eBay, USPS Ready to Offer 75-Cent, Trackable Shipping Option

[celestialdragon]

@shizzlemetimbers

Wow that’s awesome, Australia introduced something similar our previous cheapest option with tracking was around $6USD now we have $1.8USD

Are you referring to the Aust Post domestic letter with tracking for aud$3?

[shizzlemetimbers]

@celestialdragon, yep that’s the one!

[odnihs]

I’ve had so many cases where I’ve hesitated over whether to send a $10-20 card in a pwe without tracking vs a tracked bubble mailer. I do think that even for cards cheaper than that, it’s totally worth it to not have to deal with potential mail issues.

When this happens, I wonder if and to what extent sellers might increase the value they’re comfortable shipping in pwe with tracking.

[mtajaj32]

Okay, now this is epic.

[kontente]

This would be amazing and well worth the additional .25. Awesome idea.

[gengarguy]

community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Simple-Secure-Shipping-for-Trading-Cards/ba-p/31420436

Looks like this will officially be rolling out starting in January!

[mikejofthecoast]

@gengarguy

Simple, Secure Shipping for Trading Cards - The eBay Community

Looks like this will officially be rolling out starting in January!

This is a wonderful way to start out 2021! What a sweet freaking deal. It would be even sweeter if the usps offered something like this regardless of ebay!

[azulryu]

Might have a reason now to sell my $1 cards to get that 25 cent pickup! In all honesty, this is a great option. I’m sure there are many people who have forgone selling any of their cards as they run on the cheaper side, so this is a wonderful option for many.

[way2slowbro]

Meanwhile Royal Mail be laughing in their vaults…

[redsticktcg]

This would be really nice. A good way for eBay to dig deeper into TCGPlayer’s sales.

I’m sitting on a bunch of cards under $20 right now because I refuse to ship PWE due to not having tracking, and the $3.50 for first class makes selling those cards not worthwhile. Great middle ground

[murtaugh]

I actually just read a thread about this over on Blowout Forums and I didn’t see anyone mention it, but I might have missed it. But it all stays a few stipulations. Basically 4 cards with no top loaders, 2 with top loaders, and $20 max. My guess is eBay will find a way to link it so that only that particular sale qualifies for that shipping. Either way I think this could be really good, especially for people like myself who have most inexpensive cards to sell, but just let them sit there because it’s not worth the hassle.

Here’s also a link eBay had up, but then removed, luckily it was archived.

archive.st/archive/2020/11/webcache.googleusercontent.com/pdzz/webcache.googleusercontent.com/index.html

[modbot]

@traineramy

www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/ebay-standard-envelope-usps/

It’s always been a dilemma for sellers.

Do you keep shipping costs down for you and your buyers by sending a card in a plain white envelope, running the risk of loss or a buyer who tells you it wasn’t delivered and asks for a refund?

Or do you put that inexpensive card in a bubble mailer and charge over $3 just for the peace of mind that postal service tracking offers? It’s that postage fee that sometimes makes it tough to sell inexpensive cards that just aren’t worth all that much.

Now, it appears a win-win solution may be on the way.

eBay and the USPS have been working on a new option for sellers of trading cards that would provide tracking and protection for only 75 cents. While a promotional page for “eBay Standard Envelope” was pulled offline Wednesday by an eBay shipping representative who indicated the program wasn’t quite ready yet, the main details appear to be in place.

The new concept would only be an option for “raw” cards—not graded—and the value of the package would have to be under $20. Two cards could be shipped in toploaders (or four without) inside the same envelope but the weight would have to be no more than three ounces.

The envelope used would have to be no smaller than 3 1/” x 5” and no larger than 6 ¼” x 11 1/2”. It could not be thicker than 1/4″.

Sellers would have to ship by printing an eBay branded label and the postal service would provide tracking. Any claims for lost or stolen shipments would be handled through eBay.

Rising costs of first class shipping have made it tough for collectors who sell lower value card, with the cost of a 3-ounce first class package at $3.30. eBay Standard Envelope would be seem to be a popular alternative for sellers who don’t want to run the risk of their plain white envelope being caught in a machine or getting lost in the mail with little or no recourse. Unscrupulous buyers have also been known to claim PWEs never showed up, demanding refunds that are usually granted by eBay.

Saved screen shots of the promotional page included a statement from eBay that Standard Envelope would be “more secure than shipping with a stamp and can improve your seller ratings.”

eBay pulled the page offline late in the day on Thursday after posting a link to it during a chat session with members so it’s possible details of the program could change and there’s no word yet on when it could potentially become an option.

We reached out to eBay for confirmation that the new shipping option was being prepared and to find out when it might be implemented but hadn’t received a response as of Thursday afternoon.

“Standard envelope is not quite ready yet,” an eBay rep named Jen stated in the chat after the page was taken offline. “But we’ll certainly be letting sellers know when it is! In the meantime, I apologize for my mistake and pull back on that spoiler alert.”

Has there been any new developments with this? I have an established Ebay account with a few hundred feedback but only started shipping cards in the last few months. I do the combo of first class or PWE and would love a solution for tracking on the lower tiered cards. This would be a game changer for me.

(Should have read through the thread) Confirmed coming in the beginning of 2021 this is fantastic!

[pokeaddict84]

[brendantheclayboy]

[MADgaming]

@pokeaddict84

I just saw that as well when I was finishing up an order. It’s interesting though. When you print that label, it’s square shaped, not envelope shaped. I found that odd being you can use smaller envelopes, so downsizing it to those would make that label look pretty strange.

The other thing I forgot to note was my label was $0.51, which is less than a stamp? Thought that was interesting as well.

[pokeaddict84]

@MADgaming

@pokeaddict84

I just saw that as well when I was finishing up an order. It’s interesting though. When you print that label, it’s square shaped, not envelope shaped. I found that odd being you can use smaller envelopes, so downsizing it to those would make that label look pretty strange.

The other thing I forgot to note was my label was $0.51, which is less than a stamp? Thought that was interesting as well.

Pretty sure 1 Oz is $0.51 up to $0.71 for 3 oz

[MADgaming]

@pokeaddict84

@MADgaming

I just saw that as well when I was finishing up an order. It’s interesting though. When you print that label, it’s square shaped, not envelope shaped. I found that odd being you can use smaller envelopes, so downsizing it to those would make that label look pretty strange.

The other thing I forgot to note was my label was $0.51, which is less than a stamp? Thought that was interesting as well.

Pretty sure 1 Oz is $0.51 up to $0.71 for 3 oz

That would make sense!

[bdog07]

Can you print these labels on a 4x6 standard label?

[abheast]

Link to the ebay article about this method of shipping: pages.ebay.com/ebaystandardenvelope/

[politoed666]

Man this is amazing and would solve soooo many problems I encounter as a frequent seller of inexpensive raw cards. I generally don’t send anything <$20 with tracking, since it’s simply cost prohibitive, and (especially this past holiday season) have been hit with many buyers saying they didn’t receive, in which case I have no choice but to refund them. At the end of the day, having to issue refunds here and there is still much better than buying $4 tracking on a $6 sale, but this seems like a near perfect solution.