Quote:
Originally Posted by ValKehl
Recently, I went to my local post office branch to drop off a fairly high value card I sold and insured and to get it scanned into the USPS system, rather that letting my mail carrier pick it up as I normally do (I had printed the shipping label at home). I also had a couple of eBay standard PWEs with shipping labels on them with me, and I asked the postal clerk to also scam these in. The clerk had no idea what the eBay standard PWEs were and was unable to scan them. This surprised me. She suggested I take them to the main post office in my town. I did this and got the same response. I then asked for and spoke to the customer service manager, who was also not knowledgeable. I went back home and called eBay and spoke with a seemingly knowledgeable customer service rep who told me that the eBay standard PWE labels are only able to be scanned at the USPS regional distribution centers. Hence, one doesn't get the full tracking that one gets with First Class packages and Priority packages. Still, the eBay PWE with discounted postage and partial USPS tracking is better than before, when I used PWEs with no tracking for inexpensive cards.
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I recently sent one in the ebay PWE. My local PO person knew what it was, but I've seen ebay items in their in-box before so maybe he was familiar with it. I told him it was the first time I tried it and he 'scanned' it and accepted it without question. Whether it
really scanned into the system or not, I do not know. The buyer had a similar experience as mentioned. It showed up as 'delivered' yet he had not received it yet. Later in the day it was in his mail box. (similar experience to PO workers who scan priority packages as delivered before they really are)
My theory is that the 'scanning' that occurs for delivery is similar to how other first class PWEs (and junk mail) are scanned and processed. It would be better in ebay's system only indicated it was "out for delivery" rather than delivered, which would be more accurate. If you look at the tracking, it does seem to only include the distribution centers and not the local source/destination POs. I wonder if/how it would show up in my daily USPS notifications. Maybe I should sell something to myself to test this out.
Since it is impossible to even purchase the ebay PWE postage for an item that is more than $20, it all boils down to how much is the seller willing to eat if the PWE doesn't get delivered. The seller risk is no different than slapping on a forever stamp and dropping it in the mail. The ebay service provides some convenience with limited tracking.