**bleep** ...forced ebay labels is not a discount.
"To get the discounted rate that will be displayed on your listings, make sure to purchase your shipping labels through eBay Labels." the reciprocal effect of this is having to pay a PREMIUM to not use your services. this is **bleep** and should not be allowed.
21 comments
stephenmorgan
·2 years agoeBay Calculated Shipping displayed in a listing is not exactly accurate all the time. If I need to add additional for Insurance or Signature Confirmation, there is no option to do except by adding enough of a Handling Fee to cover the Insurance and or Signature Confirmation.
If I am still able to add a Handling Fee it does not matter if the Retail or Discount Rate is charged/shown to the Buyer. I will make up the difference with a Handling Fee added in. If the ability to add a Handling Fee is taken away, then I will incorporate it in the price of an item.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoYou are charging $9.50 to ship a postcard from NY to NH
You should be able to find a way other than calculated shipping to turn shipping into a profit center.
soth1sol
OP2 years agoof all the responses not caring to understand where i'm coming from... this is one of the more cynical takes. there is no "profit" in trying to not ship items at a loss. i refund the difference, every time, and enjoy contacting buyer with that information. "hey i was able to save you extra, here you go". this is also when i refund difference from combining shipping costs on multiple items, and it was awesome. what i don't want to do is offer reduced shipping price when i cannot always take advantage of reduced shipping price. why? um. bc i don't want to eat those costs when i have to ship via usps directly. as far as i know, time still goes in one direction ...and you can't "opt out" after the fact. what would that even look like? buyer gets smacked with additional charge? or is that burden to offset difference on me to hit up buyer, begging?
also, you know i'm not charging that amount, i require shipping but that's not my amount. and i'm not shipping an artist postcard as a shipped postcard. you get that, right?
fern*wood
·2 years agoTo get discounted postage, you need to buy it online somewhere. To have your buyers pay retail rates, you need to opt out of having ebay charge them the discounted rates. You have that choice (for now) with nothing being forced, just strongly encouraged.
soth1sol
OP2 years agoi guess QR codes at usps clerk help to mitigate problems with printing, wifi connections, out of network, etc - but it has happened to me enough that having the option on other side of sale (including ability to offer refunds on shipping) was better for business relations overall. like, what do i do if something comes up and buyer paid discounted rate i can't take advantage of? am i just "forced" to eat those costs? or can i hit up buyer after transition with "c'mon i need just a little extra, or else i'm gonna take a hit getting this to you"???
buyselljack2016
·2 years agoJust "opt out" and calculated shipping listings will continue to charge the buyer the "retail rates".
Nothing to **bleep** about. Just a few clicks in the message that you got from eBay, and you are all set.
soth1sol
OP2 years agoif i sell an item at ebay's reduced shipping price, but cannot for some reason or another take advantage of ebay's reduced shipping price (QR code helps to mitigate but there have been times where i had to do it everything manually via usps) ...i gotta eat those costs? or what, cancel sale? can i "opt out" after transaction? if so (probably not), what then? ebay hits buyer up for what it'd otherwise normally cost? or is that burden on me now, to bother buyer?
monroe67
·2 years ago"...forced ebay labels is not a discount."
Where is the force? How does eBay force anybody to do anything?
Don't try to offer Promoted Listings as "evidence" because those are also 100% optional.
". . . . the reciprocal effect of this is having to pay a PREMIUM to not use your services."
That's an upside-down way of looking at this issue.
eBay offers sellers discounted postage rates, at a reduction from the USPS rates.
Any eBay seller may choose not to use those reduced postage rates in their eBay listings.
So, if OP chooses to buy regular postage at his/her local post office, OP considers those rates "at a premium"?
"this is **bleep** and should not be allowed."
