Ebay/Parcel post shipping/Heads up

[oldjd]

Since the post office changed some of their services=parcel post to parcel select.I have had problems with Ebay shipping choices after the sale.

When choosing what shipping services you will offer in your ad,the parcel post /parcel,priority select option,if the buyer makes the parcel post/select as their choice,when you go to print the label,that choice is not available

So,you have to go priority,which costs more

Called Ebay,and they are aware of the problem,but did not know why .....but they are working on it

 

So,as a public service,what I did is go directly to the USPS web site and get the parcel service and pay thru Paypal,and then go ahead and print your ship label.

I do not like having to go in to the post office,because if it is a "box" type package ,you have to go thru all this 60 questions routine.Is it an explosive,drugs,body parts etc etc....

Print the labels,go to PO,leave at loading dock,and done.

BTW,the guy at the PO did tell me that the Parcel Post/Parcel select is the same thing only costing more

[Albert]

Yeah, the pricing for all package services has been going up steadily over the years, at a pretty fast rate. International Shipping saw HUGE increases (upwards of 100% in some cases!) a month ago. I saw something recently that while letter mail has been dropping quickly, the number of packages being shipped has been on the rise. Ahh, here is is, where they talk about going to a five-day delivery schedule for letter mail:

 

http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/five-day-delivery/ataglance.htm

 

So, it doesn't say that the number of packages has increased, just that their package REVENUE has increased 14% since 2010. Of course, as they continue to push rate hikes, people will A) ship less and B) ship with other carriers, so this can only continue so long.

 

I'm amazed that eBay doesn't have a solution for this issue. Everyone who runs a shopping cart of some sort has had to resolve this issue. I had to patch my store as well, mostly just because the USPS changed the names of services in their API, and every time they do this they break every damn store on the planet. And good luck trying to find documentation of their changes before they actually update their servers--usually everyone is in a reactive mode. Gotta' love the USPS. But there's simply NO EXCUSE for an entity on the scale of eBay to not be on top of this issue IMMEDIATELY. I just shake my head in disgust.

 

..Al

[akator]

On top of it all, the "calculated shipping" is wrong. I've plugged in the exact weight and eBay charges only 60-70% of actual shipping cost

[Albert]

On top of it all, the "calculated shipping" is wrong. I've plugged in the exact weight and eBay charges only 60-70% of actual shipping cost

 

Great, that's good to know, since I'm using that to calculate international shipping costs for my auctions. I haven't been burned yet, though, so perhaps those are correct. I'm using flat rates for domestic shipping.

 

..Al

[+wood_jl]

Ebay has little-to-no motivation to fix this. They send sellers emails telling them stuff like "today's buyers expect free shipping" etc. Why? They're just after their final value fees. Whether you offer free shipping (nothing's really free, so it's in your price) or not, you're going to pay final value fees the same anyway. "Free" shipping entices buyers, which generates more sales and final value fees. Since they're getting their final value fees, what do they care? If they have a single staff member worth his salt, they could fix this in a matter of minutes. Yet they don't.

[video game addict]

I didn't think you could use parcel on USPS site either? I had a few auctions set up with priority & parcel, and then ran into the same problem when I went to ship. I upgraded a few and for one I paid at the post office. I believe I read it should be back up in March sometime so until its back I removed parcel as an option in all of my listings. I have been fortunate enough though, I found a general store nearby that runs a full service post office inside. There is hardly ever any wait and parking is right near the doors. It's so great not having to deal with lines or feeling awkward cutting to the front counter with prepaid packages.

 

It will be interesting come August when the new system is in place seeing how USPS handles things. Could see some reductions in fees for parcels if everything works the way they think? I think given time their business model could change. I'm still surprised they changed the forever stamp when the last time I bought any there was still a price increase over the current first class rate. Things do change for the better.. But the days of priority mail for $3.20 from FL to CA are probably long gone.. And now we pay FVFs even on the shipping itself.. .

[TheGameCollector]

It's is the same thing as parcel post except with the addition of free delivery confirmation (they discontinued those green DC forms that used to cost a tiny bit). For international buyers who bid even though I have an auction set to USA & Canada only I usually tell them if they don't agree to pay my shipping costs I'll cancel on them and relist the item. Then I pull some number out of my ass and slap it on. I've done this so many times my guesses always seem to be the right price surprisingly enough, and I've never had an objection to asking them to pay when I intended my free shipping to be USA only. I'm starting to realize how much something weighs just by lifting something.

[oldjd]

Yes,the out of country shipping has gone thru the roof.

I usually check with Fed-Ex for comparison,because a fair amount of buyers are bitching about the costs.Sometimes it ends up beiing cheaper,and actually its an easier process for me.

And lately I have been getting requests to ship small items ,manuals and even dust covers in plain letter size envelopes.

And while I know they are just attempting to keep cost down,I know they will be the first ones complaining about damage,or item missing.Which is why I refuse to go along with it

And the ebay service rep said they anticipated having it all"figured out" by the end of the month.Geeze,a month,probably calling Pakistan for advice

[shadow460]

Pick the amount you want to charge for shipping, add it to the price, then add more to the price to cover the higher final value fee. Now offer "free" standard shipping. There's nothing ebay can or will do about it--the market gets to decide what your item is worth with shipping included. Also the buyer can complain about what carrier you use or that it wasn't shipped via priority mail. Problem solved.

Edited March 3, 2013 by shadow460