Rates, Remedies and R2-D2 Await at eBay Live!

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Workshops on ways eBay entrepreneurs can use the new rate structure to their advantage and how improvements are making shipping easier highlight this year’s eBay Live! conference for the U.S. Postal Service.

Conference attendees also can stop by the Postal Service booth and get their picture taken with R2-D2 - or at least a collection box outfitted to look like the famous sidekick in the Star Wars movie saga.

eBay Live!, the annual gathering of the eBay community, exhibitors, guest speakers and employees, is set for June 14 to 16 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The event is expected to draw thousands of eBay members from around the world. Attendees will network, discover new strategies and share new solutions to more effectively buy and sell on eBay.

Workshops to explain the rate structure that began last month are planned for all three conference days. Changes to domestic rates and international mail took effect last month. The Postal Service simplified its eight main international products into four: Global Express Guaranteed, Express Mail International, Priority Mail International and First-Class Mail International. New packaging will allow mailers to use the same Priority Mail and Express Mail packaging for shipping within the United States and to other countries.

And shipping domestically or internationally also has gotten easier for eBay sellers. The PayPal MultiOrder Shipping Solution now lets customers manage all eBay and PayPal shipments in one place, print multiple Postal Service domestic shipping labels with one click, and link shipments to the newly launched Shipment Confirmation Acceptance Notice (SCAN). SCAN forms contain Intelligent Mail barcodes that hold information on all shipping labels and packages in the same shipment.

“The Postal Service offers the most shipping options on eBay including domestic shipping labels, free packaging supplies and more delivery days,” said Anita Bizzotto, chief marketing officer and executive vice president. “And the Postal Service reaches nearly every address in the world.”

Improvements also now allow customers to import shipping information for eBay and PayPal transactions, create shipping presets to ship similar items using the same service type, track packages in the shipping history section, and combine multiple items to be shipped together in one package.

Conference attendees visiting the Postal Service booth at eBay Live! will be able to have their picture taken with a R2-D2 collection box and pickup a special gift - a collectible cancellation envelope commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Star Wars saga. The commemorative stamps feature images from all six movies in the Star Wars saga: Luke Skywalker; Han Solo and Chewbacca; Princess Leia Organa with R2-D2; C-3PO; Yoda; Queen Padmé Amidala; Obi-Wan Kenobi as seen in Episodes IV through VI; Anakin Skywalker battling Obi-Wan Kenobi; Darth Vader; Emperor Palpatine; Darth Maul; Imperial Stormtroopers; Boba Fett; the Millennium Falcon; and an X-wing fighter.

More than 400 blue collection boxes were transformed into R2-D2 look-alikes to help celebrate the stamp set. The working collection boxes also have been sent to military installations around the world, including Japan, Germany and Spain.



An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to cover its operating expenses. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $73 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.