Sounds like the OP needs to be walked through the procedures for opting out of eBay's default of discounted postage rates and shipping labels.
soth1sol
OP2 years ago"Sounds like the OP needs to be walked through the procedures for opting out of eBay's default of discounted postage rates and shipping labels. "
if that's an option then i perhaps do, and will apologize. but the opt out is still a workaround that shouldn't exist. opt in to this if anything. buyer should still pay usps rates as it's been. the discount was for seller's benefit and shouldn't be used to "attract more buyers". ebay's justifications aren't adding up to me. i'm not a large company selling thousands of items through massive storefronts tho.
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoSellers have always been able to use their site preferences to choose whether the shipping calculator in their listings shows the retail price or the eBay price. The recent announcement merely re-sets the default to show the eBay price, whereas up until now the default was the retail price. The link to opt out is right in the message from eBay.
soth1sol
OP2 years agoi cannot tell if you are a real person or an AI boilerplate response generator. reiterating the change doesn't prove the "merely" you're suggesting.
"i've a problem w/ xyz."
"why? it is merely xyz."
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoI'll try again: If you don't like xyz, then opt out of xyz and you can carry on your eBay life as it currently stands, as if this announcement had never happened.
soth1sol
OP2 years agoThank you for your patience. This is what it comes down to... If I opt out and charge buyer normal usps rate, can I still take advantage of ebay's reduced pricing (refunding the difference)? "As if this announcement never happened"? Or am i also opting out of taking advantage of reduced pricing (non?)option when listing item, pre transaction?
fern*wood
·2 years agoYes, if we buy our postage online we will still get that discount.
wastingtime101
·2 years ago1. Yes
2. No
Not all sellers are being opted in. If you receive the eBay message there will be a link in the message, but to make it even easier:
If you are opting out before the May 13 deadline you can do so using the link on the Seller Center page:
https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/calculated-shipping-rates
Specifically: https://www.ebay.com/srv/survey/a/shipping.discount.optout
If you miss the May 13 deadline, then you will have to opt out after this goes into effect May 15 on your Shipping Preferences page: https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoYes, you can. All eBay sellers pay the eBay discounted price when purchasing postage through eBay, regardless of what they have charged their buyer for postage.
The announcement changes only the default setting for the shipping calculator in eBay listings. It doesn't change access to the discounted postage rates, nor access to adding a handling fee when setting up a listing with calculated shipping. And if the shipping calculator is set up correctly, there is no "refunding the difference" except in unusual circumstances like combined shipping.
monroe67
·2 years ago"buyer should still pay usps rates as it's been."
1. It hasn't always been that way on eBay, that buyers are "defaulted" into paying USPS retail rates.
In fact, my selling ID has never listed an item that shows a USPS retail rate. I have always chosen to reflect eBay's reduced postage prices.
2. Whether a buyer "should" pay the USPS retail rate regardless of what postage rate the seller pays to eBay is a philosophical question. Again, my selling ID takes the position of passing those eBay reduced postage rates on to the buyer. I believe that is honest and fair to potential and actual buyers.
However, I also add a handling charge when I create my listings; it's part of my "shipping policies." Usually, it is a very low amount, 75 cents; for one heavy and larger item, I did increase the handling charge to 99 cents.
"the discount was for seller's benefit and shouldn't be used to 'attract more buyers'. "
Of all the ways of attracting business, I think passing savings along is a great way to attract buyers.
When I was young and working part time in a formerly major (now defunct) department store, they would occasionally have "special purchase" sales, where the store acquired inventory for low prices, and then sold those things at a lower mark-up. They were usually successful sales.
Sure, in the B&M world, there are always stores who have big sales and give away free balloons for the children, or maybe their kid's garage band playing for free. But internet commerce can't depend on some of those bells and whistles that the B&M world can use.
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoWhat's wrong with pointing out that in order to pay the eBay rates, you have to purchase your labels through eBay? What do you mean by paying a PREMIUM? To whom?
Other online postage sellers often have different price points worked out in their deals with the USPS; for instance, some sellers report that they also use Pirateship because their rates are sometimes lower than eBay's but sometimes higher.