Bound Printed Matter BPM

[jim1024]

Is it not time for ebay to start offering BPM as Amazon does & has for years, it is a huge money saver for booksellers.  I do not understand why it is not an option.

[nobody*s_perfect]

It used to be an option in eBay postage, until about 2008 when USPS started requiring a permit for it.  We had elaborate charts showing weight/zone combinations in order to choose the cheaper option for items that were eligible for both types.  

[jim1024]

Sellers should make some serious noise about not having BPM, media mail has gone up way too much.   No permit is needed on Amazon for BPM, ebay just does not want to make the effort to help sellers.   Shipping is getting way out of hand

[readabouthorses]

How is Amazon doing it without a permit? when I checked into BPM years ago the permit required an imprint on your shipping label and you also had to have paperwork that accompanied each shipment indicating what was enclosed and you also could not just take the packages to your local Post Office. How is Amazon doing an end run around all this and letting their sellers use their permit ... or is their permit only usable for those items that sellers are storing with Amazon and Amazon is doing the shipping?

[monster-deals]

I have ZERO desire to add another shipping method into the mix. 

[jim1024]

I have no idea, that is not my job.  It is the job of someone working for ebay, twiddling their thumbs.

[jim1024]

You do not appear to be a bookseller so it is of no consequence to you.  

[readabouthorses]

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@jim1024 wrote:

I have no idea, that is not my job.  It is the job of someone working for ebay, twiddling their thumbs.

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So you know that Amazon does it but you don't know how they do it? How do you know Amazon uses BPM?

[jim1024]

Because I ship BPM everyday on Amazon, FBM,  not FBA.

[readabouthorses]

Customer Information

Bound Printed Matter is a cost effective way to mail single-piece or volume presort permanently-bound sheets of advertising, promotional, directory or editorial material such as catalogs, books and other printed material using PS Form 8042 (Bound Printed Matter Documentation Form) and a permit account or a penalty permit account. BPM is no longer accepted at retail offices but must be deposited as business mail at the Business Mail Entry Unit where the permit imprint was issued.

So which parts of the above info taken directly from USPS are you having to follow when using BPM through Amazon?

[jim1024]

I have not filled out any forms.  Amazon simply has it as an option & I use it, period.

[chapeau-noir]

Far as I know, as a bookseller Amazon has the permit to ship BPM, and as a fulfillment by merchant seller you'd be riding on this.  But Amazon is a vendor, and shipping companies sell postage. eBay sells nothing (Pitney-Bowes is their shipping vendor) so I don't think there's any qualification for it to have this permit.

Only thing with BPM, if the mail piece is not able to be delivered, it's not returned to the seller, it's destroyed or auctioned off or whatever.

[readabouthorses]

I think you can get the BPM package returned to you if you put a notice on the package that return postage is guaranteed. Then it will come back to you Postage Due. Been a long long time since I used BPM but I remember putting a notice on the packages to get them back if they were not delivered.

[jim1024]

Why do you folks keep making excuses for ebay?   Amazon does it, so should ebay, period.   The last thing we need is sellers being empathetic towards ebay, we support them, not vice-versa.  I am trying to save the sellers $.  Lord knows ebay double dips with paypal & takes days to "process funds".

BPM has tracking just like media & I have had maybe 2 out of 5000+ in last year get lost in system & if that worries you, just use media or priority even though those methods have every bit the chance to get lost as other tiers.  BTW, I do not send an expensive book via BPM.

[readabouthorses]

Could it be that Amazon is able to get the BPM permit because they actually have facilities that pack and ship items where eBay does not have any? The permit is to be used for those facilities but the other Amazon sellers who are shipping their own packages are able to piggy-back on the permit?

I haven't discussed BPM in a long time with my local post office because at the time I stopped using it the local Postmaster was not very efficient and pretty much out of touch with most postal things.