Got an e-mail from Pirate Ship.....
...that made me happy, See red ink portion.
USPS is increasing some rates on November 18th
While the Postal Service is not adding any Holiday Surcharges this year, they are increasing Priority Mail rates everywhere you can buy postage online
- Priority Mail Flat Rate is increasing up to 6%, because USPS is removing this service from the Connect eCommerce program that provided deeper discounts, so the rates are returning to the Commercial Pricing levels.
- Weight-Based Priority Mail is increasing up to 10% in zones 1-4, but it'll still have discounts that are cheaper than Commercial Pricing
- Dimension-Based Priority Mail Cubic is increasing up to 23% in zones 1-4 for tiers 0.40 and 0.50—so the largest package sizes for this service are getting more expensive in the lowest zones. But the rates are still cheaper than Commercial Pricing
- Ground Advantage is decreasing up to 16% in zones 1-5, depending on the size and weight of your package.
I ship a lot of non-book material this way.
Hope everyone else will benefit from this.
33 comments
valueaddedresource
·2 years agoAlso for anyone keeping track, Auctune put out a very late announcement (November 16) that their various companies are impacted by this change as well.
Stamps.com https://blog.stamps.com/usps-rate-change/
ShipStation https://www.shipstation.com/blog/usps-rate-changes/
ShipEngine https://www.shipengine.com/blog/usps-rate-changes/
ShippingEasy https://shippingeasy.com/blog/usps-2023-shipping-rate-changes/
Endicia https://online-shipping-blog.endicia.com/2023-usps-rate-changes/
mam98031
·2 years agoThat isn't a complete list. Amazon was affected and they have changed their affected rates. Ebay is also affected but has chosen not to make the postal cost changes. I haven't checked other sites.
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@mam98031 understood - I never said it was a complete list.
Etsy was also mentioned further up in this thread as well as eBay's answer so I didn't think it was necessary to repeat those.
I hadn't seen anyone else mention any of the Auctane sites, so figured I'd throw them in for easy reference for those trying to figure out who is affected or not.
caracy
·2 years agoOK. Makes sense, but all previous announcements sure made it look like the standard rate change. Everything except the Saturday start date. USPS always changes rates on a Sunday.
Thanks
mam98031
·2 years agoI think it looked that way because it is what we expect. This is the first one like this one ever as far as I know.
caracy
·2 years agoHere it is November 21st and USPS is still showing rates from July on the website.
not sure whats up....
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@caracy as explained above, this is an adjustment for some service providers to the contracts they have with USPS for Connect Ecommerce, but it's not actually a "rate change" that would need Postal Regulatory Commission approval - that's why you aren't seeing anything posted on the USPS site.
Service providers and marketplaces have negotiated service agreements (NSAs) with USPS that govern the pricing available to them through that program...this is just making adjustments to bring some of those agreements more in line with others across the board (though so far eBay says they will not be impacted).
The next actual USPS rate increase is scheduled for January 21, 2024, pending PRC approval.
devon@ebay
Hi everyone! The Shipping team wanted to share an updated on the USPS Rate Change:
"eBay is not currently raising rates on 11/18. We continue to work with USPS on competitive rates, and when we do have rate changes we try to give our sellers at least two weeks' notice."
valueaddedresource
·2 years agoFor anyone who was following along on this, it appears eBay may now be making adjustments to bring their rates in line with these adjustments Pirate Ship and others made back in November with no notice, despite this comment from @devon@ebay about "trying" to give two weeks' notice before changes.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/USPS-shipping-rates-increased/m-p/34208452/highlight/true#M466349
mam98031
·2 years agoAs of today they have not. Since we are so close to the next USPS update on prices, IMHO Ebay will wait and do it then.
FYI, Amazon said they would wait like Ebay did to update fees, but they didn't. They had the PM rates raised right away. Not sure what they think they accomplished by this. That sellers wouldn't notice?!?!?
Regarding Amazon, for at least the past 3 USPS rate increases, they have increased their pricing up to a week before they were even implemented by USPS. Once I got an email that said Whoops, we will refund sellers that were overcharged. I have never gotten a refund. Now when I see they have the rates higher than they should, I just buy my shipping elsewhere.
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@mam98031 I'd suggest reading that thread I linked to - as of today they actually have, or at least appear to be in the process of doing so.
eBay is not "waiting until then", the rates actually being charged to sellers has been fluctuating since Friday.
They may backtrack and put it back to the old rates again, but that still won't change the fact that different rates have been shown and charged to sellers for the last 5 days.
mam98031
·2 years agoInteresting. I do my shipping every day in Ebay. I have not seen any change to my rates. I have no answers, just sharing my experience. You can choose to disregard it if you'd like.
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@mam98031 I wasn't negating your experience, simply pointing out it's not the only experience and others have documented having a different experience, so it would not be accurate to state "as of today" eBay has not changed their rates when they in fact have, for some sellers and some shipments.
Further details and screenshots are available in that other thread but whatever they do are doing seems to have made things buggy and inconsistent, so it's absolutely possible some sellers are seeing changed rates and others aren't, depending on their shipment details, when they've attempted to print labels and who knows what other factors.
Here's what I experienced earlier today - using a ship on date of 1/10:
and changing the ship on date to 1/12
valueaddedresource
·2 years agoAlso possibly related - I've seen multiple posts in the Etsy community from people who are seeing Priority Mail rates changing already when printing Etsy Labels.
fern*wood
·2 years agoDo these changes only apply to Pirateship labels?
tsme35
·2 years agoPirateship is the only one that has posted the rates, ebay reps don't have a clue and 2 eCommerce sites can't find out either but are trying to find out.
mam98031
·2 years agoNot sure how fair that is. Ebay in the past has always been very good at posting rate changes or at least that has been my experience and I've been selling here a long time. I've never had a rate increase / change sneak up on me before.
