Slides of substantial value are shipped in #000 padded mailers between two pieces of comic book board further protected by a piece of cardboard. The extreme price gap between the low cost of mailing a one-ounce eBay Standard Envelope for 63 cents and a two-ounce USPS Ground Advantage package for 6 to 7 times more leaves a huge value gap between the eBay $20 maximum and a reasonable minimum for USPS tracking. In the stamps category I found that an item selling for $20 was eligible while $20.01 was not. I have been printing labels for the occasional stamp selling for $20 or less. The label on the front of a #6 envelope adds unnecessary rigidity. I found that cutting the half-sheet label to the height of the envelope and rapping excess around the ends produced the most flexible result.

What should eBay do?

1. Add categories like color slides.
2. While maintaining $20 insurance, allow sale prices up to $100 into the program to fill the “tracking gap.”
3. Set up print options for #6 or #10 envelopes.

Meanwhile, I will use coupons to buy some of the new envelopes at no cost and hope that eBay sees the light about adding new categories.