Shipping postcards and photos

[antiquesincanada]

Hi everyone,

I have recently started selling postcards on eBay.ca.

I used special self sealing rigid mailers and acid-free sleeves when I ship.  These mailers can be sent via regular post (with a stamp) for usually about CAD$1.00.  

The issue I'm facing is that despite the lower cost available to ship these postcards to my customers, I'm having to provide tracking to eBay.  It appears that in order to maintain Top Rated status, I have to always provide tracking and that comes at a cost of CAD$10.50 in Canada and CAD$13.33 to most of the USA.

For a $5.00 postcard, paying an additional $10.50 to $15.00 to add tracking seems really unfair to my customers and hurts my potential sales as well.

Can anyone help?  I would be so grateful!

Andy 🙂

[pjcdn2005 · Accepted solution]

You are not required to use tracking for Global trs however you do have to reach the required number of  sales/$value (100 items/C$1000) to buyers in 'global' countries'.  The buyers that do not count towards that total are ones in the US, UK and Ireland. It also didn't include buyers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (or something like that) but I don't see those countries listed now so I'm not sure if they are included or not.  If you reach global trs you will have a badge on your listings on .ca and receive a 10% fvf discount on ALL sales.

The US system is set up differently.  Unless they've changed something in the last couple of months, Canadians actually don't need to use tracking to achieve US trs status but trs status alone doesn't give you the badge on .com or a discount.  The information on the site about this isn't totally correct so you'll have to trust me on that.  The badge on the .com site is the trs plus badge and to receive that on your listings, they do need to meet the requirements which include uploading tracking within your handling time and 30 day free returns for domestic (US) buyers.

If you can manage to meet the trs requirements for global then you'll get the discount on all of your sales regardless of where the buyer is located.  In your situation, I wouldn't worry about getting the trs plus badge on .com because as you said, you will really limit your sales on the items that can be sent lettermail plus, if you had any returns from the US, you would have to pay for returns with tracking.

[pjcdn2005]

I've been meaning to post and ask the ebay reps about the incorrect info on the .ca pages regarding US trs  but can't do that right now...perhaps later tonight. I'll be more specific then.

[reallynicestamps]

It appears that in order to maintain Top Rated status, I have to always provide tracking and that comes at a cost

If that were true, and pjcdn shows why it is not, it would not be cost-effective to gain TRS status.

The only real effect of TRS in my opinion is the 10% discount on selling fees. There may be a few other tiny bonuses.

And it's doubtful that buyers notice the badge anyway, since many happily buy from sellers with 95% or lower FB ratings and/or hundreds of neg FB.

You will, in my opinion, do better offering Free Shipping than having a badge.

DON'T PANIC!

Free Shipping just means that you include your cost of shipping in your asking price.

Which is cheaper ?

A $5 card with $5 dollar shipping?

 Or an $10 dollar card with Free Shipping?

Buyers loooooooove Free Shipping. If they stop to think, they would realize that both prices are the same, but we all have a soft spot in our brains for a bargain, no matter how specious.

Then when you make a multiple card sale, you can use the extra money to upgrade to a tracked service, or refund some of the excess postage, or put it in your piggy bank.

BTW, have you heard the Good News about Cookie Jar Insurance?

[silverpinups]

Tracking is the only Seller Protection you will have..... It protects you from any "item not received" claim (INR) with eBay or PayPal.

Only you can decide whether a package (in terms of $$) warrants a Tracking Number or not.

[marnotom!]

"Tracking is the only Seller Protection you will have..... It protects you from any 'item not received' claim (INR) with eBay or PayPal."

I think you mean "any fraudulent INR claim". Sellers don't prevail in legitimate claims, even with tracking.

Which is why cookie jar insurance is the better way to go.

[silverpinups]

I think you mean "any fraudulent INR claim". Sellers don't prevail in legitimate claims, even with tracking.

No, I mean legitimate claims.... PayPal covered the cost of a Visa chargeback from a customer who purchased an item from me because tracking showed the item as delivered.

If there is "proof of delivery" via tracking, eBay and PayPal will side with the seller. 

A Tracking Number will not protect you from a "item not as described" claim with eBay or PayPal. 

[femmefan1946]

Do you mean the buyer filed a chargeback on a late delivery, and PP covered it because the item was eventually delivered?

Because if the item were delivered and the buyer filed the claim, it would be fraudulent.

If the buyer files a claim and the item has not been delivered (whether the seller can prove it or not) the claim is legitimate.

Sometimes the buyer is right.

[antiquesincanada]

Thank you - I appreciate your help! 🙂

Under "Late Shipment Rate"  in Seller Dashboard, it says I have to be at 95% or better and the following: "If you ship on time and upload validated tracking or your buyers tell us the shipment was on time when they leave feedback, you're all set."

Since maybe half of buyers actually leave feedback, doesn't this mean that I could lose my Top Rated Seller status?

