Might Turn Out To Be Good News Re Ebay And Stamp Sales

I saw a notice that ebay is launching a beta test of a new low cost tracked 1st class package. 50-91 cents depending on weight. They're testing it with trading cards valued less than 20 bucks starting in January, hopefully they'll expand it to stamps. It would make sense to.

Sounds like a good idea but I am a bit confused. Tracking is one thing, but is not getting a signature the real verification that the buyer actually received the item? Tracking is automated and does not carry much time/cost, the processing equipment does much of it. The real time suck/cost is sending a person to the house, waiting for a person to come to the door, and getting the signature. I do not see how this could be done for under $1, as long as a buyer can claim they did not receive the item it seems to me that 'did not receive' door is still wide open.
Don

I electronically sign for my mail that requires it through Informed Delivery.

Been watching and looking for more new and info on this project and have seen squat since they announced it. This would be great for sellers and would save a ton of money vs First Class Package if ya send a lot via that route.

Regarding a signature, ebay's delivery is met with a simple scanned delivery. No signature required so far except for those requiring one (in a pre-covid world).

I'd be very happy with the less expensive tracking. Signature, as a buyer, is a royal pain, as my mail delivery folks won't wait 5 seconds at the door for a signature, so I end up having to drive to PO for the mail. I also find those requiring signature get lost more than just regular mail, so....tracking is great though and provides confidence that item is 'on the way' and 'making progress' towards the intended target.

Although, "left on porch" isn't as reassuring. I just got a "Delivered" notice from ebay, this package to Apt D101. Hope he's home!

This will be great, but what are the chances you will be able to use stamps for this instead of purchasing postage through ebay's postal system?

In sports cards they call this 'PWE' (Plain White Envelope) when you just put card in toploader in an envelope with $0.55 stamp (no tracking). The next level of shipping is bubble mailer (First Class) with tracking which is $3.80 I think...something between those two levels is really needed. I buy a lot of PWE cards and a certain percentage of them never arrive. (maybe 5%-10%)

This would be great for ebay sellers . Tracking would be at the point that it was accepted by the P.O. and confirm delivery to address . It is confirm delivery to the mailbox . It wouldn't be hard for the P.O. to say once delivered to your box ,at that point it is your problem not the seller or P.O. problem ,it is yours at that point .

this is needed because of all the low price cheating going on . There is a lot of it going around that the item is "not received".

This would be a significant development but I have my doubts. The postal service has been pretty picky in the past about the size and shape of tracked items (which must be packages - over 1/4 inch think, or larger size, etc.). I have suspicions that there would be a very high percentage of missed scans if the items were letter mail sized. I also suspect the service would not be payable in postage stamps, which would be a shame for those of us who sell stamps (I use thousands of current commemoratives a year).

Having tracking at low cost would, however, be a great boon in terms of customer expectations, protection against not received claims, and the ability for stamp/cover sellers to have "top rated" seller status.

No, it is a confirmed delivery to A mailbox.

For whatever reason(s) some sellers seem to want to resist being responsible for the actual delivery of what they sell. They appear to think that once they hand a shipment over to a delivery service their responsibility has ended.

I owned a retail store for years and years, I owned an engineering and manufacturing company for years and years; sellers are responsible for the safe and secure delivery of the items they sell.

Why? Because they are typically the ones who decide how it gets shipped, how it is packed, and which delivery service/company they use. The seller pays the shipping bills, has the shipping autonomy, has the 'pull' with the shipping company.

Imagine you own a big manufacturing plant and order 10,000 widgets. You expect the seller to deliver it to your dock no later than Friday. But the trucking company the seller used screws up and instead delivers your order to a company on a different street and you miss your Friday deadline. What kind of seller would say, 'not my problem, sucks to be you...it is the trucking company issue not mine'?

Sellers are responsible for proper delivery of the items they sell.
Don

one risk is if they make it "only" cost 20-91c they will make it mandatory

This holiday season has proven just what a panacea tracking is NOT. I had items never scanned at all and show up eventually, items never scanned and never show up, items scanned all over the country for weeks and show up eventually, items scanned as delivered and not show up, ever, and my favorite being items delivered but never scanned as delivered (more than one as a matter of fact)

This Christmas season, I bought a bunch of gifts through Amazon. Like an idiot, I wanted them delivered to me, so I could wrap them the 'mootermutt' way, and ship them out to the various recipients. Many things for sale on Amazon won't deliver to a PO Box, so I had to ship them to my street address. I live in a condo community of 135 units, with about 4 paint schemes total, so my front door looks exactly like 30-ish other front doors (Street #'s are prominently posted at the street, on the attached garage, so anyone with a couple of active neurons can deliver properly). But that's the problem. Delivery people lately (at least in the Seattle area) generally do NOT wait for a signature. They actually do not even ring the bell or knock --- they put the package by the front door, take a photo, and run. Their 'proof' of delivery is an online photo of SOMEONE'S front door with a package in front of it. MIGHT be my front door (SHOULD BE my front door), but if the package isn't out there when I look, I have about 30 other front doors to check. Technically, I suppose this is tracking - they ARE tracking it while in their possession, and showing 'proof' of delivery (to somewhere) - they just see their responsibility as being to a front door and not into the hands of the addressee. Somehow that is supposed to be adequate from our POV. This is a crappy system which they are trying to force down our throats. I suspect this scenario is what the new/cheap tracking would be. For the minimal cost, it may very well not include a photo.

***IF*** there is an advantage to this service, it is that we can get an idea of when to expect an item to deliver - if it all goes as it should. To me, the idea of tracking is to know where something has gone when things DON'T go as they should.

[/rant]

PS: In 25 years of using AuctionWeb/eBay, I have been the 'victim' of one lost untracked normal-sized envelope, out of 100's/1000's. A single cheap stamp/set easily fits into a regular sized envelope between some thin cardboard (like a cut-to-size corner of a Priority Mail envelope). Then again, I am honest and never claimed that I didn't get something when I did.

I have a PO Box. I have packages sent by UPS, FedX, DHL, Amazon, ebay, license plates and even letters(if necessary) using the Post Office address as my physical address along with my PO Box number.

https://postalpro.usps.com/storages...greement.pdf

I have shared this before but it seems to be very appropriate to this discussion:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-m...ns-packages/

A lot of buyers want stamps to be used for shipping. It's my #1 request when they send payment. I expect stamp sellers who don't to expect some blowback.