Shipping cost and size dimensions

[daytonabeachbum2]

How frustrating has ebay become shipping cost and sales tax have eroded a lot of the  profits sellers can make

 then and to  add insult to injury the post office has thrown  at customers this not so new but more expensive package size dimensions the post office has thrown at us needed to  print a label. When an   inch over is the  difference that  will  cost the seller not  a few cents more but several dollars more. recent example buyer paid $15 and actual cost for me to  ship became $24 because of size dimensions  Now there is no way possible to know the exact shipping dimensions unless you box up all your potential items weigh them and measure them not just the item itself but the box that it is going to  be shipped in  This is not always practicable but this is the reality where we are at selling here on ebay. My suggestion to  be safe  is to  stop selling anything larger then the Priority boxes provided by the post office or risk loosing money when it comes time to  ship and you fine you made  an error in the size dimensions  Very  frustrating to sell here and not make any money so why bother

[bonjourami]

Buyers pay the sales tax, not sellers..how is that eroding a sellers profits?

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@daytonabeachbum2 wrote: ...  an   inch over is the  difference that  will  cost the seller not  a few cents more but several dollars more. ... there is no way possible to know the exact shipping dimensions unless you box up all your potential items weigh them and measure them ... . My suggestion to  be safe  is to  stop selling anything larger then the Priority boxes provided by the post office ...

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The size threshold for dimensional weight is 1 cubic foot (1728 cubic inches) whereas the largest of the free special Priority Mail boxes measures 12 by 12 by 8 inches,  clearly much smaller than a cubic foot. In other words, there's no need to limit yourself to shipments that can fit into the Priority Mail boxes.

You might be surprised to learn that many sellers do indeed know the exact box they will use before they list an item. Especially if the item is large enough to require a box that's over 1728 cubic inches.  Even for packages well below that threshold, sellers need to know the shipping weight of the package in order to set up calculated shipping accurately.

[buyselljack2016]

Just as I know the shipping size/weight of my smalls, I know the size of the box, and the shipping weight of every item that I ship if it will exceed the lower dimensional size charges, (1728) or is over 1 pound, and will not go flat rate................ before listing.

It is not a good business model to not know those things.

I may not have the item boxed, or even a box constructed due to storage space limits, but I know what it will cost to ship.  A $9 or more shipping cost loss is not practical.

[daytonabeachbum2]

Your missing the point of this post  How does the post office justify the price they are charging when the shipping dimensions are only over by an inch??!!

 seriously 1" difference will cost several dollars more. And please don't tell me you need to  do your calculations before hand this is not always possible but seems to be a necessity in order to  avoid being over charged by the post office. Plus even if you know the exact dimensions before hand and it is a 1" bigger the added costs to  shipping deters buyers from buying your items  plain and simple so the higher the cost of shipping the less a seller makes if the item sells at all

[no_zero369]

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@daytonabeachbum2 wrote:

Your missing the point of this post  How does the post office justify the price they are charging when the shipping dimensions are only over by an inch??!!

 seriously 1" difference will cost several dollars more. And please don't tell me you need to  do your calculations before hand this is not always possible but seems to be a necessity in order to  avoid being over charged by the post office. Plus even if you know the exact dimensions before hand and it is a 1" bigger the added costs to  shipping deters buyers from buying your items  plain and simple so the higher the cost of shipping the less a seller makes if the item sells at all

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Well, probably the USPS decided it needed to do something as BIG BOXES take up more space on the truck so they can't get as many of those on the truck. IF a big box displaces 3 smaller boxes then the revenue from the big box should be close to or equal to the revenue from the three smaller boxes. Any business owner would see it that way or they would be a charity, not a business.

So USPS selected a "bright line" or size above which the were going to charge more for shipping a box.  So yeah, 1-inch larger that drives a box to be "too big" and into dimensional weight is just the rules of the game.  It is the way it is set up.  One can get excited about their box being just 1-inch too big, spend a bunch of time worrying about it or getting excited, or one can spend their energy accepting the rules and then trying to figure out the most profitable way to work with the rules. Most sellers will at least estimate closely the size of box they will use before listing.  But every seller is free to not do that and 'wing it' with estimating shipping costs and profits.

Hey jousting at windmills can be fun and therapeutic at times (letting off steam), but it usually doesn't effect the out come and I have found it does nothing for my profits.

SHIPPING is one of the BIGGEST costs of selling online, especially for small sellers.  So one needs to put  brain power behind solving that "business problem."  Alternatively, one might come to the conclusion that not everything can be sold online for a profit that returns a reasonable rate for one's efforts, and that would be a good economic decision too.

[fern*wood]

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@daytonabeachbum2 wrote:

Your missing the point of this post  How does the post office justify the price they are charging when the shipping dimensions are only over by an inch??!!

 seriously 1" difference will cost several dollars more. And please don't tell me you need to  do your calculations before hand this is not always possible but seems to be a necessity in order to  avoid being over charged by the post office. Plus even if you know the exact dimensions before hand and it is a 1" bigger the added costs to  shipping deters buyers from buying your items  plain and simple so the higher the cost of shipping the less a seller makes if the item sells at all

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I try to solve issues I can control.  I can't control postage rates, but I can try not mess up on box dimensions.  I may not know the exact box I'm going to use, but if I'm sure it will be over the 1 cubic foot threshold, I make darn sure I enter dimensions that cover that when I list. 