[antiquesincanada]

Thank you for asking! No, what I'm asking about is sending postcards and photos to buyers using regular mail instead of registered mail at a cost in Canada of $10.50. Registered mail has tracking and regular post does not. I'm worried that if I send by regular post with no tracking that I could lose my Top Rated Status for not providing tracking and also open myself up to someone claiming they didn't receive a mailed item, when in fact they did.

[antiquesincanada]

Thank you so much!  What do you mean by cookie jar insurance?  

[femmefan1946]

using regular mail instead of registered mail at a cost in Canada of $10.50. Registered mail has tracking

Registered Mail is a specific service. It costs $17.50 plus the normal postage and is only tracked domestically. EBay and Paypal do not accept Registered Mail as being Confirmed Delivery.

This is a relatively recent development but affects all postal systems which are members of the Universal Postal Union.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

Tracked Packet for the USA is the cheapest tracked service. Small Packet is cheaper but is not tracked.

Domestically, Regular Parcel is tracked as is Expedited, and we usually get a better rate on Expedited when buying labels through SnapShip or Shippo.

if I send by regular post with no tracking that I could lose my Top Rated Status for not providing tracking

I find TRS confusing, but basically the badges are meaningless and buyers never notice them. The 10% discount on some fees is useful.

But Canadians have Global TRS and that is more flexible than the TRS for US-based sellers.

I'll leave it to someone more competent to explain it. @pjcdn ?

open myself up to someone claiming they didn't receive a mailed item,

This is where Cookie Jar Insurance comes in.

The premise is that by using the cheaper, non-tracked services, we save ourselves money.

Most people are honest and Disputes (deserved or not ) are few.

So use cheap shipping, get more sales, and set aside a tiny portion of the payments just in case you have a problem.

If you are paying 50cents for your cards , each sale costs you that 50 cents (plus the listing fees -between zero and 30 cents and plus your time and plus the original postage and packaging costs).

If you sell for $10 including tracking, a Dispute doesn't cost you $10, it only costs you those costs. Maybe $5??

Meanwhile you sold 100 other cards successfully and made a comfortable profit on them.

It's big picture over micromanagement.

And don't worry about whether the dispute is warranted or not. The scammer has to live with being a thief not you. And sometimes it was you who made the error. It can happen.

[femmefan1946]

Since maybe half of buyers actually leave feedback'

Feedback is meaningless and is not used by eBay to assess accounts.

What they have taken to doing is asking those few who do leave FB if the item arrived on time.

Which is as stupid as paying attention to FB.

Historically, only about 40% of transactions got any FB at all.

EBay wants to know about late shipping, and is getting information about late deliveries.

Cookie Jar Insurance is just self-insurance. You earmark a tiny amount of any money you receive to cover possible future problems.

The amount will vary with the customer demographic. 'If I were selling designer sneakers or  iPhones, the Cookie Jar premium would be substantial.

As a seller of books and sewing patterns, it is miniscule.

[pjcdn2005]

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@antiquesincanada wrote:

Thank you - I appreciate your help! 🙂

Under "Late Shipment Rate"  in Seller Dashboard, it says I have to be at 95% or better and the following: "If you ship on time and upload validated tracking or your buyers tell us the shipment was on time when they leave feedback, you're all set."

Since maybe half of buyers actually leave feedback, doesn't this mean that I could lose my Top Rated Seller status?

---

Anything is possible but I'm not aware of any Canadians who have lost global trs because they don't use tracking.  You don't get a late shipment unless there is evidence that it was late.

You get a late shipment mark when:
Your tracking shows that your item was not scanned by the post office or other carrier within your handling time and it was scanned as delivered AFTER the estimated delivery date given by ebay.

Or

If there is no tracking and the buyer leaves feedback and answers no...the item did not arrive for a specific date.

If there is no tracking, if the buyer doesn't leave feedback or if the buyer leaves feedback but doesn't answer the question about the package's arrival date, that item does not count as late or on time.  If there is tracking and the item is scanned within your handling time and/or delivered within ebay's eta, it counts as on time.

As a trs you can't have more than 5% AND more than 5 late shipments.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@antiquesincanada wrote:
Under "Late Shipment Rate"  in Seller Dashboard, it says I have to be at 95% or better and the following: "If you ship on time and upload validated tracking or your buyers tell us the shipment was on time when they leave feedback, you're all set."

Since maybe half of buyers actually leave feedback, doesn't this mean that I could lose my Top Rated Seller status?

---

No.

For the late to ship metric ebay looks at (a) tracking, (b) feedback for reports of late arrival for problems. If ebay has no report of a ship problem they assume it was shipped on time.

In other words they only count negatives.

...

I use oversize lettermail most of the time and have never lost TRS because of late shipping.

Lack of sales will be what kills my TRS (now that Global excludes the USA when counting).

-..-

[kawartha-ephemera]

I wouldn't worry about buyers leaving late shipment feedback on postcard sales shipped via regular lettermail. My experience has been postcard buyers are a patient and easy going group.

[antiquesincanada]

Thank you! So far most of them have been super awesome nice people! 🙂