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

I always use ebay address labels - never had anyone request stamps or complain about not having stamps. On this thread topic, I would love to see an in-between tracked shipping option for paper items like stamps. If there is a value limit or you can't get insurance that would reduce the benefit, but I'm all for it. For those who suspect that envelope sized tracking might miss a lot of scans - agreed, but as Rog pointed out scans are already terrible.

Back to my original thought as posted above this is for lower priced items. There is too much cheating going on for items selling for under $12.00 where it is not profitable to pay $3.00 for tracking ,this new rate will help cut down on this "never received "

Last year we had 20 items lost in the mail ....18 were lost to people who had less than 20 feedbacks on ebay....It is these people who have found the weak link to ripe off ebay sellers
I welcome a .50 or $1.00 tracking system.I would not use it on a $50.00 purchase.

It was my understanding that the recently-instituted USPS (and other services) practice of not getting actual signatures from actual recipients is a COVID-related contact-free safety measure. In my delivery area the postal carrier always rings or knocks when leaving a signature item.

The USPS still obtains signatures. You can sign for most items online however utilizing Informed Delivery (ID). I signed for two letters this week via ID. Nobody is going to release a high value parcel that demands a signature without getting that signature because that would be asking for a potential insurance claim or worse. It also releases the carrier in large part for damage claims such as "the envelope was bent in half" or "my flat was soaking wet with a grande latte" etc..

Since this Covid mess, neither USPS, Fed Ex or UPS has asked for a signature upon delivery here. Talking about very high $$$ shipments. Pre-Covid they always had us sign. Not once this year though. They place it on the steps, mark it delivered and leave. Sometimes ringing the doorbell but usually not.

To echo Floortrader, most claims of INR I get are the low feedback buyers with low value lots. Low being under $20-$25. Not trashing new collectors/new ebayers because the majority have been fantastic when asking where something is and they get the usual rundown on delays. There are those few though who accept no reasoning and prefer free any way they can get it.

Need to see exactly how ebay implements it and such but I'd use it in a heartbeat for anything under $20-$30.

My experience mirrors that of Inkmanno1. I use Informed Delivery to keep track of when an item has been delivered (=left in mailbox or on doorstep), but over the last several months nothing has been withheld for lack of a signature (value up to several hundred $$). I have not had one of those pink "attempted delivery" slips left in over a year.

I'm more than a little stunned that ebay would even be looking into this. Since they take their cut as a percentage of S&H (in addition to their cut of the FVF), it seems this would cause a hit to their bottom line if implemented.

Based upon other comments regarding signatures it is clear that the USPS has no uniformity of policy. The USPS has not formally suspended signature requirements.

May I ask if you would be OK with shipping off a $2000 stamp to somebody you do not know but they purchased it and the signature that you paid to get is ignored?

What would COVID possibly have to do with leaving a pink slip of paper with the other mail in your box and picking up that signed pink slip of paper the next day in exchange for your item?

Am I missing something here?

It is a bit different in Australia. Tracking a parcel is $2.95au. So a 500g box cost $2.95 tracking + (set price) stamps $8.95 = $11.90. Same parcel express post $11.95 it comes with tracking, $100 lost item cover as well.

Auspost matched that tracking cost for express post.

Now the interesting bit. Express post has become so popular it now takes longer for express post to get to you than a standard parcel post.

But you can not get tracking on an envelop in Australia still.

Does ebay still allow you to block bidders below a certain feedback level?

Yeah those below zero, which is useless!

ebay has formally announced its "standard envelope" program - https://pages.ebay.com/ebaystandardenvelope/

It'll be a game changer for the sellers of less expensive, small items, though unfortunately and as expected you cannot pay for it with postage stamps. The charge is actually slightly LESS than first class mail (though more than actual cost if you are using discount postage, of course).

Launching with trading cards but they plan to expand to other categories. Right now it only works up to $20 shipments so there's still a gap (at least for me) since I don't use postal tracking for items until I hit $50 but perhaps those price limits will expand as ebay and USPS builds on the experience.

"The charge is actually slightly LESS than first class mail (though more than actual cost if you are using discount postage, of course)."

But you get tracking and it is way cheaper than what it costs using discount postage to pay for a service that gets tracking.

I hope they roll this out to more categories. It would be great for stamps and covers.