eBay

jawparts · ‎03-12-2024

I have been having issues with the calculated shipping. I almost always ship USPS just because it is more convenient for my situation, but have over a quarter of my sales these past couple months have buyers being under charged for shipping and it costing me money. I have always put the weight on my items a small amount higher for these reasons and had no issues for a couple of years. But all the sudden its gotten so bad for Ground Advantage and Priority Mail. Wondering if this is a USPS problem or Ebay Shipping Calculator issue. Are other people having this same issue with other shippers (UPS, Fed Ex)? Or is this just a USPS problem?

jawparts · ‎03-12-2024

I forgot to also add that a couple orders I have shipped have also been charged for underpaying for shipping when I know for a fact that the dimensions and weight is always under what I pay for to ship. Never had an issue with this past couple years but all the sudden shipping has been screwed up. And Ebay charges me almost the same amount as the label I purchased for the underpayment which makes me lose money on these orders but the shipping calculator is charging the buyer absolutely nothing. Am I the only one having this issue?

nobody*s_perfect · ‎03-12-2024

The eBay shipping calculator for USPS postage is very accurate; you should not have to fudge the weight, nor should it undercharge buyers even if you enter accurate weight and dimensions. If this was a common problem, you'd see plenty of threads about it.

On the shipping label preparation form, there is a separate entry for the "Shipping from" ZIP Code, and if that doesn't match the ZIP Code that was used as the basis for the shipping calculator in your listings, then the shipping calculator will not get accurate results.

We can probably help better if you provide specific details, including package weight and dimensions, service used (e.g., Priority Mail?), both ZIP Codes, and both exact prices.

jawparts · ‎03-13-2024

So for example a recent order was placed for 4 items, I had them listed individually at around 2 lbs for shipping weight each. Since they were right under a pound and after packaging to ship the weight would be over a pound and I would purchase a label at 2 lbs, it should charge them correctly. Since they ordered 4 it charged them at 8 lbs for USPS Ground Advantage to their shipping location which is AK. When I got it all packaged together it was a 12x6x6 box that weighed around 2lbs 12oz. It charged them at 8lbs $6.33 for shipping to AK. When I purchased the label at 3lbs with a 12x6x6 box it charged me $10.42

All of my listings are set at the same location which everything is shipped from. None of my listings have dimensions set for shipping because I have so much inventory that needs to be packaged I would run out of packaging. And I package with whatever packaging I have at the time based on orders coming through dimensions would be hard to predict also based on how many items a person would want to order at a time.

I have never had an issue like this even with never having dimensions set for listings in previous years with shipping and have always used USPS primarily. I feel like it has changed since USPS merged First Class with Ground Advantage, that's when I started to notice a difference and shipping rates for buyers had dropped for most of my items a notable amount.

stainlessenginecovers · ‎03-13-2024

@jawparts wrote:
So for example a recent order was placed for 4 items, I had them listed individually at around 2 lbs for shipping weight each. Since they were right under a pound and after packaging to ship the weight would be over a pound and I would purchase a label at 2 lbs, it should charge them correctly. Since they ordered 4 it charged them at 8 lbs for USPS Ground Advantage to their shipping location which is AK. When I got it all packaged together it was a 12x6x6 box that weighed around 2lbs 12oz. It charged them at 8lbs $6.33 for shipping to AK. When I purchased the label at 3lbs with a 12x6x6 box it charged me $10.42

All of my listings are set at the same location which everything is shipped from. None of my listings have dimensions set for shipping because I have so much inventory that needs to be packaged I would run out of packaging. And I package with whatever packaging I have at the time based on orders coming through dimensions would be hard to predict also based on how many items a person would want to order at a time.

I have never had an issue like this even with never having dimensions set for listings in previous years with shipping and have always used USPS primarily. I feel like it has changed since USPS merged First Class with Ground Advantage, that's when I started to notice a difference and shipping rates for buyers had dropped for most of my items a notable amount.

That's Your problem.

You MUST have the dimensions for calculator to work, because about 1 month ago, USPS went to 'size' (cubic pricing) combined with weight....BUT:

Combined does NOT combine 'dimensions' so if 4 is going to be 'bigger' than 1, and what you sell is common for people to combine more of the EXACT same item, or is common for customers to buy multiple Different Items- then you need to NOT use Calculated and do NOT combine shipments. Customer will overpay you, then you can refund.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎03-13-2024

@jawparts wrote: .... None of my listings have dimensions set for shipping ....

As noted in the other post, this is the root of your problem. You can't expect the buyer to be charged an accurate postage cost if the information in the listing isn't accurate, including both package weight and dimensions.

The package dimensions matter a lot more now than they did before January 21, when eBay introduced "Cubic" rates for Priority Mail and Ground Advantage. Cubic rates are based on package volume rather than weight, so if the dimensions in the listing are smaller than the actual package, the buyer will be undercharged. Cubic rates apply to packages up to 1 cubic foot for Ground Advantage, and up to .5 cu ft for Priority.

Here's the eBay Announcement about the latest USPS updates, including Cubic pricing:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/2024-USPS-Rate-Changes/ba-p/34236252

marshamellow_treasures · ‎03-22-2024

Add a small handling charge to your standard calculated shipping. I add $2 because if I didn't I would be losing money on almost every shipment. The customer is undercharged on both envelope and box shipping by eBay.