Fast shipping vs tracking upload

Ebay's propensity for simplistic solutions with negative side effects continues.

I'm a fast shipper, and have no problem with Ebay leaning on sellers to ship within one day. Further, I'm a long time supporter of moving in the direction of observed facts vs buyer opinion ratings as a way for Ebay to define its relationship with its sellers.

However, the mechanism of leaning Ebay has selected is "tracking must be uploaded within 1 day", as if that were the same as shipping within one day.

What this mechanism does is to kill off TRS for good sellers who ship by First Class Letter. Generally, this includes low cost items which are under 1/4" thick.  Paper collectibles and small batteries are prime examples.  First class letter costs 45c, but has no tracking available. The cheapest shipping with tracking costs $1.64, and that's using Ebay shipping.  No way to sell 99c item with 50c shipping.  Yes, one can build a business model that way, although it's quite a bit more common for $1.99 items with 50c shipping. 

It also throws a wrench into combined shipping, when buyer pays and buyer requests a shipping delay. It's counter-intuitive that paying quickly causes sellers problems.

Solution 1: slow shipping strike immunity on any item with under $1 shipping. Yeah, that will allow some slow shippers to slip through, to be rated by buyers.

Solution 2: Create a status for any paid item, "shipping delayed by buyer request", which will delay the start of the slow shipping calculation.  Seller can select this status rather than ship. Abuse is prevented by threat of negative buyer reaction, since buyer can see it too, and it would be fine if buyer were to be notified of the status by email including an explanation by seller.

Downside of the status quo:

The low end is completely chopped off. Is that what Ebay really wants?  I don't think so.