No more free economy shipping from China?

[hankitsune]

I have ordered several items from a seller from China over the past few years and he has always offered free economy shipping.
Now these same items suddenly require $3.50 shipping. The items are around $5 so adding $3.50 makes them over 60% more expensive.
I've contacted the seller about this and he says eBay doesn't allow him to offer free economy shipping anymore and he's obliged to use registered mail.
Does anyone know if this could be true and why eBay would do this? Is it due to the Covid19 situation or have they changed their policy? Or do we need to thank Trump for this?

[johnrj1226]

Sellers are free to change their pricing  policy at any time they deem necessary.

Heck the price of eggs goes up and down like a yo-yo at the grocery store.

[orangehound]

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@hankitsune wrote:

Does anyone know if this could be true and why eBay would do this? Is it due to the Covid19 situation or have they changed their policy? Or do we need to thank Trump for this?

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[sigh]

Let me begin with eCommerce 101

• A Chinese seller and an American/EU seller do not compete on an even playing field.
• Chinese sellers have access to deeply discounted shipping, thanks to an archaic international postage agreement ... each time one of these packages is sent, the USPS (or the equivalent in the EU) will lose money.
• How does the USPS (EU postal service) make up this loss?  They increase the shipping prices for American/EU sellers.  So, American/EU sellers pay more for shipping than they should so that Chinese sellers get dirt-cheap shipping prices.
• Any time a buyer purchases from a Chinese seller, they are not only taking business away from a domestic business, they are actually hurting a domestic business by driving up costs for that seller's business.
• Trump did not cause this ... but his administration has taken some steps to try to rectify the imbalance.

Now, with that out of the way, Chinese sellers have discovered that this dirt-cheap shipping service has gotten clogged up with packages as there have been labor shortages due to Covid-19 ... this has caused them to lose money with Item Not Received claims.  So, Chinese sellers are now having to use other shipping methods that have better delivery performance ... and they are having to pay closer to what it actually costs to ship a package.

[stuff4divas]

Yes, Trump took away China's 'special status' that gave them the 'privilege' of USPS subsidizing (US taxpayers) their shipping when they were a 3rd world country, which obviously, they are no more and haven't been for years

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/10/trump-changes-terminal-dues-and-epacket-rates...

[stuff4divas]

FYI

I ordered a few cheap items over the last few weeks from China with Free shipping

[southern*sweet*tea]

I certainly hope their free ride is over. The main reason domestic shipping costs are so high is because we have to subsidize their shipping. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm tired of paying for those sellers  to mail their cheap trash here.  They aren't special -  let them pay the same prices as everyone else.

[martin2001]

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@stuff4divas wrote:

FYI

I ordered a few cheap items over the last few weeks from China with Free shipping

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They are not prohibited from offering free shipping if they decide so, it will just cost them more to ship than in the past.

[stuff4divas]

Of course!

that is why I was able to purchase those items with free shipping!

[hankitsune]

You really think the postal services will lower prices for domestic shipping now that they can charge more for import packages?
No way, they just see their profits rise. So from now on you probably have to keep paying high prices for domestic shipping AND for stuff shipping from China.
We, the customers, will have to pay for it. Not the Chinese sellers.
Look at it as if from now on you have to pay taxes for every item you buy from China.

[soh.maryl]

"Look at it as from now on you have to pay taxes for every item you buy from China."

I don't understand your analogy.

If you have your purchases shipped to a state that now requires eBay to collect and remit STATE SALES TAX, you have been and will be paying state sales tax on items you buy and have shipped to your state, no matter where they are coming from, China, England, the moon, wherever.

Taxes and shipping costs are nowhere near the same thing and it would be a good idea for everyone to understand the difference.