A seller learned the hard way about a quirk involving eBay Standard Envelope, which offers proprietary tracking at a low cost for certain lightweight goods.
A buyer selected eBay Standard Envelope on auction they’d won, but the seller couldn’t send the order that way because the selling price was over $20. eBay only allows Standard Envelope to be used on items selling for $20 or less (excluding tax).
The issue is tricky since the seller had listed the item under the $20 limit, but buyers bid the item above that price.
Sellers discussing the issue discovered eBay no longer makes the selling-price limit apparent in its description of the service. It used to provide 10 FAQs on the page describing the eBay Standard Envelope offering, including the following where it described the selling-price limit:
Are there any restrictions on what I can ship through the eBay standard envelope service?
Currently, eBay standard envelope is only supported for specific categories on the site with single order values up to $20 USD or for combined orders up to $50 USD.
Now eBay has only 4 FAQs on the page. The only place to learn about the $20 selling-price limit is buried in a section on the Terms and Conditions area located on a separate page.
eBay published a video on YouTube a month ago describing the service, and while it says it offers up to $20 protection, it doesn’t say it can’t be used on items with a selling price over $20.
The following FAQs used to be displayed on the page describing eBay Standard Envelope:
- How do I get an acceptance scan?
- Why can’t I track eBay standard envelope shipments on the USPS website?
- Am I protected against shipping and delivery issues when using eBay standard envelope (e.g. lost, damage, delays)?
- Why doesn’t eBay standard envelope show up on my USPS scan form?
- eBay standard envelope shipments sometimes don’t show delivery events all the way to the buyer. The shipment tracking seems stalled without a delivery update.
- How do I file a claim on a shipment that was lost or damaged?
- How do I check the status of a claim?
- The buyer filed a claim with PayPal but PayPal can’t validate the tracking information based on my ESUS number. How do I resolve this?
- Is there specific packaging to use when shipping an order through eBay standard envelope?
- Are there any restrictions on what I can ship through the eBay standard envelope service?
Here are the FAQs that are now displayed on the page describing eBay Standard Envelope:
- Why can’t I track eBay standard envelope shipments on the USPS website?
- How do I handle an “Item not received” claim from a buyer?
- How do I file a claim on a shipment that was lost or damaged? How do I check the status of that claim?
- The buyer filed a claim with PayPal but PayPal can’t validate the tracked information. How can I resolve?
Ultimately the seller said they would either stop using eBay Standard Envelope on auction listings or add a handling fee to cover the extra cost of postage in cases where the auction price was bid up higher than the $20 limit.
