eBay Sends Sellers Surprise, Tests USPS On Standard Envelope

One of the longest running complaints eBay has received about its Standard Envelope service has been inconsistent handling by USPS with many envelopes either returned for insufficient postage or delivered postage due.

Now it appears eBay may be spot testing USPS to identify where trouble may be occuring in an effort to improve the process.

Members of sports card enthusiast community Blowout Forums report receiving surprise deliveries from eBay including an empty toploader and/or stickers.

So I opened my mail today and saw I have a eBay standard mailer but didn't remember buying a card recently. They are testing the shipping service. Anyone else get this?

Yes, they are sending test mailings to areas where they are having problems. Some Post Offices are returning envelopes despite fitting the parameters for them

Anytime there's a top loader for an ESE, my post office does postage due for it being too stiff. Glad to see ebay testing things out.

Members of the r/eBay subreddit were also discussing the surprise packages. One poster included an image of the note from eBay which says:

Thank you for using eBay Standard Envelope as one of your shipping services. We're working to improve our eBay Standard Envelope shipping experience and as part of this initiative we are testing the tracking and delivery of different types of mailers.

There is no need to do anything or respond in any way, this is simply a test mailer.

Please enjoy these stickers and thank you for selling on eBay.

Sellers who received the test mailers were mostly impressed with eBay putting in the effort to troubleshoot issue and were hopeful the program may be expanded to additional categories soon.

Looks like we could see eBay standard envelope expanding into more categories including stickers in the near future.

I think it's actually good marketing for those that sell cheap trading cards or sports cards on eBay. You can see how to properly package the card and it's a cheap delivery method with simple tracking. There are a lot of sellers on eBay who still only offer $5 bubble mailer shipping with their less than $20 value cards. Having a less than $1 shipping option is a really big difference. Seller makes a lot more on the sale

eBay needs to expand this service to all categories, there are many other things that can be sold and shipped using this method

I sell stickers I make on etsy using their version of this which includes tracking, it is so much better than just a stamp and hope it makes it. I don't offer them on ebay because the regular first class service costs more than the sticker.

Did you receive a test mailer from eBay? What do you think of eBay Standard Envelope service? Let us know in the comments below!