This one is very interesting. I actually don't see a difference in the Ground Advantage rates on the schedule, but maybe I will when I ship stuff on the 18th and after.
https://www.pitneybowes.com/us/postal-information/usps-rate-change-overview.html#:~:text=The%20USPS%20stamp%20price%20increase,offset%20the%20rise%20in%20inflation.
Unless I just am having trouble this evening, I'm not finding any announcement by USPS on this rate change that is days away. Can anyone else find their announcement?
tsme35
·2 years agoEBAY REPS HAVE NO CLUE, I called in and ask, of course their supposedly get back to me. I've been selling a long time too, 16+ years now and ebay's been good about giving the heads up on shipping cost. We have less then 10 days to the shipping change, pirate ship only came out with 2 week notice, kinda cutting it close if you have alot of changes to make.
I did find that pirate ship and a few other sites are sign into Connect eCommerce program and don't think Piney(ebay's service) is in it, the pirate ship posted "USPS is removing this service from the Connect eCommerce program that provided deeper discounts, so the rates are returning to the Commercial Pricing levels". I wish I would have saved the sites being effected by this, if I can find it I'll come back.
I also compared our ebay rates now(items I've shipped the last couple days) and the new pirate ship rates on the 18th, and their the same rate, except for the "too low to show" rates.
Honestly I'd love a 16% drop in GA shipping rate, I don't have many priority items left
tsme35
·2 years agoI found it: https://www.usps.com/business/connect/ecommerce-merchants.htm#platforms
tsme35
·2 years agoebay's on the list
mam98031
·2 years agoThat link has nothing about the upcoming rate changes that I could find.
tsme35
·2 years agoYou didn't read my post, it's a link to the companies on the Connect eCommerce program, who may or may not getting the rate changes.
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@tsme35 I saw an interesting post on LinkedIn from a very experienced and knowledgeable supply chain & technology consultant who gave some background on the issue and basically said that some platforms currently have better discounts than others on USPS Connect Ecommerce and those are the ones seeing rate increases, while the platforms that currently have less advantageous pricing are not.
It sounds like USPS is simply adjusting things so that they are the same across the board for platforms using Connect Ecommerce and that may affect some platforms but not others, but it's not actually a "rate change" that would need Postal Regulatory Commission approval.
Still trying to get confirmation but that could certainly explain why some platforms and shipping providers may not be seeing any changes and/or could also explain why some may be tight-lipped about the whole thing so as to avoid discussion about what their previous negotiated discounts might have been.
tsme35
·2 years agofrom what I've found out, that seems to be the issue, it's the sites on the Connect eCommerce program.
fern*wood
·2 years agoThat message from Pirate Ship claims the rates are going up everywhere that you buy online postage from, so it seems that would included ebay labels too, or are they mistaken? ARRrrrr
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@fern*wood maybe not mistaken exactly, but possibly poorly worded or not the full picture, which I think is what has lead to some confusion and concern.
If USPS was in fact giving bigger discounts to some providers/platforms using Connect Ecommerce, and they are now discontinuing that practice making it so that everyone using Connect Ecommerce receives the same rates, then technically it would be more accurate for Pirate Ship to have said "you'll see the same rates everywhere you buy postage online" rather than "rates are going up everywhere."
Basically then it would be a leveling of the playing field, not an across the board increase for everyone, if that makes sense - it would only be an increase for those who previously had more of a discount that will now be at the same rate as everyone else.
Based on the info I've been able to glean from various sources so far, I think that is most likely the case here but I'll put a huge caveat on this that there has not been any official confirmation.
Unfortunately since it's not an actual PRC-approved "rate increase", it isn't something that has to be publicly announced or disclosed by USPS. So for all the various platforms and providers, we may not know if they are affected or not until people just start noticing a change in rates, like some are seeing on Etsy.
stephenmorgan
·2 years agoThat is nice USPS Ground Advantage Shipping will be reduced.
Due to the recent changes with USPS adding Ground Advantage and $100 Insurance I have almost entirely quit using Priority Mail. In the past I have used hundreds and hundreds of the Flat Rate Small Box or Flat Rate Padded Envelopes. Now it is rare to use them. I ordered 1400 plain corrogated shipping boxes to rely more on USPS Ground Advantage.
So far I have not noticed that the Ground Advantage takes any longer than Priority Mail. I wonder if during the Holiday Seasons if there will be long delays with Ground Advantage?
monroe67
·2 years agoThis forum has had a few posts during the last several days about this notice from Pirate Ship.
Assuming eBay's Calculated Shipping calculators will incorporate those decreases into Ground Advantage prices --
I think it's great news for eBay sellers -- unless those sellers routinely offer only Priority Mail deliveries. The first three bullet points all state Priority Mail and they all are going to cost more after November 18th.
Sure, Priority Mail is probably faster than Ground Advantage but, as the trade-off, it's also more expensive and, after November 18th, will be even more expensive than that.
As for my selling ID, she almost never even offers Priority Mail to her potential buyers but sticks with Ground Advantage. So she's not looking at any shipping increases.
yuzuha
·2 years agoYep, the moment Ground Advantage came into existence, I switched all of my listings that were previously Priority Mail to that and never looked back. It saves me AND my buyers money.
retro_entertainment_collectibles
·2 years agoWhat the "PS US" (Postal Service Unto Sellers) ought be doing is surcharging items that come in from nations who subsidize their mail service at subsequent rates like China does. Level the field. After all, its US employee's who are doing the work once parcels hit US Shores. Take those surcharges and apply them against LOW WEIGHT parcels of US shippers instead of playing shuffle puck games.
4pawsup*
·2 years agoYep that is a win for some sellers. 16% nice.