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Ebay standard envelope
logger7
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How do you ship your low cost numismatic products? I spoke with an ebay representative recently as I've been using flat cardboard mailers for many items. The ebay "expert" looked it up, he said the rules are that you can ship a little over the dimensions 4 x 11 or under: https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/choosing-a-carrier-and-service/ebay-standard-envelope But he said it has to be a #10 envelope, that you cannot use a cardboard mailer as most people use.
Also how do you ship us proof sets and mint sets? Is there any low cost option for those?
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Up to four coins totaling $50.00 or less I print a packing slip on a 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of paper folded in half. On a 8 1/5 by 5 1/2 (half a sheet of paper) I tape the coin(s) in 2X2s covered with a small piece of paper so no tape gets on the 2X2. All that gets put in a 6 by 9 inch envelope on which I've printed the shipping label.
For mint sets or proof sets or more than 4 coins or over $50.00 I use USPS Ground Advantage and a padded envelope or box with a sticky half sheet address label. Use eBay labels and you get a pretty good discount.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
I use flat cardboard mailers for paper. The issue is "uniform" thickness less than 0.25 inches. I've also occasionally used then for very thin coins like cents or dimes. For most coins I use a corrugated mailer inside a #10 envelope.
Anything thicker than 1/4 inch must go package rate which is usually Ground Advantage up until a certain weight where sometimes priority is competitive.
If for some reason you do not want to use EBay for USPS Ground Advantage, you get the same pricing that EBay charges for small coin shipments, for example using 6x9 bubble packs up to 5 ounces that are good for 1-3 coins well packaged by using the USPS Informed Delivery Click and Ship for a low price, under $5 and sometimes just under $4 for nearby addresses. I generally use the EBay to save time unless it is to a customer who uses usacoinbook or a direct contact for longer term contacts.
" But he said it has to be a #10 envelope, that you cannot use a cardboard mailer as most people use. ""
That sure don't sound right. I'd find another ebay 'expert'. I have been using different sized envelopes ever since the standard envelope was started, without any issues. As long as it follows the guidelines.,.. there is nothing that says it has to be a #10 envelope! If it does, please show me where.
The main criteria that I have seen include the 1/4" restriction, cannot be smaller than a certain size, cannot be larger than a certain size, and cannot be too 'rigid' whatever that means. But what do I know.
He said that over and over again reiterating it insisting that cardboard, CD mailers etc. was unacceptable with ebay standard envelope; that it has to be a flexible, an envelope, uniform thickness, etc. and he seemed knowledgeable.
I spoke to a postmaster in WA state who had put a "postage due" on a cardboard flat mailer to a customer holding the package hostage until paid, saying it was a package and according to him it should have gone as a package. I'm seeing this sort of thing more often with flat cardboard mailers, one or two ounce coming back.
There is also the question of the width and whether or not that is arbitrary as a quarter inch sounds.
what is the rate for an ebay standard envelope?
One ounce, two ounces and three ounces....69 cents, 97 cents, 1.25......
And it includes insurance.
I ship 1000+ per year. I get maybe 3 or 4 back per year.
Ebay designed it for trading cards and coins. There is no way that some wants a trading card sent without a stiffener. Why would a flexible envelope with a cardboard stiffener be any different than a cardboard mailer.
Ebay sells these for cards and they come with a cardboard insert.
https://ebay.us/m/yU6mGr
don't know, but there is a substantially higher 1oz rates for envelopes that can't be machine sorted. one example is stiff envelopes. another is odd sized greeting cards.
my po enforces it
Yes, but ebay standard shipping was designed specifically for cardboard and coins. I've shipped 4000+ items with it. The few that bounced back all went through the second time.
The non-machinable surcharge is 46 cents.
But the ebay service is not a standard service. You can't insure anything else for 69 cents.
jmlanzaf, is tracking including in the postage through ebay or is that a separate charge like when you ship a small item in a number 10 envelope?
Thanks.
RR
The ebay standard envelope does have tracking... via ebay somehow. But... it is not very accurate; I have had times where it shows delivered but it actually was not.
it started with cards
I use the eBay flat cardboard mailers for all my standard envelope shipping. I don’t do many, maybe 50-100 and have only had one returned and only 1 lost. eBay paid insurance on the lost item.
