USPS and FedEx responded to our inquiries about reports of eBay packages being “seized” due to a policy change. Previously, sellers using eBay’s shipping label program to print FedEx Ground Economy packages (formerly called FedEx SmartPost) could give their packages to either shipping carrier – the labels showed both FedEx and USPS tracking numbers, as they had for many years. But the policy changed in July 2024, with enforcement ramping up through 2025.
As we reported last month, some sellers continued to place their packages into the postal stream even though it ran counter to the new policy that required FedEx Ground Economy packages to be handed off to FedEx only. Some sellers said postal carriers continued to pick up their dual-label packages, others said the Postal Service accepted them at their local post offices.
But once the FedEx Ground Economy dual-label packages entered the USPS stream from shippers instead of FedEx, sellers ended up in a vicious circle, with USPS refusing to return, forward, or release the packages because they hadn’t been paid; and FedEx and eBay claims also proving unfruitful.
