Ebay accidentally announced their plans for a 75 cent shipping option for (what they call) “raw” cards. There are a lot of stipulations here but I am excited because its going to open up a whole new market. I am unsure how they’re doing this and when it is going to happen, but I’ve includes some screenshots from the seller center landing page.

• Saves up to 66% vs. USPS^® First Class Package Service
• Currently only available for select trading card categories
• Easy to print using eBay Labels
• Integrated tracking and shipping protection meets requirement for Top Rated Seller eligibility
• Drop off at regular USPS locations

The size and weight requirements are

• No smaller than 3.5” x 5”
• No larger than 6.125” x 11.5”
• No thicker than .25”
• Weighs up to 3 oz

And I would love to see this opened up to all different kinds of ephemera. It would make selling paper goods a far more lucrative hobby, although the following restrictions make it a bit difficult to scale up the same way traditional package shipping allows:

• Total trading card value less than $20
• Ship no more than 4 raw trading cards per envelope (or 2 trading cards with top loaders)
• No graded trading cards

So, as you can see, this isn’t some bold new horizon for shipping, but eBay making a serious effort to control and grow its card market.

How Can I Use This To Make Money?

I think that we are going to see A LOT of auctions that start at $.99 w/$0.75 shipping option and we are going to see a lot of transactions stay below $5 per card. From a top-level view, this probably isn’t in eBay’s best interest, as they have always been trying to increase the average sale price, but I am pleased to see something that seems more customer-centric model (sellers being eBay’s customers) that will allow people who have less starting inventory/capital to learn the basics of running an online business. I wasn’t able to see when these go into effect, but hopefully before the Christmas rush.

In case you were wondering, it usually costs between $3-$3.30 to ship a trading card with first class package mail via USPS, so the savings are huge.