My Ebay Store
It's included but it is less exact than normal tracking
Yes. I still call this the greatest innovation at ebay since it's creation. Lol. I sometimes drop the price of anything between $20 and $24 to 19.99 just to be able to use the service. Otherwise the package rate is $4+
I've used the eBay standard envelope for several hundred shipments to USA addresses. Only 2 have been returned but went thru the 2nd try. Only one was not delivered - tracking shows it is still in Omaha (approx. 6 months now).
Print the packing slip on 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. Place 2x2 with coin in a crown size flip. Tape that to the bottom 3rd of the page. Fold page in 3 to fit a #10 envelope. Tape the shipping label and send it. I've done this for up to 3 coins per envelope.
The envelope must be flexible enough to pass through the mail sorters. 1 ounce with value less than $20 is 69c, 2 oz is 97c, 3 oz for $1.25 both up to $50 value. eBay has a tracking agreement with USPS that can only be seen on the eBay site. The local PO tracking system cannot see it. So if it gets lost, you must go thru eBay for claims.
Life member #369 of the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association
Member of Canadian Association of Token Collectors
Collector of:
Canadian coins and pre-confederation tokens
Darkside proof/mint sets dated 1960
My Ebay
The final scan on eBay standard envelopes is done at the local distribution center, not at your local P.O. branch. The tracking will often show as "Delivered" even though the envelope is still in transit and will not arrive for another day or two. I get the "where's my coin/token? - it shows Delivered?" so often that I have a cut & paste response at the ready.
I get a very few envelopes kicked back for postage due but my local branch counter personnel just cross out the postage due stamp and send them off again. I've never had one come back twice.
I've only had five or six lost envelopes over thousands mailed - the insurance reimbursement process through eBay involves some busy work but the refunds are quickly approved after submission.
Agree, I sometimes do the same thing.
My Ebay Store
Pretty similar to my process, though I do not use the #10 envelope. I use a smaller 6 1/4" x 4 1/4" envelope that is a more firm brown manila stock, in the thought process that it would hold up better in the system. I am able to fold the sheet of paper with the coin to fit the envelope and still meet the 1/4" criteria, and is certainly flexible.
If the size of the coin - medal - token is silver dollar size or more, or a rather thicker item; then I will not send it via standard envelope but use the more expensive Ground Advantage.
Thanks for the explanation tokenpro; that explains what I have seen with the standard envelope tracking. I too have had those customers asking 'where is my coin... it show delivered!'. I like the idea of the cut and paste standard response.
that delivered thing has to change
I brought it up with my postmaster again today who had been waiting to hear back from the WA state postmaster, but he never responded. When I filled out a form online, it did generate a response from the post office the next day. The WA state postmaster kept reiterating that standard envelope with ebay, which he said he did not know about, would still require shipping in a #10 envelope and cardboard flat mailers are all "packages" and require the stepped up fee. My postmaster like many others don't know what the ebay standard envelope is as apparently the usps regulations have not been changed to make room for the ebay envelope.
You can certainly use a cardboard mailer (within eBay's specified dimensions) with the eBay standard envelope. However, you can't send an original proof set or Mint set that way; it will be too thick to qualify.
For a 5-coin proof set, if you crack all the coins out of the original case, put them in flips, and staple them to a card, you can send them in an appropriately-sized mailer that qualifies for the eBay standard envelope. That's fine if you only have a few sets to sell, but quickly becomes too time-consuming to handle for large volumes of sets.
It can't. There's no easy to scan at delivery because there is no barcode
I imagine it is also a way of keeping the standard envelope cheap. Any point-of-delivery scan is additional expense.
And yet I see some of the ebay standard envelopes getting scanned several times at a destination, and other cases where not even a single scan happens from po to destination.
Another thing that I find useful is using the same envelope that GC uses. The bubble wrap envelope works quite well in my experience.
God comes first in everything I do. I’m dedicated to serving Him with my whole life. Coin collecting is just a hobby—but even in that, I seek to honor Him. ✝️
I send the coins in a 2x2 cardboard coin holder in a #10 envelope and scotch tape them in the center of the envelope for stability in transit. Only a few have not arrived. I have sent over 500 such envelopes so far.
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I use a small box for proof and mint sets and send them USPS ground advantage. Best to sell more then one at a time to keep the postage cost lower. You get a discount for using eBay by the USPS. If you print a USPS label from eBay the cost of a low weight ground advantage box is about $4-$5 to most areas in the US.
I'm on my forth box of 500 6 X 9 manila envelops and have also used hundreds of #7 greeting card envelopes for post cards and coins with no problems or returns or package arriving postage due. Never used a #10, can't fit it in my printer.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide