stamp ads.  

Personally, I think if it'll ship in a 1st class letter envelope it should be an option for anyone.

[johnjefprks]

I don't know where you came up with your numbers. I just checked there are 17.5 million listings in the Baseball card category alone.

[wasbgtoney]

One of the question I have is very simple. Can we ship the card in a top loader? After all who wants to send a $15.00 autograph card through the mail unless it is protected from damage. If it in not protected and is damaged are we covered for any damage that the mail service might cause.  

[no_zero369]

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@richard1rst wrote:

By the way - anyone else run into this?

I tried to make this post a few minutes after making the one above it. I was told that I was “post flooding” and I had to wait 3600 seconds (really? they couldn’t just one hour?) before I could make another post.

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@richard1rst 

YES!!!!!!  I have run into that Glitch from time to time.  Usually it first rejects an HTML (when it is a link to an eBay help page or something).  Then it seems to correct that, but at times I get the irritating "post flooding" error.  Sometimes it goes away with another click, often I have to create a new post (copy text first) then paste it into a new reply window and MAKE A FEW CHANGES and then it goes through.  Was going to post this, but not sure what thread is appropriate?

[sportin_goods]

Ask your post office for Label 400

[no_zero369]

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@sportin_goods wrote:

Ask your post office for Label 400

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Here is link to that label.

https://store.usps.com/store/product/shipping-supplies/usps-tracking-label-400-P_LABEL400

One thing I note about this label... It says the tracking gives you the date, time & zip code when item is delivered.  Problem is that to be protected by eBay's slim seller protections, the seller needs to be able to prove that the item was delivered to the buyer's address, the address on the order.  This label does not provide that.

Might be some comfort, but I would not use it.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Buyer's ZIP Code is all that regular tracking does.  There are even scams that take advantage of that.

[no_zero369]

For others that might not be aware: With "regular tracking" there is a scan at the location of delivery and that scan has GPS coordinates.  So while the surface info is "just" Zip Code, the background info is the exact location where item was delivered.   So the GPS scan proves when item was delivered and that protects sellers as they have proof of the delivery location.  That location either matches the address on the order (buyer eats it) or it doesn't match and the seller eats it.

Any seller who is willing to use that Label 400 form of "tracking" is setting them self up to be scammed, repeatedly.  This is because the seller has no proof of where in the zip code the package was delivered so they can not prove they met their obligation to get the item to the buyer.  So why use an inferior form of "tracking" just because it is cheaper?

[keystoneiss]

From eBay

[bengalscollector]

That won't find nearly as many results. Few people actually put "trading card" in the item description. In the category "Baseball cards" there are over 17,000,000 listings.