Ebay shipping charge is more than buyer paid AND more than Pirate Ship
I sold a glass lid. I weigh my item, then add for the box and paper / bubble wrap. So, for the lid, I used 3 lb for ebay to calculate shipping.
Ebay showed and the buyer paid $8.14 for USPS Parcel Select. The amount ebay is charging is $8.80. I've not ever had this occur where the Parcel Select amount I pay is more than the buyer paid.
I changed the weight to 2 lb, and the charge dropped to $8.22, which is still more than the buyer paid.
Usually, when a buyer chooses Parcel Select, I upgrade to Priority because the amount for Parcel is very close to Commercial Priority. After I packaged the item and trimmed a box to fit the item better to use less packing materials, it came in at 1 lb 13 oz, so discounted Priority was $8.82, which still seemed a bit off.
I checked Pirate Ship, which should be the same, or just pennies off since they and ebay advertise 30 and 29% off respectively, but Pirate Ship was $7.95 for Parcel Select where ebay was $8.22, and the bigger difference is for Priority, Pirate Ship was $8.05 where ebay wanted $8.82.
I searched the boards for this topic. A few sellers mention it, but as I said, it's a first for me where ebay charges the buyer LESS for shipping than they want to charge me. Maybe this is just occurring with Parcel Select.
This difference in Priority between Ebay and Pirate Ship concerns me. It seems counter productive to have to leave ebay to purchase shipping labels. I'll now be checking rates with Pirate Ship on other items as well. I knew the import from ebay feature was available, but had no idea that when I import from ebay then purchase from Pirate Ship, that they then place the tracking number into ebay as well. I didn't even need to copy and paste.
If you stayed this far - I know some in the Community hate long posts, but at least I broke up the monotony of one long paragraph -
Has ebay been consistently overcharging when they advertise commercial rates, is Pirate Ship undercharging, is this a one off situation or have I made a mistake somewhere?
Thanks!
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoThe difference in prices seems to come from being charged for different Zones, which would result from differences in ZIP Codes.
$8.14 = Parcel Select Ground for 3 pounds to Zone 4
$8.80 = Parcel Select Ground for 3 pounds to Zone 5
$7.95 = Parcel Select Ground for 2 pounds to Zone 4
$8.22 - Parcel Select Ground for 2 pounds to Zone 5
The listing shows "Item location" as Belle Vernon PA. In the images you provided, the ship from location is given as Perryopolis PA 15473 and "Return to" as Belle Vernon PA 15012. The ship to location is in ZIP Code 54665. If I generate a Zone chart for 54665, I see that ZIP Codes beginning with 150 are in Zone 4 and ZIP Codes beginning with 154 are in Zone 5.
So the difference in prices is apparently due to you using different Ship from locations in eBay vs Pirateship. If you are actually shipping from Bell Vernon, just need to update the "Ship from" locaton information on the eBay label preparation form.
https://postcalc.usps.com/DomesticZoneChart
anasazirose
OP3 years agoThank you SO much! These are neighboring zip codes. While our house and our house, (yes) are 8 miles apart, there is an 'imaginary line' where you can make one step and go from 15012 to 15473. I never would have thought they'd be in different zones to anywhere. BUT, I guess ya gotta draw the line somewhere!
So, while I do my 'packing up' of items in 15012, I drive to the post office in 15473 on my way to the other place and ship them. I can use either zip code, I suppose. Sometimes I've even mailed them from a post office 30 miles north because when I left the house, the post office was still closed.
Thank you again for going down that rabbit hole for me, nobody*s_perfect.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoYou're welcome, and thank you for coming back with all those details. As you said, they have to draw the line (for ZIP Code 546xx) somewhere.
anasazirose
OP3 years agoOne added thought. While my item location and ship from address are different. I'm thinking ebay should be using the ship from zip code for both.
atomic_bacon
·3 years agoI've had the same issues NUMEROUS times in the past with ebay's economy shipping calculator. A few years ago I managed to get on a chat or phone call with an ebay agent, who told me that rates for those services, and for ANY shipping service when the weight is less than one pound, are not guaranteed to be accurate. The only solution I've found is to only use Priority Mail when shipping via USPS, or add a small handling fee to <1 lb. items- fifty cents to a dollar- just to break even on the shipping cost.
wastingtime101
·3 years agoSorry to tell you @atomic_bacon that CS rep gave you terrible advice. With USPS the shipping calculator is exact. If you're having difficulties with FC shipments, post your problem in a new thread on this board. We will diagnose it for you. There are a couple of common issues that come up and solve 95% of the first class problems people encounter.
atomic_bacon
·3 years agoWith USPS the shipping calculator is exact.
With Priority Mail: yes. Other USPS services: agree to disagree, based on my own personal experience as a seller.
wastingtime101
·3 years agoLike I said: provide examples and we'll diagnose it.
Issues like package type, retail vs commercial rates, ship from zip, etc - all user-entered data - are common issues.
The shipping calculator operates on a GIGO system when it comes to USPS.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoYour problem is not the same as the one in the original post, which was due to the seller using two different ZIP Codes when calculating shipping -- it was user error, there was no problem with the eBay shipping calculator.
The customer service rep's explanation makes no sense; eBay sellers regularly calculate postage for packages under one pound with no problem at all. If you find that the shipping calculator is undercharging for weights under one pound, that is probably user error, too -- the most common reason is when the listing charges the buyer for a flat (AKA Large envelope) but the seller purchases postage through eBay, because eBay only sells postage for packages, not for letters or flats. But as noted in the other reply, we can probably help if you provide specific details, including package weight and dimensions, service used (e.g., Priority Mail?), both ZIP Codes, and both exact prices.