New eBay Standard Envelope
 

Has anyone successfully used this new eBay Standard Envelope method to print a shipping label with tracking? I'm looking to ship a few inexpensive cards I sold last night on eBay. When I just now tried to purchase and print my first shipping label via this new method, I received these two messages:
"Please be aware that UPS is experiencing issues at the moment. We apologise for any inconvenience and if affected, ask that you try again later."
"Something went wrong and we were not able to generate the label."
Any help or guidance will be appreciated.

I was able to print one of these new labels a few days back and it printed out fine. If I am reading the requirements for using this new form of postage, USPS requires senders to use only a regular (PWE) envelope. For those that are passionately against the use of PWE, this new option does not seem to alleviate the PWE concern. I was hoping that flat cardboard mailers could be used....according to the new requirements they are not allowed.

I have sent and received many cards in PWEs. The best way I have found is to put the card in a penny sleeve and tape it to the center of a sheet of paper. Fold it in thirds, put it in the envelope and mail it.

I have found the more you do to try to protect a card in a PWE the bigger the chance you will cause problems.

I find the best way for me to send PWE is to get a greeting card, the ones you get from donations made to charities like DAV ect, place the card in between a card saver then painters tape to the inside of the greeting card. The extra thickness of the greeting card stock helps along with the card saver.

They linked these "mailjacket" envelopes in one of their notifications regarding this change.

They seem to fit the requirements I read so hopefully they work as I bought 200 of them and am sending out my first one today.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/6-x-8-Paper...53.m2749.l2648

I used that for a lot of two cards that was purchased for $12 total. For ones under $5 I went with a standard business envelope - card in softsleeve, card saver and team bag taped to printed off invoice.
Similar process that I have used probably thousands on times on Sportlots with very few issues.

Hopefully this all goes over well however I have seen some posts on Facebook thrifting groups and such where people are bragging about being pretty careless in their shipping including being able to put 8-10 cards in a card saver and mail that way.

Your customers are really ok with getting cards that have been folded in thirds?

Guessing the folded in thirds part refers to the piece of paper and not the card.

I've printed one and just dropped a card in the mail box with the new label.

We'll see how well tracking works. It didn't have the classic big bar codes like I'm used to seeing.

It doesn't have to be a PWE, but the requirements rule out most everything else.

<3 oz, < 1/4" thick, uniform thickness, not completely rigid, a couple more

I wouldn't be surprised if those paperboard mail jackets approach 3 oz pretty quickly

I personally won't use that option. I prefer to stick with placing card in top loader and using. bubble envelopes.

PWE offer very little protection. I think every card deserves to have some sort of protection.

No protection for the seller on ebay using this platform. This sounds very problematic to the seller and buyer. Easily damaged at no fault of seller, I can see ebay siding with every buyer hands down, every time, they know the S show USPS is nowadays. It's ok for beat to hell freebees or trades to be sent this way, but ebay, no way.

Avoid

Probably off topic but, Issue I have had in the past , when I ship PWE or w/o tracking 80% + of the time buyer claims no receipt. And we are talking $10 cards here. Integrity has no minimums it seems...

last two or three years I've mailed 100's of single cards in top loader & PWE no tracking. and dozens of lots of 9 in 1/3 of a nine pocket sheet.

$2 to $10 w/ free shipping - mostly $2,$3,$4 cards

Probably very few of those 100's would've sold if I had to add $2, $3 or $4 for shipping

I've refunded less than 10 due to seller claiming no receipt.

Not once has anyone complained of damaged cards.


If the tracking works on these labels, I'll use them.....

and, I'm pretty sure I saw that <1 oz is only 51cents

Yes - that is certainly correct.
The envelope itself is 1.3oz which makes it pretty sturdy but not a lot of wiggle room to get many cards in there with protection.

I've shipped 3 of these so far. All at 1oz and pretty well protected imo. I'll update if anything goes wrong with the orders, but so far I am loving the new option.

