Hello! I’m starting to get back into buying and selling and noticed that ebay started a new program (at least new to me) to provide tracking for trading cards under $20 shipped in standard envelopes. Looking on forums I see many people have had issues in the past with unusually high INR claims and issues with the tracking not updating appropriately. However, almost all of the complaints I see are from 2+ years ago. Can anyone give some insight to whether ebay has fixed the issues with this service making it a viable option now?
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I haven’t noticed any improvements. Seems like 50% of the ESE shipments to or from me don’t reveive final delivery scan. But not to fear, as long as it’s scanned somewhere along the way, you qualify for insurance to pay out the sale value.
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I do pretty small volume so not a great sample size, but have generally gotten delivery confirmation on both buys and sells. I usually just get an update for origin acceptance and delivery
I don’t really check whether my own scans have completed and been marked as delivered, but I’ve also not heard back from any buyers about not receving an item. I am a small-time seller though and hardly have any sales these days (was doing more sales around when the new tracking was first introduced, and I’ve never had any INR claims filed, for what it’s worth).
As a buyer, they are definitely not always reaching the complete “delivered” status, even if I’ve received the card far back (some of them never seem to move to “delivered” status).
I would say it working 50% of the time sounds about right.
Edit: Guess I should add that the program itself is great. It’s less risky than stamped-envelope shipping and better for the buyers, not having to pay $4 shipping on a $4 card. Even if I say the scans sometimes don’t complete, I would recommend using this tracking and not being worried about being scammed to oblivion.
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I’ve shipped many 100’s if not about a thousand ebay envelopes by now. Extremely reliable service. Never once had an issue of the kind you are describing. 90% of the time you get origin scan, and about 95+% of the time there is a delivery scan in the local zip code of delivery, in which time it is actually delivered within 48 hours. On the odd occasion you don’t get a delivery scan, most buyers are honest in my experience, so you don’t have a high likelihood of item-not-received. This is very rare anyway in my experience.
Also little tip, you can list a card for $20 + 5 shipping and it still qualifies for the ESE. If you happen to have cards a little more than $20 in value.
Ebay’s site itself informs the buyer it has limited tracking updates, so they are often aware that it isn’t like 1st class. So if you ever happen to have a needy buyer just inform them it usually only notifies of origin and delivery and that it will get there. If it’s not already known, make sure you are just paper taping the top and bottom of a toploader to the inside of a folded 8x11 paper to optimize machinable envelope processing.
Couldn’t recommend this option enough.
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I have gotten a lot of the eBay tracking for cards I’ve bought in the last few years. It’s terrible, I would not say the issues have been fixed. It is more surprising to have no issues with this service than to have an issue.
I consistently see tracking never updated. Packages I’ve gotten are left as “destination processing” forever. And the destination is a city /near/ me but not the city I live in nor any bordering my city.
I used to very consistently see packages marked as “Delivered” at least 3 hours before they’re actually going to be delivered. Sometimes even marked as Delivered the day before I get it!
They are not real tracking. It’s machine scans as they are processed the same way regular stamped envelopes are. They aren’t actually scanned by postal workers. So when it says delivered, it means it is delivered to the final processing location, whether that be local delivery office or closest facility.
This is functioning as intended.
(granted ebay should be transparent about this to buyers but it is what it is)
(oh and I also expect my success rate for scans is because I use standard letter size envelopes with the label fitting perfect across the front, unaltered size from the one provided by ebay, I’ve received many that don’t meet this exact size that are a bit wonkier)
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Thanks everyone for the quick responses! My main concern is the cards actually getting to the customer. If the tracking is wonky then that’s whatever. As long as the successful delivery rate is the same as stamps, I’ve found that most buyers are honest and for the rare cases they aren’t, I’ll at least have insurance for those packages. I just didn’t want the hassle of dealing with claims from buyers, refunds and claims to insurance to outweigh the cost savings from first class or risk of just using stamps.
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There’s no functional difference in terms of items making it to the customer. And as you mentioned most buyers are honest so even if the tracking never says delivered they won’t try to scam you. I deal with significantly less claims ever since the switch was made which just makes selling more enjoyable.
Definitely still an argument to be made for stamps if all you care about is margins since stamps can be sourced for basically half of the retail cost. But that depends what you value more.
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Haven’t sold much the last 6 months, but my tracking update failure rate was about 30%, and I can reliably pin it to certain locations: Los Angeles, South Carolina, Alabama, Chicago, Florida. Those are the ones I feel confident in singling-out. Some of these areas you might notice are high volume, while others are… IDK? IDK what’s up with FL or AL. For example, if a ebay Standard env leave or arrives through Los Angeles I expect it to just disappear for at least a while.) Packages are better.
My guess: eBay standard envs are machinable, but if the label is not in the right spot, or something is off, it doesn’t get scanned. Maybe placed in the machine backward because of throughput in high volume nodes? Or malfunction? Or laziness? IDK.
Ultimately,
How do you get stamps at 1/2 off?
You can find rolls on ebay for 30-45 dollars depending on how lucky you are with timing. Check regularly, and then if you wanna be risky sometimes those sellers have off ebay shopify sites that look super sketch but are like 27-35 dollars. Tested the waters with one and didn’t get scammed so just kinda kept ordering from it.
I personally haven’t had any issues with it. But I know a lot of people who have. I’ve sent probably 100 of these this year without a single one not getting delivered or marked as delivered in tracking. But I did make 2 purchases that showed non delivery but I did get them. So it’s a hit or miss in some cases but I’m personally a big fan.
I would agree with @ronsoman here. I don’t think these Ebay standard envelopes are being treated any differently than any normal letter mail (USPS is not going to make a whole other system for dealing with the small volume of Ebay envelope orders). So if your concern is if they’re being delivered and not how well the tracking updates, I’d say you’re good to use it.