WOW!
Summary: inhawaii is facing a dilemma about whether to absorb increased shipping costs for baseball caps or raise the shipping fee and risk losing sales. Participants discussed various challenges with shipping, including changes in USPS pricing and issues specific to eBay's policies. Suggestions included checking competitors’ prices, considering alternative shipping strategies, or marginally increasing item prices. The discussion also touched on frustrations with rural shipping charges and the potential impacts on sellers. Some participants advocated for adjusting shipping fees rather than absorbing costs.
It now costs me $8.40 in postage to ship a baseball cap from Hawaii to PA.
$8.40 postage
$1.00 ebay fees (approx.)
$0.50 box
__________
$9.90
I've been charging my customers $7 shipping which seemed to be the "sweet spot".
I still make enough on the hat to make the profit I want.
I'm just contemplating...
Do I leave the shipping at $7 and make a little less profit -or- raise the shipping and possibly lose sales?
I would love to hear what other sellers think.
modulok!
·Jul 17, 2026 at 1:19 AM@inhawaii The answer you are overlooking is quite simple actually...just move. If you got anymore brain busters feel free to send em my way. Next.
sin-n-dex
·Jul 17, 2026 at 12:26 AMI went to check Stallion to see what they'd charge me to ship to Honolulu (at least I think that's the zip code I picked).
$17 CAD for Ground Advantage, that doesn't include any tariffs of the 1.49 customs brokerage fee. That NL Post thing is looking OK, I might try that out if I get a Hawaii order.
jade-la
·Jul 16, 2026 at 11:05 PMBeen pricing my items competitively with a $4.99 shipping price to which I always had to 'add' as you can't send anything for $4.99 (and pay the commission on the shipping fee), now at $8.40 it may no longer cut it.
blackssilvershop
·Jul 16, 2026 at 11:30 AMMe too, $8.40 seems to be the High in Shipping now. When will we get $1 for Handling on every Listing, on Auto. Maybe eBay should begin to "Roll That Out" the Labor of Shipping for every eBay Seller is Unbelievably Labor Intense. We must have some Workarounds for the Outlandish Raise of Our Governments only Business.
I mean, I miss Nixon! I wish he was over there!
ryry-jj
·Jul 16, 2026 at 4:16 AMAnd I bet all along you thought you were selling a hat? You were sellin the shipping of it going from Hawaii to PA and didn't charge enough for it. We can buy a hat anywhere, but a special hat that comes from Hawaii, now that should cost the buyer some shipping.
Btw, if its not a special hat from Hawaii, you need to find some special hats from Hawaii to sell. I think $9 to ship from Hawaii alllllllll the way to Pennsylvania is cheap. Think about it, you can sit at home, and have the package dropped at your door for $9...you just need get up, walk to the door, open the box and put your hat on! I paid $6 for a d@&n ice tea yesterday...I'd rather have a hat
inhawaii
OPJul 16, 2026 at 3:20 PMI wish more of my customers were like you.
inhawaii
OPJul 16, 2026 at 2:11 AMBecause I'm in Hawaii, It costs me $8.40 even for a small 4 oz. package going to ANY state.
blackssilvershop
·Jul 16, 2026 at 11:32 AMThat's Crazy!
toomuchstuffagain35
·Jul 16, 2026 at 3:03 PMThat's nuts. What zone is Los Angeles from you for instance?
lakefor94
·Jul 16, 2026 at 1:59 AMRaise the shipping now. You are in this for the long run. Make more money in the long run.
I think I am going to put a flat rate of $2.00 or $3.00 on most everything I have as free USPS shipping.
plus_music_products
·Jul 16, 2026 at 4:03 AMThis exactly. It's the only way other than to just raise the price on everything by the same amount. Free shipping is over. Just jumped the shark.
blackssilvershop
·Jul 16, 2026 at 11:34 AMBest not to lose FS... It's what keeps the Motor going... The fact is eBay Buyers demand it... they are super smart. They never fail and nobody fools them for even 1 second!
florida_parts
·Jul 16, 2026 at 1:44 AMRaise it to 9.99. You dont work for free
authentic*vintage
·1 month agoAverage your shipping - if it will still be $6 or so to other locations, then the $7 shipping will average out - bump your item price up by 50 cents or so to account for handling. But psychologically, the shipping costs can make or break a sale. I wouldn't change it.
stainlessenginecovers
·1 month ago@inhawaii I'm assuming it's because you are outside the continental so you will always pay that higher price. But, even though you believe the $7 works, you sell things that most nobody else does and if everyone increases (which many did whether they know it or not, using calculated) I'm in the same boat but I raised my $5.99 to $7.99 and my $7.99 to $9.99 and 12.99 to 14.99 and haven't missed a beat (2 months ago as soon as I heard of the increases coming).
I, like you, sell things most nobody else does...and 5+ years ago MANY websites were charging $9..99 and $14.99 to ship things that anyone knowing shipping costs, ship for $5-$7. But, thousands paid it as these are some 'big' (although specialty, like you and I) companies/websites.
spreepowersports
·1 month agoI think this is going to be the final straw for "Free Shipping" for us. Flat rate was ~$6 to handle packages, but now "rural" is +$2. So, I can either raise all prices by $2 to cover, or charge actual shipping and rural customers (whatever those are considered) will get to pay for it, unless Ebay puts a "Rural Surcharge" in place... can you imagine the backlash on that?
toomuchstuffagain35
·1 month agoTbh, I think unless someone else does the legwork, figuring out a rural surcharge algorithm to cope with the list of rural zipcodes might be a bit above ebay coders' paygrade (and possibly if offshore, their understanding of the brief).
