The July 2026 USPS postal increases have left me reeling. . ..
Summary: 1786davycrockett expressed frustration over declining sales, attributing it partly to USPS price increases that make shipping collectibles costly. Due to the sales drop and physical exhaustion of sourcing items, they've paused listing new items on eBay and plan to focus on other activities. grann-4629 offered sympathy, noting that shipping costs are affecting everyone, including large companies. tobaccocardyahoo suggested strategies such as setting a higher minimum price and using alternative shipping methods to improve profitability.
Only 5 sales so far this month -- 3 books, 1 magazine and 1 stamp.
Part of the problem, I suspect, can be attributed to the chaotic USPS price increases in July 2026 -- USPS Ground Advantage is just too costly for shipping inexpensive collectibles, which can not be shipped at Media rates, and are not classified under eBay Standard Envelope (ESE) rules.
And we're all braced for more increases in October 2026, followed by the annual January post-holiday increase in 2027.
As of January 2026, I stopped most of my sourcing, due largely to the heavy drop in sales, due to previous USPS rate increases, as well as because I am just about to turn 80, and physically it is quite exhausting to go traipsing hither and yon as I did in my younger years.
So I've decided to pause my listing of new items on my eBay site as well, since sales have diminished so heavily -- I still have thousands of items yet to be listed; but simply no desire to waste time on items which get few watches, and no buyers.
If sales come in, I'll ship them out, as before; but I'll reallocate my eBay hours to more fruitful pursuits -- such as watching paint dry, or observing bananas as they ripen, or pondering the infinity of pi.
But I'll still be around to share my wisdom (or lack thereof).
Good luck.
12345jamesstamps
·Aug 7, 2026 at 8:12 PMAs I offer free shipping for my items...I don't think it has to do with shipping cost.
Sellers are promoting higher these days...the algorithms as to who has their items seen or can be seen we don't know...I mean, we can block a potential buyer in seconds...as well as what algorithms can do beyond our control.
It's been slow for me...getting 'repeat buyers' but that's about it this month.
With my free international shipping usually free and 4 different sales going on in my store it is still slow.
tobaccocardyahoo
·Aug 7, 2026 at 8:01 PM · EditedLet me make a couple of suggestions which might mean letting the paint dry, unsupervised.
Set a higher minimum price for deciding whether to list your items. Make the payoff bigger when you are successful in making a sale.
Open an account with Veeqo and ship your magazines and pamphlets and booklets by Bound Printed Matter. Up to 1 lb for $4.15. No rural surcharges.
Consider not specifying the actual service and substituting Economy Shipping -giving you more flexibility in selecting services.
These are not cure alls but they can help you not go cold turkey.
P.S. I turned 80 in April.
grann-4629
·Aug 7, 2026 at 8:00 PMThat is very sad to hear @1786davycrockett - I sincerely hope things get better for you. If it helps, we're all in the same boat ... it's more expensive for all buyers and sellers who deal on-line now. Even Amazon is shipping expensive items in flimsy plastic bags these days to save money.
tobaccocardyahoo
·Aug 7, 2026 at 8:03 PMAmazon is shipping in variety of flimsy bags, but if you could see the inside of their trucks, you could see why they can risk doing that.