Ebay USPS shipping discount...How does it work??

[cowboy671]

Ok, so when I sell an item, Ebay has the invoice with shipping already calculated per my package size & weight.

I had an issue recently where a person bought something from me and the shipping calculator showed the buyer a rate of $25 but when he purchased the item, the invoice gave him a $39 shipping rate.

Now, He purchased the item anyway but asked me what gives. When I printed out the shipping label, it showed the buyer paid $39 and the Ebay shipping rate was $25.

So I am planning on sending him a partial refund due to the Ebay shock but want to find out how the discount works...

Since it showed the buyer paid $39 and actual shipping was $25 where does the $14 discount go? Does Ebay pocket the discount, or do I get the money for the discount?

Thanks in advance!

[missjen831]

There is no ebay discount.  They charge the USPS, fedex and UPS commercial rates. The buyer paid YOU to ship so if the buyer was charged $39 for shipping then you received $39 as soon as the buyer paid. You then bought a label from ebay for $25 so obviously the extra $14 is in your pocket.  On your most recent sold listing, you offered fedex and UPS and USPS. If the buyer chose fedex, then most likely its a long running glitch where the buyer is billed (I believe) the retail rate. And then you were charged the retail rate when you bought the label. But if you shipped fedex then technically you didn't buy the label yet if you went through ebay, it will be billed to you and the amount you were quoted isn't set in stone.

[berserkerplanet]

Was it a FedEx shipment?

There is currently an issue with the eBay calculator sometimes charging buyers the full retail rate at checkout for FedEx shipping regardless of the seller's global shipping settings.

If your site preferences shipping settings are to set pass discounts for FedEx, UPS, and USPS on to the buyers, then the buyer should have been charged $25 (the discounted online rate.) It is likely then that the ebay "retail" FedEx glitch was the cause if it was a FedEx shipment (if USPS shipping then something else went wrong).

If the settings are not set to pass shipping discounts on to buyers, then the $39 retail* amount charged was correct

*without shipment and listing shipping setup specifics impossible to be certain about any of those speculations.

[berserkerplanet]

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If the buyer chose fedex, then most likely its a long running glitch where the buyer is billed (I believe) the retail rate. And then you were charged the retail rate when you bought the label. But if you shipped fedex then technically you didn't buy the label yet if you went through ebay, it will be billed to you and the amount you were quoted isn't set in stone.

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That is not quite correct. The "retail" glitch is charging the buyers retail amounts in spite of the settings, but the labels are still purchased at online rates, with the sellers doing PayPal partial shipping refunds to square it with the buyers.