Really?
 

Really? In the past couple of years I have mailed several thousand of these, with only a couple of dozen claims of non-receipt.

Oh and Val, I got that same message this morning. The solution for me was to keep scrolling down the page. There is another button you can click to buy the postage. That second button worked.

That was the joke, yes. ;)

eBay tells me I have sold 1,072 items in the last 12 months. Of those, I'd guess 1,000 were shipped in a top loader (taped shut) and taped to the packing slip folded in 3rds (as bnorth mentioned above).

I've gotten ZERO complaints about damage, and maybe five issues where the buyer claimed no delivery. One of those, the card came back about a week later and the buyer happily bought it again.

If this gives a little extra piece of mind with the tracking, I think it's worth a try.

Thanks to Luke and everyone else who replied with their suggestions. Shortly after I couldn't generate an "eBay Standard Envelope" shipping label, I tried to generate a shipping label for a regular bubble-mailer 1st Class package, and I received pretty much the same message from eBay. So, I concluded that eBay's shipping label routine was currently not working. So, I went outside and cleaned the snow off of my car. When I returned to my PC, the eBay shipping labels routine worked just fine, and I printed a half dozen shipping labels for "eBay Standard Envelope" shipments.

This is not the end of the story. Because I had already missed the USPS carrier who picks up the outgoing mail at my condo building, I took my half dozen PWEs with their eBay labels to my local, small, branch post office. Rather than drop them into the outgoing mail chute, I took them to the service counter and asked the USPS clerk if she had seen any of these yet. She hadn't, so I explained what they were to her. I asked her to kindly scan them and give me a receipt; she tried to do this, but her scanner didn't seem to recognize anything. I explained that eBay's system generated a USPS tracking number (which doesn't appear on the shipping label), but I could tell she thought I didn't know what I was talking about. By now, these half dozen PWEs would have been delivered from my branch post office to the nearest regional distribution center, however, the USPS tracking shows only that I have produced these half-dozen labels. It will be interesting to see if these PWEs get tracked to their destinations (I'm not holding my breath!).

I'm with you. People might not like me charging $3.50, but I get them their cards in one piece. I don't see that happening with PWE.

I sent several today and did a lot of research before I did. You have to follow all of the regulations to the letter. If you look at eBay shipping supplies they have paperboard mailing jackets as an example of what you can use. No bubble mailers, no plastic at all. Has to be under .25” thick and uniform thickness - no bulges. Has to fit within size parameters. I bought some 6x8 mailers on eBay last week and got them for about 15 cents each - used a vendor close to me and had them in 2 days. It has to be listed in the card category and has to be under $20. You can send up to 15 raw cards or 3 cards in toploads.

So far I think it’s great. There are going to be growing pains following all of the rules to get it right. Went through my listings and moved as many cards as I could to this service. Long overdue.

All is well - each of my half dozen PWEs have now been scanned at the USPS regional distribution center! I'm lovin' eBay's new PWE system!

Is there an ebay label for large envelopes or only a PWE or Package option ?

I have only made one purchase using this new system. The ETA for the envelope is two weeks longer than First Class with tracking. Has anyone else had this experience? I understand that all of these mailings are to be shipped to a processing center, but two weeks longer seems excessive. Perhaps they're just trying to cover the bases for the sometimes terrible delivery times as of late.

They are just covering their bases. Weirdly my real life experience the last few months is a PWE arrives faster than Priority mail.

I just listed a bunch of cards. Those that I picked " ebay std envelope" as the shipping method say expected delivery is Feb 12 to Feb 17, and those that I picked "first class mail" say expected delivery is Feb 17 to Feb 18.

I wonder how combined shipping works for this since there is a 3oz and $20 limit.

You can combine up to 3 cards in toploads or 15 raw cards up to $20 in value as long as it weighs under 3 oz. Otherwise you can't use this service.


In response to ship time, the cards I sent yesterday have an estimated delivery date of 2/6-2/8.