I've made mistakes, but with the higher rates now, I've avoided the big ones.   Many of my larger lower cost items are no longer feasible to sell online. 

[nomderd]

ebay has billed me 10% for the cost of sales tax on items before.

[buyselljack2016]

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@nomderd wrote:

ebay has billed me 10% for the cost of sales tax on items before.

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Sales tax has nothing to do with USPS rates.

If you have an issue with sales tax, you can start a thread to post that for answers, or just search the many threads here about sales tax.

[johnrj1226]

@daytonabeachbum2 

The dimensional weight rate thing has been around awhile for all USPS zones for over 11 months and prior to that for a long while  applied to shipments to zones 7 & 8.

I  found it out by 'surprise" (as I did not read far enough) and  learned a lesson about 5  years ago.  After that  lose  of profit I fixed ed - I just  don't  buy any thing to sell that won't fit into a 12"  x 12" x 12" (or 1728 cu. in. box) and read all the new USPS update ANNOUNCEMENTS - we all will receive one in January 2020 around the 20th just like clock work .  Sometimes USPS will make  an adjustment in between Januarys

[trueartworx]

I've put in many suggestions that they seriously need enhance on the shipping options period. Without  being able to set them based on variation, it will rarely ever calculate correctly on any paid shipping/international or multi item order.
I bet anything that we all lose many sales and potential repeat buyers soley because of this fact.  As we look overpriced all too many times.  Which gives yet another advantages to foreign selling e packet shippers. 

Most my listing are small, less then an ounce. Understand that USPS ect use ounce increments but EVERY item does not weigh to these increments unpackaged.

A fundamental, basic that seems to have been overlooked by ebay since it's start. Ridiculous if ask me. 

As it even throws off the concept of 'free shipping' . Sure we can adjust our pricing for each size variation but this does nothing to make it accurate for international or paid alternative options. Nor multi-orders. Splitting listings out to separate sized items  just makes them fight each other in promoted listings as well as loses sales period. Many will look at the low priced listing and not even see that we offer them in larger sizes. And vice versa
As I even tried putting links to the larger/smaller ones in description but we all know a good percent of buyers don't even bother reading them anyways.  
Shipping options based on variations is long over due.  YEARS!!!. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@johnrj1226 wrote:

@daytonabeachbum2 

The dimensional weight rate thing has been around awhile for all USPS zones for over 11 months and prior to that for a long while  applied to shipments to zones 7 & 8....

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The new policies went into effect on June 23, 2019, expanding dimensional weight to apply to all zones and to Parcel Select Ground.  Previously, dimensional weight had been applied only to Priority Mail packages going to Zones 5 - 9.

[yuzuha]

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@daytonabeachbum2 wrote:

Now there is no way possible to know the exact shipping dimensions unless you box up all your potential items weigh them and measure them not just the item itself but the box that it is going to  be shipped in 

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... well, yes, you should always do that if only to make certain that you have the right size box in which to ship the item and don't get caught empty-handed and having to scramble around at the last minute to find a box to ship a sale in.

[bin2500]

Bake a cake you use a recipe, build a bridge you determine the materials needed. Sell an item on Ebay, weigh and measure prior to listing.

I know it's work but if you want to be in the biz, well its all part of it. I have been selling off and on since 2003 and a couple of months ago decided to go at it full time.  I only have a couple hundred listing so far, but it became readily apparent to me that if I did not weigh and measure the item & packaging,  I would be in for some nasty surprises and I have had a couple, so I put in the work, buy hey that's me. If flying by the seat of your pants works for you go for it!

Have a great holiday season!

[tctoyman]

The ebay shipping calculator has been wrong on a lot of USPS items ever since the USPS instituted the dimensional rate charges earlier this year. I have made more than two dozen calls to customer service to try and get someone to figure out how to fix the problem. I use the ebay shipping calculator and it is always undercharging the buyer on larger items. I already have the weight and box dimensions in the shipping section before the item is listed and on the larger items, ebay always charges the buyer less than the actual price. I have been told numerous times, by customer service, that there must be a problem on my end, but I have all items with any dimension over 12” set to “large package” and all dimensions are accurate on each item, but I still keep calling in once or twice a week and they can’t figure it out and keep having to refund money back to me for undercharged buyers. It is only on USPS shipping. I also only pay for shipping through “my ebay” so the problem is on Ebay’s end even though they can’t seem to figure out what it is. I have sold literally more than 100 of the same large item. I have used the same u-line box for all 100 and the same weight and dimensions for all 100. Only the last 8 or so that have sold since the USPS Dimensional Weight Charge went into effect have been wrong. Not one of the earlier ones was ever wrong. It has something to do with the Dimensional Weight, but the problem is in their system and their calculator and they don’t seem to be able to fix it. I had another one today where the buyer was undercharged by about $6. It will be the second time this week I will have to call in yet again and waste my time and I will continue to get told they don’t know why there is a problem. I urge all sellers to carefully check your shipping prices if you sell larger items and use USPS as there is a good chance you are losing on the shipping like I am and when it happens multiple times a week, it amounts to a large $ amount over time.