Shipping a sticker (letter envelope) without tracking and getting paid?

[thispermanent]

I want to sell and ship a small flat sticker, but the problem is that letter mail doesn't have a tracking number, and I'm under the impression that ebay won't initiate my seller payment into my account without a shipping number that indicates the shipping status.

Is there a way to ship something in a letter, without a tracking number, and still get paid and have no issues with ebay? 

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

You can ship a letter regular parcel or expedited. Or, you can send it registered mail. Regular parcel or Expedited would be preferable if it is international.

If your question is, is there a cheap way to get tracking, the answer is no. It will cost you an additional 10-15 dollars compared to lettermail.

Unless something has changed recently with newer sellers, you can send untracked and still get paid by eBay. Depending on the age and experience of your account, your payment might be put on hold for a long time. You still can get paid. All you do is mark the item as shipped manually without adding in a tracking number. 

Additionally, since there is no proof of delivery via tracking, you are responsible for refunding the buyer if they claim the item didn't arrive. While this is extremely rare in most categories that aren't high risk, it is a consideration if you are sending an item that is very expensive. A lot of sellers use lettermail, and face minimal issues with this.

[ypdc_dennis]

You go to the purchase, click on the dropdown menu and select "mark shipped"

https://www.ebay.ca/sh/ord?filter=status%3AALL_ORDERS

The dropdown menu arrow will probably be next to "Purchase shipping label"  (ebay only shows one item from the menu, making it hard to realise there is a dropdown menu that can be used).

-;-

[femmefan1946]

It's a question of risk.

Is the sticker valued at $100? $1000? $1.00?

How much did it cost you? Including eBay fees?

How easy would it be to replace? Do you have dozens of them?

If you have an irreplaceable sticker that would cost you $100 to replace, send it Parcel Rate with tracking.

If it can be purchased for a dime and you have a dozen of them in stock, send it LetterRate without tracking.

Most people are honest.

Advice about tracking "everything" comes mostly from our American neighbours .

Who not only have very cheap tracking available through USPS (less than a quarter purchased online), but are also paranoid.

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/06/22/the-demographics-of-gun-ownership/

[pjcdn2005]

Since you don't sell that often your payment will be held but you will still receive the money.  Without tracking it will probably take a little longer to receive it but I'm not sure how long that will be.  

[ricarmic]

I think I saw it said somewhere here on an earlier question a few weeks ago that without tracking and no feedback it takes 30 days for the funds to be released, but that is just my recollection, perhaps not correct.

[thispermanent]

Thanks for the info everyone.

Just to confirm, the sticker isn't a high value item, worth only around $15. I'm not so worried about it going missing or anything, I'm more concerned about being paid by ebay, because I was under the assumption that the payout to the seller is only initiated once the item has shipped with a tracking number? 

[recped]

Your impression is wrong, I ship lots of non-tracked items (within Canada specifically). While "new" (actually new or not a regular seller) can be subject to payment holds they would have the same payment holds on tracked shipments as they would with untracked shipments.

In the distant past the hold used to be "until tracking showes delivery or 21 days, whichever comes first". I seem to recall that this changed a couple of years ago and holds are for a set period regardless of delivery being confirmed or feedback left (I'm not sure about this because I haven't been subject to holds since I opened a new selling ID and that was almoist 10 years ago.

If you sales are currently not being held (I see you have a few sales in the past year) then shipping without tracking won't change that at all.

Bottom line, tracking or no tracking you will still get paid but the wait might be a bit longer and once you are past the intitial period there are no holds at all.

[thispermanent]

Ok, thanks for clarifying. I wasn't aware of this. So it's good to know that I'll be paid regardless of tracking.