Stupid question time. Is this only for fixed items? Otherwise, with auctions you can ship for this special rate under $20 but if it goes above $20 it’s standard shipping?

It is for both auction and fixed price. And yes, if the item goes above $20 you have to go first class.

What size printer labels is everyone using?

I use 4x6 labels.

Thanks so much!

I'm kind of passively thinking about trying to sell some extras I've accumulated along the way, cards from my childhood collection that I've upgraded, etc. These would be low-$ cards just for a little more "pocket money" to spend on other cards.

However, it seems like there are a ton of eBay rules and such to navigate. Does anyone know of a good website, book, or other resource that would set out what you need to start selling (packaging supplies, etc.), help with figuring out the shipping rules, common beginner mistakes, etc.? Also helpful would be info on what types of items do better in auctions vs. fixed, best day/time to have auctions end, that kind of thing.

With the new Letter option on ebay has anyone else ,besides me, needed to void a label. I have been unable to void a label with this new system. I hit 1 oz by mistake and printed , so I printed another for 2 oz, but can't void the first label. That option is only available on my other shipments.

3.50
 

Yes, and people don't realize that you are losing money on all of your $3.50 shipments. eBay takes 43 cents for fees on the shipping, and a 4 ounce package runs from $3.01 to $3.49, depending on the zone, so if you factor in the padded envelope and the supplies, ink and paper, you are losing between 90 cents to $1.40 or so on each shipment. If you are shipping a couple of cards and you need 6 ounces for postage, you are losing an additional 47 cents per package.

I had the same issue. Had a buyer cancel an order and I couldn’t void the postage. I guess it’s a donation to the usps.

I called ebay customer service today and they voided it for me.

void
 

Does this work?

Go to My eBay and click Shipping Labels under ‘Sell’.
In the Actions column click ‘Void label’.
Follow the instructions on the ‘Void your shipping label’ page.

I contacted eBay about an issue and they told me there is an Unsolicited Idea Submission link. It seems they actually respond in most cases.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/m...=4256#section2

My standard shipping is $5, which means lots of bundling on $10 cards or no sales. I just redid all my raw cheap card listings with this alternative, see how it goes.

I don't have the "VOID" option available on the letter shipments. Do you ?

I just bought a batch of cardboard CD mailers that are within the size limitation. I have to say that this is one of the ONLY times that Feebay has ever done anything right for the seller. Having to charge 3.55 to break even on shipping for a 1.75 auction card made no sense and was producing diminishing returns. This costs me total of 61 cents, including feebay commission on shipping ($1) and the envelope. Perfect.

Potentially stupid question, but do you need actual labels to print the postage for this new option, or can you print to paper and then tape it on?

^This^ or can you just print it directly on the PWE? I agree with others that this will be great for selling lower end cards.

I have been using plain old paper - been working FINE for me!

Just had a problem with the new letter option on ebay. I got an order for 18 cards for under $20 and the buyer selected the letter option but with 18 cards it doesn't meet the thickness standards, so I look at other options, and there is no package option available. Anyone else have a similiar problem. I think I will just ship it in 2 envelopes and pay double letter price which is cheaper anyways from the package price. But no other package option is a problem.

Void
 

I just sent a letter using this method. There doesn't seem to be a void option.

Question for those who have used these new PWEs (and have had them actually work): how are they actually tracked? I just mailed three of these today for the first time. My labels have a tracking number printed on the label, but there is no scannable bar code on the label. I asked the USPS workers about this new service, and they had no idea what I was talking about. The workers had no idea how my PWEs would be scanned on delivery without any bar code. Did I screw something up?

Scans
 

The barcodes on these envelopes are not package tracking barcodes. They are Intelligent Mail barcodes, which can only be read by the processing machines. The clerks cannot scan them and the carriers cannot scan them. You will never have an actual "delivery" scan or an acceptance scan.

