eBay offers “discounted shipping rates” starting May 15th? What’s the catch?

[gingerabigail]

I just received this notice about eBay offering discounted shipping rates LESS than what standard shipping is for what you sell, starting May 15th.

They say you can opt out of this fabulous offer if you want to.

 I’m leary of any plan that looks like eBay is offering to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees that the Post office requires that you pay, no matter what selling app you use.

 What’s the catch?  

That you can’t charge for your mailing supplies?  

That eBay collects even higher shipping fees than the ones that already exceed other selling site rates?

[murph1727]

You might want to read the discussion about it in this post:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Why-does-Ebay-want-to-change-decide-everyone-s-calculated/m-p/...

[caldreamer]

I think you misunderstand.   EBAY already has "discounted rated" for Sellers.    Some Sellers charge customer the "full amount" and keep discount for themselves.   EBAY wants to give "customer discounted rate" (sellers will no longer get to keep extra money).

[chapeau-noir]

eBay has always offered commercial base price. This is nothing new.

[dbfolks166mt]

I think you misunderstand.   EBAY already has "discounted rated" for Sellers.    Some Sellers charge customer the "full amount" and keep discount for themselves.   EBAY wants to give "customer discounted rate" (sellers will no longer get to keep extra money).

     I have always used that "extra money" to cover the cost of the eBay fees, packing materials and my time and effort in shipping it. Once you factor those into the equation there is little "extra left". 

[mam98031]

@gingerabigail 

"I’m leary of any plan that looks like eBay is offering to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees that the Post office requires that you pay, no matter what selling app you use."

I'm not sure what you are referring to, but you certainly misunderstand something.  This new discounted shipping tool you can use does NOTHING to curb your fees.  Certainly if you charge your buyer less for shipping, then your FVF on the shipping will be lower, however you still have to cover those fees and since you can't put it into the shipping cost to buyers, you will need to increase the price of your products to cover the FVF on shipping and for shipping supplies.