eBay Category Changes Create Problems With USPS Media Mail

Liz Morton
Liz Morton


Comments

UPDATE: 10-4-21  eBay sellers are reporting receiving notices that Media Mail is being restricted for certain categories that should qualify like books and vinyl records.

Breaking story here:

eBay Places Restrictions on USPS Media Mail
Sellers report receiving emails from eBay about new restrictions on using USPS media mail

It appears somewhere in all the recent changes, eBay may have missed mapping some categories that should qualify to use USPS Media Mail as a shipping method.

Sellers have been dismayed to find items they correctly sold with USPS Media Mail as the shipping option are not able to have a Media Mail label printed through eBay - the option is simply grayed out and the only other options presented to purchase shipping from eBay are more expensive methods like priority mail.

Shipping Media Mail
Ebay is not allowing me to print shipping labels for media mail. I have been selling Sheet Music and books since 2006 and have not had this issue before. Ebay message when I try to print labels is my items are “not eligible to ship media mail” but per USPS sheet music/printed music qualifies as medi…
MEDIA MAIL OUT THE WINDOW???
EBAY SUDDENLY EXCLUDED MEDIA MAIL ON MY STORE, WHICH I SELL MOSTLY MEDIA ITEMS! I’VE CALLED THEM TWICE, EMAILED ONCE, AND CHATTED JUST NOW. EACH AGENT CLAIMS IT’S AN I.T. PROBLEM AND THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHEN IT WILL BE RESOLVED. IN THE MEANTIME I HAVE CUSTOMERS WAITING FOR THEIR PRODUCTS!!! ANYONE …
Unable to Ship a book under USPS Media Mail - Item 194022573008
Hello, The system is not allowing me to change the shipping method from USP to USPS Media Mail to item 194022573008. I need assistance. Thank you
Shipping Dungeons and Dragons Books via Media Mail - Now Not Allowed When Purchasing Shipping???
I’ve been shipping D&D manual, instruction books, and modules via Media Mail for years and have never had an issue with purchasing shipping through eBay. However, on my last two sales, I’ve gotten the alert when trying to buy shipping through eBay that my sale category doesn’t allow MM shipping. I…
Media Mail grayed out
We have sold music books for the last 10 years shipping almost exclusively using Media Mail. Now starting earlier this week Ebay will not let us choose Media mail as an option when shipping. It is grayed out. Is anyone else had this problem?
MEDIA MAIL NOT WORKING
I have sold a book, but eBay will not let me use Media Mail. I have to send either First Class or Priority.
Shipping
I sold a CD on Ebay. I listed it as music with Media Mail for shipping. I have sold many CD’s this way. When I tried to use Ebay Shipping to print the label, it states the BUYER paid for Media Mail but I do not have the option to use this method. It is greyed out. My only option is First class or mo…

eBay community staff acknowledged the issue on July 14th and said

There is a known issue that is causing Media Mail to be grayed out in some valid categories. We're working to resolve this. Thanks!

There has been no further update from eBay on this issue.  For now, affected sellers with items that do qualify for Media Mail will need to purchase shipping labels through PayPal, a third party postage service like PirateShip, or directly from their local Post Office.

Tech IssuesShippingeBay

Liz Morton Twitter Facebook
LinkedIn

Liz Morton is a 17 year ecommerce pro turned indie investigative journalist providing ad-free deep dives on eBay, Amazon, Etsy & more, championing sellers & advocating for corporate accountability.


Recent Comments
Avatar PlaceholdereCommerce Pro4 hours ago
Bonanza (or bMarketplace, or whatever they want to call themselves this week) is FINISHED.

They just "killed the golden goose". I imported my 1500+ eBay items to there since it was free. Turned out just to be a lot of work for (maybe) 3 sales a month.

The total fees were higher there before this new $20 a month cost structure, even though they claimed otherwise. When one factors in the 3.49% + 49 cent PayPal processing fees so one can get paid, there went a good chunk of profit.

Now they have boosted their commission to 11%, and still claim that the cost to sell there is less than eBay's. And remember that this does not include payment processing. WHY?? Makes no sense at all.

On eBay, for $27.95 a month, I sell over 100 items there every 30-31 days. Makes ZERO SENSE to pay a site $20 to make just a couple of sales. Since they now allow 50 "free listings", I have trimmed my offerings back to just below that amount. Also had to raise all my prices accordingly to absorb the extra selling costs.

The people who run the show here obviously didn't realize that eBay sellers who imported their listings gave the site a great depth of product, which would attract more buyers. Now that will be gone, because NO ONE will pay them $20 monthly for little to no sales.

The site also has technical issues that they refuse to fix. It was a decent resource to enable the occasional sale, but they will soon be stacked onto the eCommerce trash heap of companies that THOUGHT they could compete with Amazon and eBay. Etsy may also suffer the same fate soon, as many sellers are also leaving their site due to high fees, website issues, and poor management.

Basic eComm rule here: When you do not carry any inventory, and sellers are solely responsible for supplying your site with the goods offered, DON'T BITE THE HAND WHICH FEEDS YOU!!!
Avatar PlaceholderMksowaYesterday
They need to fix a very broken system full of nasty attitudes. The patrons no longer matter.
Avatar PlaceholderMarty_J2 days ago
Was just checking to see if it would post without creating an account but….
eBay seller since 2022
Just started selling about a year and half ago

800 items sold 99.7 feedback

Recently I went away for family things for 30 days set my acct to be away … got back with items not received cases opened

I wasn’t able to revise existing listings post new listings OR refund the buyer from my eBay funds …

The items were caught up in recent wild fires but ended up being delivered late. I had to beg the buyer to let me pay them off of eBay to close the case because it was on hold and I wasn’t able to refund them from my eBay acct etc…. So luckily they obliged and I did … but ever since then my acct must be strikes as high risk because funds have been on hold 3 days after delivery since then indefinitely might I add… I get the run around everytime etc etc FINALLY I got someone saying it’s temporary it’ll be back to normal etc. these r all reps from escalated departments… one lady told me that with my history and feedback I’ve proved beyond doubt that I’m reliable seller and shouldn’t be on hold she put in for a appeal never heard back got the run around for another few months… they keep telling me I’ve been chosen for the new update they r rolling out total BS … do you believe that sellers will stay on eBay with these holds ? No they will simply go to another platform … they r 100% making money on the holds and use any reasoning to tell you basically no and keep profiting…. The get around is creating a new acct… these cases were closed without eBay having to step in and might I add I lost $$ and its been truly frustrating esp since I’ve built the acct up but I know I can do it again.. when they tell me its going to happen to all accts I just mention how my brother just opened one n now has immediate payments they don’t know what to say I don’t think they really even know.,, its sad n scummy but I see a class action lawsuit coming honestly ! I don’t know💬 if I forgot anything but well written thanks for the information. Have a great one!