spreepowersports
·1 month agoI suspect the rural surcharge will get rolled back by USPS. I can't imagine the change is going to sit well with public. I've been on fence with moving away from "Free Shipping" for some time anyway; this just finally forced the issue.
tsme35
·1 month agoIt's all about the RURAL zip codes, I can block HI, AK and the territories BUT I can't do anything about the rural zip codes. I'm out $10 in higher shipping today, I can't block rural, if I switch to calculated shipping the all my buyers will pay $8.40+ on a 4 oz package, that won't happen. This is a business killing rate increase, this isn't some $.30-.50 rate increase, this is major. Ebay needs to get the USPS rural zip codes and do like HI and AK, allow to block them or set up a rule to charge them a different rate.
lakefor94
·Jul 16, 2026 at 1:52 AMWhat the public likes or does not like won't make a difference.
florida_parts
·Jul 16, 2026 at 1:45 AMThey just did put a rural surcharge in place. You can download the zip codes affected
tsme35
·Jul 16, 2026 at 2:27 AMWon't do much good if ebay doesn't set up a business policy like they have for HI and AK, you can't block by zip code. I did call ebay and actually talk to an US rep, didn't chew her out, no sense but did suggest ebay set up a rural shipping policy. I let her know, I"ll be selling out inventory won't be buying anymore low price inventory to sell on ebay, wouldn't make sense to lose money. There's always a little sticker shock when shipping goes up $.25-.50 but jumping from $6.50 to $9 ain't gonna fly.
toomuchstuffagain35
·1 month agoI'm still trying to work out the best way to handle it.
authentic*vintage
·1 month agoaveraging - like health insurance - the urban shipments will have to pay the difference for the rural ones
dolcetreasures
·1 month agoRaise your prices marginally, maybe by .50 or so and spread it across many items.
spreadlovelikefire
·1 month agoCan you spread it out over other products you sell? For instance, because you are located in Hawaii, will all your postage be in this $8.40 range now? Or does it matter where it's going? I do free shipping on all my items but I'm contemplating the same thing. However, I'm located in Missouri so I'm getting a handful of rural zip codes a day that I can off set with others where I either up the price on other goods in my store or make up for it here and there and make my boxes a bit heavier by double boxing items that qualify for the 2-3 lb discount. So what I use to pay in shipping to California 2-3 pounds now makes up for the increase in the rural rates. This is such a mess.
toomuchstuffagain35
·1 month agoI'm wondering that myself.
It might be that the zipcode they're sending it to is considered 'rural?
I would think HI only gets hit with the anything under a pound ships at the pound rate if it's going TO HI.
tsme35
·1 month agoYou might have heard from other threads but it be worth your time to check out pirate-ship. This last week I've sold to a few "rural" zip codes and P-S was $2+ cheaper, for now their still ounce base shipping.
thriftyfiftyfifty
·1 month agoNo Longer for Rural Zips...changed last night actually.
more_than_common_cents
·1 month agoPirate Ship WAS cheaper for about 2 days, unfortunately they wised-up and are now the same as eBay for these rural zip codes, which to me is a bunch of BS, just another way to screw sellers over.
tsme35
·1 month ago · Editedwow is right, just had an order going to OR, sure enough P-S went up. Looks like it's close to the end, was trying to retire next year, guess it will this year. I can't lose $2-$3 on shipping
I just lost $5 in shipping this morning. I sell fishing stuff and rural are my people, time to sell off inventory and close the door
tsme35
·1 month agoI just lost another $4 this afternoon, so out $8 in shipping in one day SO far.
jade-la
·Jul 16, 2026 at 10:59 PMNah. Mercari is the answer. $4.91 for 4 oz. $5.66 for 8 oz. and so on. They negotiated a much better USPS pricing.
caseypl
·1 month agoAs a seller with $18,000 in sales last month, you need to charge more for shipping. $11.95 seems better
dhbookds
·1 month agoout of curiosity........looks like the hats weigh 8 oz.......what happens to what you pay if they are 2.1 #?
inhawaii
OPJul 16, 2026 at 2:08 AMGood question.
I tried that.
The price goes UP.
caldreamer
·1 month agoI would check your competitor's pricing and shipping costs. Even if you are 50 cents cheaper you will make sales.
kept2long
·1 month agoI am having issues with ebays USPS shipping tiers. I am being charged for shipping a 15 oz package when it is only 4 oz. My sons ebays account is showing the tiers but mine is not.
eoma689485
·1 month agoThe USPS eliminated ounce-based tiered pricing for published Commercial Ground Advantage packages under 1 lb. Under these rules, all packages under 16 ounces are consolidated into the standard 12-to-15.99-ounce price tier. This means it officially costs the exact same to mail a 4 oz package as it does a 15.9 oz
kept2long
·1 month agonot if you read the message that ebay sent out on 7-7-2026.Summary: seller_news_team shared updates about USPS rate and service changes effective July 12, 2026, particularly concerning eBay Labels. The tiered-weight structure for Ground Advantage shipments under 1 lb will remain unchanged for the continental US. Media Mail rates are decreasing by 1.8%, while Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express rates are unchanged. Changes to DIM measurements will affect dimensional weight calculations, impacting shipping costs. Additionally, new handling and noncompliance fees are introduced for hazardous materials, and cubic pricing eligibility is expanding.
stainlessenginecovers
·1 month ago@eoma689485 but not on ebay; they are giving a 'special' deal and NOT doing the 'everything charged at 15.99 oz (continental US) except Rural.
plus_music_products
·Jul 16, 2026 at 4:01 AM · EditedThey are not doing that. Have been paying the 15.99 oz rate on select(the rural ones as note) zip codes since Sunday.
bdmh-enterprises
·1 month agoI think you make your hats weigh 2.1 pounds...