If you subscribe to the USPS Informed Delivery, you are told what mail you can expect today. This comes from the IMB barcode that is scanned at the processing plant. The IMB's and the machines are very accurate and 99% of the time you will receive the mail that is pictured on your Informed Delivery email.

If you look at your incoming mail you will see that all of the letters have these IMB codes sprayed on them. A black barcode on the front and a pink barcode on the back.

Rick, thanks for all the great info. That makes sense. Thanks for such a quick response,

Andrew

tracking
 

And - no - it seems that none of the Postal employees were informed about this new product.

Rick, thanks for your input and explanations. Below is the tracking for an eBay PWE that I shipped on Monday. When you say, "You will never have an actual 'delivery' scan or an acceptance scan," are you saying that the "Delivered" shown on the tracking (in bold print) for this item does NOT represent an actual USPS scan at the actual time of delivery?

Tracking #:ESUS34157478

Carrier:eBay Send

Status:ACCEPTEDIN TRANSITDELIVERED

Delivered

Feb-12-21, 11:20 AM 35771

Out for Delivery

Feb-12-21, 00:49 AM, HUNTSVILLE, AL 35813

Out for Delivery

Feb-11-21, 21:36 PM, HUNTSVILLE, AL 35813

Origin Processing

Feb-10-21, 20:11 PM, BIRMINGHAM, AL 35203

Label created

Feb-08-21, 20:10 PM, Manassas, VA 20110-2834

I have shipped a few times using this service and had no issues.
You can actually track it here
https://www.trackmyshipment.co/shipment-tracking

As far as postal employees not nothing anything, that is usually the case. Most of them still don't know you can ship up to 16oz by First Class through eBay shipping.

You can see the progress in your My eBay Manage paid and shipped orders section as shown below.

Scans
 

Most of these scans are not actual scans of the item.

The in transit scan is generated by one label at the outgoing PO. The clerk scans the label when the truck leaves, and all of the items that were accepted that day show up as in transit.

The out for delivery scan is not an actual scan of the item. When the carrier is ready to go on the route, he/she scans a barcode that says "out for delivery". All packages that are assigned to the carrier will show updated "out for delivery" scans, but the packages were not actually individually scanned.

The 2 procedures above also apply to packages, not just the envelopes.

When the carrier returns from the route, he/she scans a barcode label that says "Return from Route". This updates all of the letters to show as "delivered". This does not apply to packages because they are individually scanned as delivered. So, your envelope was not actually individually scanned as delivered.

Rick, thanks for this additional clarification. I hope eBay accepts this "delivered" of a PWE and protects a seller against a purchaser who claims non delivery. To me, this eBay labeling & tracking process makes selling inexpensive cards much more attractive to me.

Honestly, for sub-$20 cards, I am not going to sweat whether the 'delivered' means scanned or not. As long as eBay is happy with the delivery and protects me from claims of non-delivery when it shows as delivered, not my problem.

The 1st batch of these I used actually showed up as 'tracked' before the regular packages I put in the same mailbox at the same time that same day. Weird.

At UPS, we call these PHYSICAL scans and LOGICAL scans. Packages are scanned into a container via PHYSICAL scan and then that container is assigned to a plane and maybe bypassed at another airport to another plane. That would get a LOGICAL scan then and anything in that container would get the same scan. Sounds like you all have something similar there that all the letters are assigned to a delivery truck/route and they just get those LOGICAL scans when they go out and when they come back.

I'm with Adam on not worrying about it as long as eBay accepts those scans as gospel and doesn't start charging me back for shipments people say they didn't get.

I've been using eBay's new "Standard Envelope" postage option for about two months now (roughly 12-15 sent) with no problems......... UNTIL NOW.

I just got a message from a buyer who complained that the envelope arrived with $3.29 postage due (which he paid). In the spirit of maintaining good customer relations, and knowing that it would be pointless to fight with the USPS over $3.29; I issued the buyer a refund for $3.29. So now I actually lost money on this transaction.

