With To Calculated Postage Problem... HELP!
Summary: erikstuff experienced unexpectedly high shipping costs after switching to calculated fees for their small items. thriftyfiftyfifty suggested adjusting the account's shipping preferences to reflect commercial rates instead of retail rates, which resolved the issue. Other participants, including itsjustasprain and sanman8753, discussed potential factors like rural ZIP codes and system bugs affecting shipping costs. Some suggested contacting support for resolution, and tobaccocardyahoo noted that the updated rates seemed reasonable for shipments to certain areas.
I got caught by one of those "rural" fees today and figured I should go with "Calculated" fees as I have lots of small items.
It looked good and I updated a load of them
Now my ads with calculated rates are showing WAY higher postage. What did I do wrong?
Help!
masterslocksmith
路3 weeks agoSame thing here. I ship key blanks and I started noticing I was losing money on different sales. I saw that the shipping was very high, $8 for a 1 oz for Advantage shipping. Nothing I did changed it lowered it to normal charges. I have free shipping so on these items I'm losing money. I at most make $2 per key, so I don't have a lot of wiggle room. Been selling for 10 years so I'm very experienced with shipping, with 300-500 sales a month. Not all packages just occasionally. Marc
tobaccocardyahoo
路3 weeks agoI looked at your political listings and the shipping estimates appear reasonable and realistic and should not affect your sales negatively.
If they are "way higher" in your shipments to me in Northern New England, they were too low before.
ryry-jj
路3 weeks agomake sure you are also giving your buyers the ebay rate not the retail rate. If you have not done calculated postage in the past, you may not have paid attention to that setting
authentic*vintage
路3 weeks agoYour weight and dimensions directly play a role in what the shipping cost will be - I cannot do a bulk edit for this reason - there is no way I can ensure that the package size and weight entered into the listing is accurate.
sanman8753
路3 weeks agoCall in, the more that call in about the problem the faster it will get resolved. The United States Postal Service has announced rate and service updates effective July 12, 2026. We鈥檝e highlighted the updates to eBay Labels below.
馃摝 Updates to USPS Mail & Shipping Service Pricing聽
Ground Advantage: although USPS is changing how it prices packages under 1 lb, the good news is eBay Labels will continue to offer the same four weight tiers with no rate increases at this time. Rates for packages over 1 lb are also unchanged. eBay Labels USPS Ground Advantage shipments under 1 lb to rural ZIP codes, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, APO/FPO/DPO addresses follow the new USPS pricing rules.
For the continental United States, the tiered-weight structure remains in place.
sanman8753
路3 weeks agoThere is an obvious bug in the ebay system that is miscalculating the usps shipping rates sporatically, not on all orders, and you'll notice on those if you change the weight of the item the cost does not change. I'm in NY and on one order it was less to ship the same size and weight package to Califironia than it was to ship it to the town just one hour away from me. I reported it to them 3 different times. Hopefully they fix this soon for especially sellers who offer free shipping.
itsjustasprain
路3 weeks agoAgree with all of the above but I had one other thought as well: when you look at your own listings you see the shipping cost to your own address. Are you yourself in one of those extra-cost rural ZIP Codes? (I do not know if they impose that charge if you are shipping within your own rural ZIP but figured I would ask.)
thriftyfiftyfifty
路3 weeks ago@erikstuff I'm guessing they are probably showing your Buyers the "Retail Rate" that they pay at the Post Office. If you want to pass on what you pay for a Label or a percentage thereof, e.g., Commercial Rates, you would have to change it in your Accounts Shipping Preferences to give them a Discount.
erikstuff
OP3 weeks agoThat was it! It looked like I was in for an aggravating day, so THANK YOU for the quick (and accurate) reply.
thriftyfiftyfifty
路3 weeks agoYou're Welcome.
kensgiftshop
路3 weeks agoSmall lighter items now cost more to ship then a packages that weigh a couple pounds.
erikstuff
OP3 weeks agoBut a 2 oz calculated ground advantage shouldn't be $9.20