eBay Standard Envelope Category Problems

Liz Morton
Liz Morton


Comments

More fallout from the eBay Fall Update category and item specifics changes - sellers are reporting that eBay Standard Envelope is not available for one of the new postcard categories.

Ebay forgot to enable ebay standard envelope shipping for some of the new postcard categories
Ebay recently migrated postcards to new categories. Ebay standard envelope is working as normal for the Topographical Postcard category. However, they forgot to enable ebay standard envelope for the Non-Topographical Postcard category. If you go to ship an order from the Non-Topographical Post…

Ebay recently migrated postcards to new categories.

Ebay standard envelope is working as normal for the Topographical Postcard category.

However, they forgot to enable ebay standard envelope for the Non-Topographical Postcard category.

If you go to ship an order from the Non-Topographical Postcards category, it says it is not eligible for Ebay standard envelope, even though it fits all the criteria.

The message is "Items in this category and price range are not eligible for eBay standard envelope".

It needs to be enabled for the category ASAP, as people are relying on it to ship their orders with tracking.

Ebay Standard Envelope not working
does anyone have this problem? its very annoying...I sell some vintage postcards from 2 to 3 dollars a piece then charge the .53 cent’s for the envelope shipping, I have the shipping under Ebay Standard Charges for trade cards, Postcards etc.... when i go to print out the shipping label it has my to…
Standard Envelope option greyed out
I use standard envelope to ship all my postcards under $20.00. Have sent many many postcards out no problem. Someone bought this item last night https://www.ebay.com/itm/124943216485 . I use the exact same template I use for all my single postcards. Somehow the standard envelope option is greyed out…

As one seller pointed out, this same issue happened in the trading cards category after the Spring 2021 update - why was eBay not better prepared to avoid the same problem this time?

I'm really disappointed to see the standard envelope shipping label issue that trading cards sellers had in May repeat with the postcard categories this Fall. eBay overlooked that error from the May updates to trading cards and history has repeated.

eBay promised more communication for these updates. The above post is good- but why was it not posted yesterday- or if eBay was closed yesterday then on Friday? And has an e-mail gone out to sellers in affected categories with the info about how long changes will take and things having odd displays during that time? I haven't seen one yet.

I got an e-mail about new item specific requirements Feb 22 and the only thing it said about this week is, "Starting October 12, you’ll be able to add these new item specifics as you list." There was no statement in the message about changes taking 2 days up to a week to populate and to not edit listings during that time. Rather, the message said new IS would be available immediately which seems to encourage sellers to go in and start making changes right away- exactly what affected sellers should not be doing for a week.

I'm so disappointed that one post on this forum put up after changes started is the extent of the "additional guidance" that was promised. No notices in Seller Hub, nothing on the Announcements board and nothing in eBay messages or e-mail except a generic new IS are required by Feb message. There isn't even a post on the eBay for Business FaceBook page- which should be secondary to notices in Seller Hub and eBay messages but should still be included.


In a rare display of transparency and openness to feedback, eBay has left the comments open on the official announcement thread.

Updates are happening to some item specifics and category structures
We’re updating some of our categories and item specifics to make your listings easier to find. Starting October 12th, you’ll see updates to the following categories. Learn more about category changes → Collectibles & Art Jewelry Musical Instruments Parts & Accessories Sporting Goods As these…

If you are being negatively impacted by the update, let them know about it - and of course also leave a comment below. 😉

ShippingeBay

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.

Avatar Placeholder
Bill
Yes. We are all being negatively impacted. My cateogory (postcards) was effectively destroyed making it impossible for buyers to find anything when searching by category.
1

Recent Comments
Avatar Placeholderwhiteholmesteve19 hours ago
likewise wont be selling on e bay
much too complicated now for a few pounds a year in sales
Avatar PlaceholdereCommerce ProYesterday
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 PlaceholderMksowa2 days ago
They need to fix a very broken system full of nasty attitudes. The patrons no longer matter.