Ebay standard envelope

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.

" 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.

what is the rate for an ebay standard envelope?

@thebeav said:

@MsMorrisine said:
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.

Ebay sells these for cards and they come with a cardboard insert.

https://ebay.us/m/yU6mGr

@MsMorrisine said:

@jmlanzaf said:
Ebay designed it for trading cards and coins. There is no way that some wants a trading card sent without a stiffened. Why would a flexible envelope with a cardboard stiffener be any divergent than a cardboard mailer.

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.

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

it started with cards

@RR said:
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

It's included but it is less exact than normal tracking

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.

@jmlanzaf said:

@bigjpst said:
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.

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+

Agree, I sometimes do the same thing.

@tokenpro said:
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.

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.

@MsMorrisine said:
that delivered thing has to change

It can't. There's no easy to scan at delivery because there is no barcode

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.
.

@pcgsregistrycollector said:

@logger7 said:
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?

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.

@DotStore said:
Have you also called eBay and spoken with support? I've never had the eBay Standard Envelope marked as delivered (I think I've used it maybe 10 times). Luckily in my case no buyers ever opened a Not Received complaint. The tracking on those is not that great, so I'm thinking I might shy away from using those again (unless I think it's ok to absorb the occasional hit if a buyer opens a case).

@DotStore said:
Have you also called eBay and spoken with support? I've never had the eBay Standard Envelope marked as delivered (I think I've used it maybe 10 times). Luckily in my case no buyers ever opened a Not Received complaint. The tracking on those is not that great, so I'm thinking I might shy away from using those again (unless I think it's ok to absorb the occasional hit if a buyer opens a case).

I've shipped more than 3000 of them with little difficulty.

@logger7 said:
One recent issue with eBay standard envelope:

A buyer/dealer bought two groups of small size currency, 5 notes in total. I got the 3 ounce eBay standard postage for one and uploaded the tracking number for the other. The buyer opened an item not received case last week, it showed delivered on Monday. I responded to the case with the tracking showing both orders were delivered. He calls customer service and they decide in his favor on the second case. Is there any recourse on this?

I think we need more context. It's he claiming the items were missing? If so, and assuming the order total was under $50, you could file an insurance claim for the missing items.

Is there a reason you didn't combine the orders before shipping?

Did you contact the customer?

@jmlanzaf said:

@DotStore said:
Have you also called eBay and spoken with support? I've never had the eBay Standard Envelope marked as delivered (I think I've used it maybe 10 times). Luckily in my case no buyers ever opened a Not Received complaint. The tracking on those is not that great, so I'm thinking I might shy away from using those again (unless I think it's ok to absorb the occasional hit if a buyer opens a case).

@DotStore said:
Have you also called eBay and spoken with support? I've never had the eBay Standard Envelope marked as delivered (I think I've used it maybe 10 times). Luckily in my case no buyers ever opened a Not Received complaint. The tracking on those is not that great, so I'm thinking I might shy away from using those again (unless I think it's ok to absorb the occasional hit if a buyer opens a case).

I've shipped more than 3000 of them with little difficulty.

In general, do all of yours get marked as Delivered? Out of the 10 I shipped, I don't recall any of them being marked as Delivered. They would show tracking up until the local PO of the buyer, but then they never got marked as Delivered. I don't know why that happened to all my shipments. All my items were under $20 value -- so I think they would have been covered by insurance, but luckily the buyers never opened a case as Not Delivered.

@logger7 said:
"The buyer reported their item has not arrived". "We didn't receive valid proof of delivery from you." When he opened the case and after the items were delivered I responded with the shipping number which showed delivered. I'll appeal it, I don't know why eBay would give him the money. Did I mess up by generating one standard label for the two orders?

I don't know, because it never happened to me. It shouldn't matter. You can group them together before printing a label. I've never had trouble doing that. But the system should be smart enough to allow you to add the tracking later since it does allow for manual input.

I'm just not sure why the buyer would open such a case for one and not both. And I'm not sure why eBay CS would consider one to be delivered and not both.

@logger7 said:
I appealed and called ebay and they reversed the decision. I'm not sure if they'll reverse it with the buyer too.

For small amounts of money, they probably will eat it.

Congrats!

@jmlanzaf said:

@DotStore said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@DotStore said:
Have you also called eBay and spoken with support? I've never had the eBay Standard Envelope marked as delivered (I think I've used it maybe 10 times). Luckily in my case no buyers ever opened a Not Received complaint. The tracking on those is not that great, so I'm thinking I might shy away from using those again (unless I think it's ok to absorb the occasional hit if a buyer opens a case).

@DotStore said:
Have you also called eBay and spoken with support? I've never had the eBay Standard Envelope marked as delivered (I think I've used it maybe 10 times). Luckily in my case no buyers ever opened a Not Received complaint. The tracking on those is not that great, so I'm thinking I might shy away from using those again (unless I think it's ok to absorb the occasional hit if a buyer opens a case).

I've shipped more than 3000 of them with little difficulty.

In general, do all of yours get marked as Delivered? Out of the 10 I shipped, I don't recall any of them being marked as Delivered. They would show tracking up until the local PO of the buyer, but then they never got marked as Delivered. I don't know why that happened to all my shipments. All my items were under $20 value -- so I think they would have been covered by insurance, but luckily the buyers never opened a case as Not Delivered.

around 90% or so do get marked as delivered. The bigger problem with "delivered" is that I get a number of emails from people who see the delivered but haven't received the item yet. The eBay standard is not scanned by the postman, they are scanned at the sort facilities (there is no barcode, just the QR code), as a result they are often scanned at the final sort facility 24 hours or so before actual delivery.

I will say that July was a brutal month with all kinds of USPS delivery issues.

This, exactly. I have had several buyers contact me when the tracking says "Delivered", but they haven't received it. I explain the process as described above, and tell them to wait a day or two before filing an "Item not Delivered" case. Every time the item shows up in the next couple days. I have a regular customer who lives on one of the islands off the North Carolina coast. It happens every time with her because the sort facility is on the mainland and they don't go out to her island until the next day.

@rec78 said:

@logger7 said:
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?

I use the standard envelope quite a bit and have had few problems thusfar.
Selling low price proof and mint sets is best done in bulk. Put 10 common proof sets in one lot.

10 common proof sets in one lot? Are we talking about the same eBay Standard Envelope where I thought the max weight is 3 oz

@TwoSides2aCoin said:
They’re cheap , but also costly due to the lack of proof of delivery and many users game that very system for free stuff which costs the seller, or always has, thus far. For me.

90% of the time, there is proof of delivery. If not and the buyer makes a claim, I file the insurance claim and have never had one declined. Haven't lost a nickel on these and I've shipped over 3000 of them.