Shippers beware-Pitneys Bowes drastically overcharging for parcel select

[impeeryus]

Pitneys Bowes is the provider for online shipping labels such as Ebay shipping, Paypal shipping and all other online shipping labels. Since the USPS increase in June to dimensional pricing for priority, the Pitney Bowes software has also applied that to online parcel ground shipping. This is NOT the case at the counter at the Post Office. For example-yesterday I shipped a box ground to Georgia. It measured 20 X 16 X 9 and weighed 5 pounds. The online shipping label cost for GROUND USPS was $30. The over the counter cost at my Post Office was $13. I STRONGLY urge every seller shipping anything OTHER than a 12 X 12 by ground to use the USPS.com calculate shipping first before printing your online label, especially if that box is going more than a few zones away from you.

[hioctane62]

I don't think I've shipped anything by parcel select in years. For larger packages, UPS is ALWAYS cheaper.

That said, I believe ANYTHING on eBay is upcharged in order to put $ in eBay's pockets.

[nguyen-14]

thank you very much

[zamo-zuan]

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@impeeryus wrote:

Pitneys Bowes is the provider for online shipping labels such as Ebay shipping, Paypal shipping and all other online shipping labels. Since the USPS increase in June to dimensional pricing for priority, the Pitney Bowes software has also applied that to online parcel ground shipping. This is NOT the case at the counter at the Post Office. For example-yesterday I shipped a box ground to Georgia. It measured 20 X 16 X 9 and weighed 5 pounds. The online shipping label cost for GROUND USPS was $30. The over the counter cost at my Post Office was $13. I STRONGLY urge every seller shipping anything OTHER than a 12 X 12 by ground to use the USPS.com calculate shipping first before printing your online label, especially if that box is going more than a few zones away from you.

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Are you using eBay labels?

We use a 3rd party software that uses Pitney Bowes for labels as well, and it does not have what you describe. Our rates are the actual cubic rates that USPS offers.

I believe what you're seeing is the eBay fees for labels, and not Pitney Bowes. EBay labels have a bad habit of not being the cheapest options. In the past we had some that simply sent the labels based on weight and not dimension size, and we also had issues where eBay labels did NOT apply cubic rates.

EBay is not trying to provide the most cost efficient option for sellers. Rather they make profit off of their labels, and it seems they believe the additional charges are okay for the "convenience" of them automatically sending out labels.

Make no mistake, just check the comments they've made about being "positioned to give China cheaper shipping rates" and/or check the rates they're offering as incentive to join Managed Delivery/fulfillment. Those are the rates eBay is actually getting. They even said they "negotiated" rates for us... yet their rates are equal or higher than Commercial Plus rates (which do NOT require a negotiation), so if they negotiated anything it's not being passed to us sellers. 

[impeeryus]

Actually I use shipping easy. Ive also tested this on Paypal shipping and got the same results. I called Paypal. Paypal told me this is indeed a Pitney Bowes software issue and that Pitney Bowes are aware of it. These results don't really appear if you are shipping a few zones away but the difference is 2-3 times actual USPS retail ground costs when shipping further away. As Ebay labels use Pitney Bowes also I again strongly urge ANYONE getting a shipping label cost of over $20 odd to double check on USPS.com

[dhbookds · Accepted solution]

The online shipping label cost for GROUND USPS was $30. The over the counter cost at my Post Office was $13.

That is correct........ Your parcel is over size and will ship with a dim weight adjustment.  When they changed the rates in June, they added the dim weight adjustment to Priority and Parcel Select.  They did NOT add it to retail (counter cost) Parcel. 

[impeeryus]

Pitney Bowes uses USPS labels. Are they legally allowed to charge dimensional weight pricing for parcel select when USPS doesn't charge it for the same service?which is just the online term for retail ground? It's the same service with just a different name

[dhbookds]

The USPS is the one that has the two rates, not Pitney Bowes.......... and USPS is the one who decided the rates.  My personal opinion is that someone at USPS forgot to add the dim change to retail rates.......but that's merely speculation.

There have always been the two rates......but prior to this, the Online rate was the lesser of the two.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

Or the USPS wants to (for some reason) increase traffic to the counter for larger parcels?

[flodau_123]

(IN FRENCH down below) Just read many a post dating back from as far as 2013 about the relationship between Ebay and this international shipping company. Having just experienced the Pitney Bowes intervention for the first time on Ebay, I wanted to share with you what I consider to be a serious breach of my trust, not to say "serious cunning". Here is how Pitney and Ebay proceed  :

I'm on the page of the object I've selected : The price of the object is listed (14.99$); The next line states "No other import fee will be requested upon delivery", then the line just below shows the shipping fee (24.75$). THEN, another line just below (and that is where the cunning becomes obvious) : IMPORT FEE : 00.00$ (amount to be confirmed when purchase is finalized). 

You can CLICK for some explanation about this import fee listed for 00.00$ (that number is written in BOLD, just like the shipping fee and the object's price), but you don't bother clicking since the only obvious part which stands out is the00.00$.

It is only after you have checked and rechecked your basket, and finally hit the very last command and pay for your order, that suddenly this extra fee appears for "IMPORT  FEE": 13,70$. Should I mention that I have not been charged for an import fee once in the last 10 years, and guess what, none ever appears on Ebay if you don't go through the pitts of PITNEY who has discovered a clever way to make quick money, but would be hard pressed to justify that actual cost and send us a detailed invoice !

[nobody*s_perfect]

I think what you might have encountered is eBay's Global Shipping Program, which is a forwarding service.

Pitney Bowes is one of a handful of companies which are authorized by USPS to sell online postage.  They charge the published USPS postage rates. See section 4.1.4:

https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/604.htm#ep1080496

In the earlier portions of this thread, some members who were not aware that USPS started charging a "dimensional weight" for Parcel Select Ground postage (but not for Retail Ground)  in June 2019.

https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2018/pb22509/html/updt_002.htm