Adjusting ebay shipping rates as a seller

[Renegade]

I used to ship pool cues all over the country and so over time I knew the most expensive areas or distances that costs me the most, so I just based fixed rate shipping on going to the most expensive place I could encounter,,,,,,,,, or pad the price a little on the item to cover some of the shipping. Lower shipping rates generally seemed to get more bids.

 

[swechsler]

Matched by the lack of detail the OP's complaint...Frankly I have no idea what he's talking about...

My OP was pretty darn detailed. When you use the shipping calculator it assumes you have a UPS discount. That's it. You can't tell it that you pay UPS's listed prices. There have been multitudes of complaints about this over the years on eBay's forums, and they've done nothing to address it. When you list an item it does give you several options; I'm looking to see if anyone's found a good way to adjust either the weight, dimensions or added handling costs to more closely approximate the actual shipping rates we mortals pay.

 

[soundmotor]

Does anyone actually expect an auction anymore on ebay?

Handling is built into my BIN price, usually shipping as well.

As an aside, the ebay USPS rate is the same rate as an online postal account.

 

[Roving Sign]

My OP was pretty darn detailed. When you use the shipping calculator it assumes you have a UPS discount. That's it. You can't tell it that you pay UPS's listed prices. There have been multitudes of complaints about this over the years on eBay's forums, and they've done nothing to address it. When you list an item it does give you several options; I'm looking to see if anyone's found a good way to adjust either the weight, dimensions or added handling costs to more closely approximate the actual shipping rates we mortals pay.

Ok when you use the calculator like this

http://www.ebay.com/shp/Calculator

It only shows the rates for the seller opt-in/discount rates...that's what it says for sure.

"These rates are the first level of discounts available through the UPS Special Pricing Program for eBay sellers. Sign up for these savings. Please note that in order to receive such discounted rates, you must sign up for them on PayPal."

Which is why I suggested researching your rate at ups.com.

I did a comparison using the ebay vs ups.com calculators.

eBay Calculator: $24.34

Same shipment details at ups.com: $35.98

Rather substantial - and I could see a bit frustrating when you show up at the ups store.

Even worse - its a PayPal thing - so you have to go through them to get the discount.

As a seller, I like to leave it up to the buyer as to what carrier to use...but I always set up my sales as USPS Parcel.

And then mention in my description that "I'm happy to use the shipping carrier of your choice"

If the buyer wants to take you up on it - you at least have solid set of shipping metrics for a UPS (or other) quote.

I so rarely ship UPS (and I never offer it by default) - I guess I never noticed this nuance.

 

[Andyman]

As an aside, the ebay USPS rate is the same rate as an online postal account.

Not in my experience; lately I've been getting 50-60% discounts on Priority Mail shipments to the East coast that wind up actually being less than Fedex, which was my standard carrier for larger items.

I also get Fedex discounts through eBay too which often exceed the discounts Shiprush Fedex gives me.

I haven't used UPS for years; Fedex is cheaper and more effective for me.

 

[soundmotor]

Not in my experience; lately I've been getting 50-60% discounts on Priority Mail shipments to the East coast that wind up actually being less than Fedex, which was my standard carrier for larger items.

I also get Fedex discounts through eBay too which often exceed the discounts Shiprush Fedex gives me.

I haven't used UPS for years; Fedex is cheaper and more effective for me.

I am not talking about the postal shipping calculator but an account you create with the USPS where you can buy & print your postage out. That is identical to ebay discount cost and way less than the online postal calculator or walk up to the window cost.

 

[Andyman]

I am not talking about the postal shipping calculator but an account you create with the USPS where you can buy & print your postage out. That is identical to ebay discount cost and way less than the online postal calculator or walk up to the window cost.

I will check that out, but the times I've logged in on the USPS site and bought postage it's never come close to the discounts I get with eBay. I'm talking 50-60% quite often, especially to the East coast. I'll dig into some later.

 

[Roving Sign]

Not in my experience; lately I've been getting 50-60% discounts on Priority Mail shipments to the East coast that wind up actually being less than Fedex, which was my standard carrier for larger items.
.

I will check that out, but the times I've logged in on the USPS site and bought postage it's never come close to the discounts I get with eBay. I'm talking 50-60% quite often, especially to the East coast. I'll dig into some later.

To be clear - this is the USPS in-store vs. online purchase price...and nothing to do with eBay. You also get this discount using eBay Click-and-ship (which counts as online).

I just ran my test package numbers at USPS.com and got $19.90 in-store postage vs. $11.57 online price. That's big.

But I think that's different than the eBay shipping discount...that's a separate program and offers much smaller savings...generally less than a dollar or so for most packages.

I think the buyer still pays the full on-line price - but the seller pockets the small savings.

 

[kansei]

I've used UPS on eBay several times upon buyer request, but no more. UPS calculates as cheaper in the eBay calculator, but the actual shipping price has been the same as USPS each time. This meant that I had to pay $10-$20 out of my own pocket each time I used UPS.

 

[markshan]

I think the buyer still pays the full on-line price - but the seller pockets the small savings.

I believe that the small savings is to offset the fact that shipping is now charged a percentage commission just like the sale price is. It's not really a savings at all.

 

[macgolf]

I've used UPS on eBay several times upon buyer request, but no more. UPS calculates as cheaper in the eBay calculator, but the actual shipping price has been the same as USPS each time. This meant that I had to pay $10-$20 out of my own pocket each time I used UPS.

