Ebay shipping calculator has been way off for the last 6 months
For the last 6 months my estimated ebay shipping charges have been nearly double(not always- but a lot) and I was wondering if others are seeing the same thing.
To clarify, when a buyer purchases an item from our store, the estimated shipping that they pay sometimes comes in at double the actual shipping rate that I pay to get the item to them. I feel like it could be killing sales as most people don't like high shipping prices on items and I can't help but think that it's slowing down our sales. I know most would say that it's a bonus to get extra cash for the item, but I like our customers to get a good deal and would like them to continue to do business on Ebay. Plus sending back partial refunds is annoying. Is this only happening here?
7 comments
stainlessenginecovers
·2 years ago@jsfindustrial @pjcdn2005
The 'difference' between "Retail" and the 'Discounted' rate is FAR LESS than 50%, so that cannot be the issue.
What it CAN be is a Combination of
a.) using retail
b.) adding a 'handling fee' to the retail amount
You MIGHT get to 50% (or double to the customer) this way.
c.) and/or NOT having the correct dimension/weight.
The 'NEW' 'cubic rate' saves about 10%-25% max; My packages- using a 21x11x7 box weighing 6 lbs going from Nevada to New York WAS about $13 (Ground Advantage) and is NOW about $11 for the same.
A MUCH bigger difference for longer distance shipments (6,7,8 zones away) was the New Ground Advantage vs. Priority (which I had to use over 16oz)
Same package as above going to same location
Ground Advantage $13 (now $11 with Cubic)
Priority ($17 to $19)
jsfindustrial
OP2 years agoInteresting. Well I don't charge a handling fee on anything and my weight and dimensions are usually a bit lower than the actual size, so I'm sure that this isn't it. I will take a package to UPS and see what they charge at the counter. Thanks for the information- appreciated.
wastingtime101
·2 years agoYou can see both retail rates and eBay rates on the shipping calculator @jsfindustrial . Here's a recent screenshot. Just below the carrier tab see how you can toggle between retail/eBay rates?
For FedEx/UPS it can indeed be half the cost using eBay rates as demonstrated below. FYI: UPS just raised rates yesterday.
pjcdn2005
·2 years ago@stainlessenginecovers
You’re right, I hadn’t thought of the difference that ground advantage woukd have made.
But it does look like using the retail rate can make a big difference. When I use the same dimensions and weight that you used 6 lbs 21 x 11 x 7 from Las Vegas to NY the retail rate for ground advantage shows as $23 which is about double to the $11 cubic rate that you quoted.
pjcdn2005
·2 years agoThe eBay calculator defaults to retail prices. If you want to charge the commercial price that you pay when you print your label here you would change your preferences on the following page. https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf/carrier
If you check off eBay’s discounted rates, you may want to add a handling charge to account for fvf fees on shipping and packaging costs.
jsfindustrial
OP2 years agoThanks for the info., I'll check into that. This still doesn't explain the surge in shipping fees that Ebay is charging the customers. I more interested into why this change has suddenly occurred?
pjcdn2005
·2 years agoEBay recently started charging the cubic weight on some parcels. From what I’ve read that can lower the price quite a bit on packages. I believe ( but are not sure) that it just affects packages less than 1 cu ft. and came into effect about the 3rd week in January. Before that there shouldn’t have been a larger than usual discrepancy between retail and commercial rates.