General Forum

I sell both on Sportlots and eBay and have noticed an uptick in customer's complaint about receiving cards that are bent. When I mail them, there are in a penny sleeve which is put into a hard card holder. I do tape the card holder to a packing slip to keep it from moving within the envelope. These complaints are coming from those that pay budget shipping but have ordered a card in the $5-10 range. Even had a complaint on a printing plate which I know would have been hard to bend. Both Sportlots and eBay favor the buyer over the seller so even though I put the blame on the post office, I have to make refunds. All of my cards go out with a "DON"T BEND" stamp on both sides of the evelope. Are any of the other sellers here experiencing the same as myself. I've even received a complaint of non-delivery. Ebay has the new tracking for sports cards and it showed I shipped it, but it was never delivered. I had to eat $10.00 on that one. Almost to the point that I'm losing money due to the post office. Any suggestions on how to keep this from happening with the weight allowed for a 1st class stamp in a plain envelope? 

I've only sold a handful of cards on eBay that shipped via their Standard Envelope service.  I've done it the same way you have, by putting the card in a penny sleeve and then a top loader and taping the top.  Never had any problems.  The eBay policies do favor the buyers, and I have had to eat certain sales, but mine are typically not very high dollar so I chalk it up to the cost of doing business.  But I am getting more and more frustrated by it and hae questioned whether I should continue to sell there.

The ebay budget shipping for cards is extremely flawed from what I've seen. I see sellers saying it never gets marked delivered and then I routinely get them marked as "delivered" and then they show up a day or two later which scares me because if it gets lost in those 2 days then I'm screwed because the seller can say it was delivered. This is why I prefer trading. 

I just had a MEM card get bent in the mail. I shipped it in a top loader wrapped in the packing slip inside of a white envelope. I've done this numerous times with no issues reported. I refunded the buyer. I also just had another bidder say that they have had numerous cards get delivered lately that were damaged. Just to be safe, I've decided to now ship MEM only in bubble mailers. I may get less bids with the added shipping cost, but at least both sides will have a bit more piece of mind.   

BigDog13  - I am about at that point. I know what I am sending out is not bent. I list all of my cards as in "good" condition as I am not a grading expect. Almost to the point of pulling all of my cards off of Ebay. More of a problem on eBay then Sportlots. 

For the non-delivery with eBay Standard Envelope, be sure to file a claim. I have had only a single non-delivery claim out of hundreds, I filed a claim and received my money back.

See the FAQ at the bottom of this page.

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/shipping/ebay-standard-envelope.html

With shipping protection up to $20, this is my new preferred way to ship cards in that price range.

I haven't sold, on Ebay, but have had multiple issues on stuff I have bought, generally with the budget shipping.  I had one show up as delivered by the PO when the tracking showed the package in another state.  I have had the same issue where it shows as delivered, but doesn't show up for days.  Had one that looked like a car ran over it many times (the cards were good in that case, but I was worried.)  Had another where 2/3 of the label showed up with no envelope.  Fortunately. I used "Informed Delivery" which scans each piece of mail before delivery.  

Thanks for pointing this out. I now have several claims to make with eBay!!

Hello. In short, I've sold some cards in the past (way long ago) and I had a similar even back then. Trading and selling, buying on here seems to be much better. (Nickel now), sleeve and in a top loader, PWE, with a First Class stamp (should cover at a couple of ounces, by my experiences) is how I do it.  If one sends out an envelope with "non-machinable" the post goes way up, but at least the instructions MIGHT be followed by USPS. Good luck all & happy collecting!

From what I know is "Do Not Bend" has zero meaning with the postal service. If you are going to do anything with the postal service and only want hands touching it (not going through the machine) you ahve to put "Non-Machinable". I hope everything goes to helping both sides not just one!