Good News , Bad News about shipping costs.
Good news, Today is the day the USPS and FedEx holiday shipping surcharge ends. UPS ended theirs yesterday.
Bad news, is the USPS package rate increase of 5-8% goes into effect today. UPS & FedEx have already increased their rate by about 5.9% with additional increases depending on the service chosen.
mudshark61369
"There is no such thing as foolproof, because fools are so darned ingenious" (unknown)3113View listings
Posted 8 months ago·Last reply 8 months ago
7 comments
lakefor94
·8 months agoI bought a label for a 2 lb package yesterday going from DFW to Alabama or thereabouts.
UPS Ground Saver was cheaper than USPS GA.
Today I bought another label for the same basic shipment, 2 lbs to Alabama and UPS GS and UPS Ground were both cheaper than USPS GA. Never thought I would see that.
These purchases were thru PirateShip.
Though USPS will be picking up the last mile once again for the UPS GS, on a lot of those shipments.
christworks
·8 months agoThe good thing is that shipping rate increases impact everybody to some degree. It isn't as if the rates only impact people in a certain part of the country.
Eventually eBay will have to address the rising shipping costs though. I think in the next year or two eBay will have some type of contract with USPS, similar to PM's agreement, where items up to 5LBS, for example, ship for a flat rate no matter what part of the country the buyer is located in. You may see a similar agreement with FedEx or UPS for items over 1 cubic foot. USPS really wants to be the go-to source for packages under 1 cubic foot and that don't need to be delivered in 1–2 days. I have no doubt they are going to pursue eBay on this, if they haven't already.
lakefor94
·8 months agoEvery increase certainly cuts deeper into the profits for the inexpensive items with free shipping. I reckon calculated shipping is one of the answers and lotting those items up is another.
Still, USA shipping is one of the best deals on the planet.
ADDENDUM:
One thing I do is on the cheap stuff with free shipping or calculated that are multi-quantity available is offer steep discounts on buying 2, 3 or 4 or more to entice quantity purchasing.
The single quantity sales are just to pad the metrics in case of snafus. I use to only list cheap items in lots but a lot of folks don't need 5, 10 or 20 of something so I broke down and made any quantity available.
I was busier years ago as well with activities away from the house so I thought I was too busy to mess with the small orders. Just not that full of myself these days......
krazzykats
·8 months agoI’m shipping a 4 oz box for $5.41, and any package size up to 6x6x6 will ship for the same 4 oz price. Whether it’s 1x1x1, 2x2x2, 3x3x3, 4x4x4, 5x5x5, 6x6x6, or any variation, the cost was the same.
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sfau
·8 months agoI just looked and I don't think we can ship anything under 4oz. for under $5 anymore....boo.
tashkenta
·8 months agoHaven't been able to for quite a while now. At least a year, it seems.
kibble-net
·8 months agoEveryone is shouting that the sky is falling with the updated USPS rates, meanwhile it costs me $3 less to ship a 20x12x12 box full of board games next Tuesday than it did last Friday.
As always, if you feel you're not getting your money's worth, use a different courier, or start your own 🙂