Same here. I post my listings as 2 - 9 day USPS and sometimes get better rates using USPS Priority. Since I am responsible to get package to customer for agreed to price I will not give the customer an option of shipping services. I've only shipped 20 - 30 packages over the years and have received kudos for the expedited service. If UPS isn't working for you go with a service that does work on all levels.

 

[Andyman]

Here's an example of the USPS shipping discounts I see. This was for a 20# carton via Priority Mail to New England.
Frankly, these prices floor me.

Postage cost:$24.30
USPS Tracking™:Free
Your eBay Discount (55%):-$13.45
Total:$10.85

 

[roberttx]

Your eBay Discount (55%):-$13.45

The thing with that is, ebay cheats when calculating the "ebay discount". It does this by comparing the Commercial Plus pricing, via Pitney Bowes (to which ebay gives you access) with the USPS "over the counter" price. If they used the USPS Click-N-Ship price instead (which is a more reasonable comparator) the "discount" would be dramatically smaller.

 

[EVBoy]

What Swechsler is saying is true. If you sell a heavy item, say located on the other side of the country, the UPS quote will be way off and it will cost you a lot of money. You would have to adjust the invoice but it is already sent to the buyer with the discounted price and the situation would get ugly if you tried to do so. There are two ways around this problem. Print out the pre-addressed Paypal labels, which, for some reason, my computer won't do, or always list USPS as your shipping service. USPS is not discounted and their prices are accurate.

 

[Roving Sign]

This thread made me notice that I was not signed up for the UPS discount.

But as I tried to get enrolled - I started having some deja vu-ness.

I remember trying this before - and somehow being stymied.

I cant really figure out how its supposed to work...

The ebay link refers you to PayPal...login there - and PayPal wants your UPS Account #

Log into USP.com - under "Account Summary" - there are no account numbers and it wants me to "Add a UPS Account" (what did I just log into?!)

So something up with the authentication process I can't figure out.

When I tried this before - (which seems like a long time ago) - I thought I botched the opt-in email or something.

Anyone have success with this?

 

[Andyman]

The thing with that is, ebay cheats when calculating the "ebay discount". It does this by comparing the Commercial Plus pricing, via Pitney Bowes (to which ebay gives you access) with the USPS "over the counter" price. If they used the USPS Click-N-Ship price instead (which is a more reasonable comparator) the "discount" would be dramatically smaller.

Interesting. I did check that and found this...

Priority Mail 3-Day™
Thu, Nov 5
$24.30 Counter price
$13.32 online

So the discount isn't as much, but encouraging to know that significant discounts can be had via USPS online for non-eBay sales. like BT.

 

[soundmotor]

Interesting. I did check that and found this...

Priority Mail 3-Day™
Thu, Nov 5
$24.30 Counter price
$13.32 online

So the discount isn't as much, but encouraging to know that significant discounts can be had via USPS online for non-eBay sales. like BT.

Fedex is the same way. You can save a pantload by doing your own label online (via your account) vs. walking up the the counter and having a paid employee do the same thing. I believe it is 20% or more. However, with any method where you generate your own ticket, always get it scanned into the shipper's system and get a receipt that shows you actually dropped it off! Otherwise there is no proof you did should it get lost or stolen. It only shows that you printed up the ticket not that you did anything with it.

"Ship It" franchises are notorious for theft in this way. Scenario: You decide to return your new tablet bought from Best Buy online and it came with a no questions asked return policy. Best Buy emails you a pre-approved return shipping label and you put it on the package then take it the Ship It place. You go and there is a line so the counter dude tells you "It's prepaid, you can just leave it." so you do. Then it never arrives at Best Buy.

When the Fedex/UPS/USPS driver comes and collects packages they take them in bulk, they don't get scanned until they hit their receiving area. At this point, all you can say is that you dropped it off at the Ship It place. All the Ship It place has to say is that it went out their door. There is no chain of custody except for you being noted as the last one that had it.

 

[Andyman]

Yep, I always wait to get the package scanned. Ebay gives a FVF discount for 1 day shipping so you have to have your label printed and scanned before midnight the next business day after you get paid. It used to be that simply printing the label was adequate, but recently the toughened it to scanning. Luckily for me the Post Office is literally next to work and closer to the door than my car and a Fedex Office is also right on the way home.

 

[Dswankey]

This thread made me notice that I was not signed up for the UPS discount.

But as I tried to get enrolled - I started having some deja vu-ness.

I remember trying this before - and somehow being stymied.

I cant really figure out how its supposed to work...

The ebay link refers you to PayPal...login there - and PayPal wants your UPS Account #

Log into USP.com - under "Account Summary" - there are no account numbers and it wants me to "Add a UPS Account" (what did I just log into?!)

So something up with the authentication process I can't figure out.

When I tried this before - (which seems like a long time ago) - I thought I botched the opt-in email or something.

Anyone have success with this?

Whats so hard to understand?

 

[Roving Sign]

Whats so hard to understand?

One problem - Apparently a "login" for ups.com and an "account" are different things at ups.com

I finally found a link to "Open a UPS Account" - and did that.

Next - The form here:

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_profile-shipnow

On the PayPal link referenced above - its asking me for "Invoice number" and "Invoice Amount" as part of the opt-it...?

Also wants the date and control ID? Again - what the heck is all that?

Its not a transaction...so not sure what those are about. I do have an account number now...