I own a postage scale and I am 100% certain that the envelope was within the parameters set by eBay (under 3 ounces, less than .25 inches thick, etc.).

So my question is........

Has anyone else experienced any similar problems?

I really don’t see the value added with this option. In my 24+ years on eBay I’ve had exactly one problem with charging a buck and shipping in a PWE.

As a buyer of usually sub-$5 cards, I have seen a large uptick in items I'll bid-on/buy with the cheaper shipping option now more commonly available. I don't particularly care if its PWE or ESU, but it certainly has increased the number of cards I've considered buying. I've only has one PWE lost in the mail in the years I've been buying, but the added tracking is at least a small protection for the sellers it seems.

Postage due.
 

First of all, it looks like it may be over 6 1/8" high. If so, it is too high to be a letter. But the real problem is that you have the "Do No Bend" label on it. That makes it a parcel or a non-machinable letter, depending on the weight and the size.

Rick,

Ebay's standard letter requirements are:
No smaller than 3.5” x 5”
No larger than 6.125” x 11.5”
No thicker than .25”
Weighs up to 3 oz.

My envelope was:
5.8" x 8.2", with a thickness of .20"

So obviously, the dimensions of the envelope should not have been a problem.

But you've brought up an interesting issue regarding the "Do Not Bend" sticker.

Can I get some other opinions on this?

that "do not bend" probably did throw it into another category

One of eBay's descriptions includes "not too rigid"

Yes, this has happened to me twice out of about 50 shipments.

Value it adds:
1. tracking
2. you can print a label and not have to get stamps.

and that's about it

When I can purchase forever stamps in bulk at around 35 cent each (off ebay with ebay buck bonuses), the only value here might be the tracking. I knock on wood when I say this, but I have had a miniscule percent of problems using PWE, thus paying 16 cents more for "tracking" has minimal value to me.

I add "Do Not Bend" to ALL of mine shipped using the ESU and have had no issues with postage due...so far.

"Do Not Bend" makes the item Non-Machinable and a surcharge applies, but NOT $3.29.

I have had disagreements with the Postal Clerks about this being a Letter or a Parcel, tho... Additional charges do apply IF it is deemed to be a parcel.

Charles: I would bet it is the "Do not Bend" label that triggered the additional postage. The package is supposed to be somewhat flexible.

It’s not a bubble or padded mailer, is it? Doesn’t look like it in the pic but that would disqualify it.

Good point.

my next choice would be "postal employee with a stamp that just doesn't care"

btw,

I've use the standard envelope a few times with no hiccups. Although 2 out of about 15 that I've sent never had any tracking registered whatsoever

I'm thinking that the problem could be the clear tape over the mailing label. I thought the rules said no plastic anywhere on the envelope. I've been printing the label directly onto a PWE, and using cut up cereal boxes as inserts in the envelope to help protect the cards, and haven't had any issues thus far.

No. Not a bubble envelope or padded mailer, just a small manila envelope.

Maybe this was a one-time screw-up by the USPS. Time will tell.

I just print the label on a regular 8.5 X 11 piece of computer paper then cut to fit a regular 6 3/4 envelope then lightly coat label with Elmers glue then attach with vintage label application tool.
Larry

https://i.imgur.com/ZpAHqFql.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/2UnvuPEl.jpg?1

I've been using clear plastic tape over the mailing labels and have had dozens be delivered with no issues FYI.

It just amazes me how many times I have shipped items in a PWE and the buyer says he never got it. I had to stop doing free shipping because of it. You have no way to prove it was sent and received.

I just print the label on 8.5x11 paper, cut on of those light cardboard junkmail solicitations into the size of the label, tape the card in a top loader to it , fold the paper around it into the shape of an envelope, and tape it up.

yep, I've mailed a couple hundred like that, and had maybe 8 or 10 claim they didn't receive. You're right, nothing you can do at that point :(

damn great idea! gotta try that. save on the pwe's

Wow, that's a lot of extra work to save literally two cents.