New USPS Ground Advantage Rates
Summary: delu-doug expressed concerns about the increase in USPS Ground Advantage rates affecting their profit margins, particularly for lower-priced items. kibble-net suggested calculating shipping rates to let buyers cover the costs, while thriftyfiftyfifty recommended using USPS Click N Ship Business Rates for potential savings. autochains opted for FedEx Ground Economy due to better pricing. Others shared experiences with various shipping strategies, including shifting to Priority Mail or calculated shipping, as well as concerns about upcoming rate increases. Overall, participants discussed strategies to mitigate rising shipping costs without compromising competitiveness.
New Usps ground advantage rates have gone up for me here in Florida and the base price is now $7.90 to ship anything. How are you handling this increase on your lower price items ? There is no profit after ebay fees and shipping costs. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
delu-doug
OP1 month agoJust dropped off at the post office and was informed that rates will be increasing again in October.
thriftyfiftyfifty
·1 month agoAnnual Holiday/Peak Rates are to be expected through all the Carriers...not really a shocker.
delu-doug
OP1 month agoOn top of a big raise already and going Oct thru Jan doesnt help. No need for your sarcasm,
thriftyfiftyfifty
·1 month agoSarcasm? Informing you it’s normal and many of us know it.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 month agoThe base price for GA is not $7.90. My under 4 oz GA packages are $5.63 to some locations.
I have no clue whether a seller's location can trigger the rural surcharge, but it should be explored and if you have the volume you could drive to a larger PO.
Free shipping is no longer realistic for some sellers and products.
Some products may be not worth the effort, even if the buyer pays calculated shipping.
Time to reassess your strategy and merchandise selection criteria.
Good luck.
autochains
·1 month agoI'm selecting FedEx Ground Economy for the time being until I adjust the shipping details on all my listings - it's cheaper than the USPS rates, but now you have to drop them off at FedEx. Will most likely end up changing my shipping to Calculated Shipping Rate - tired of eating the $2-$3 in shipping difference on each package I send. Yes, it will cost the customer much more, which will probably also affect our sales as well. eBay selling is nothing like it used to be!
bolensparts-360
·1 month agoI have been contemplating just going back to all priority mail shipping , for years we always gave an option between first class ( now called ground advantage) and priority . If they are going to hose us almost $8 your better off just having the buyer pay for priority for a few dollars more and they get a faster more reliable service. Its getting to the point where we may not be long for ebay anyway the small seller that is , the fees and once they let in the global sellers selling their knockoff crap to compete with OEM the writing was on the wall.
shire123
·1 month ago@bolensparts-360 Priority has also changed. It is not as reliable as it once was and costs a lot more than just a few dollars. I did consider it for some of my recent sales and the cost difference was more like $5-8.
And if you look at the delivery estimates priority is generally only one day faster per the USPS charts.
Been using USPS ground advantage since the changes and have not had any issues with hundreds of items sent that way.
hrs-hd-neb
·1 month agoif I have under 1/4 in thick under 3 ounce I use stamps Ebay downgrades me but no sales otherwise. brian
kibble-net
·1 month agoCalculated shipping rates. The buyer pays it all. If there's no profit left, raise your prices. This is business 101.
Unfortunately, being in a remote corner of the USA map means that shipping will cost more overall. That's just how things work. More miles = more fuel.
If high fuel prices make you mad, there's an election coming up.
delu-doug
OP1 month agoEasy to say raise prices but I also need to be competetive with my items. Do you offer free shipping or calculated shipping rates on your listings ? Shipping rates have gone up here by $4 in the last several months.
ryry-jj
·1 month ago · EditedBut costs have gone up for everyone...even your competition...we are all in the same boat. Charge for the increased costs. If you are selling things that you cant cover costs, then you need to retool your inventory to items that can sell at a profit.
I believe you can still list with a shipping rates table, offer lower rates closer to home and higher rates the further your items ship so, unless you have an endless well of inventory, you aren't giving up inventory to buyers/sales that you cant profit on
delu-doug
OP1 month agoBut an item that is listed for $20 and is matching competition can not become a $28 item or be reasonably attractive to buyers at $20 plus $8 shipping.
thriftyfiftyfifty
·1 month agoSome of your competition is purchasing Labels (regardless of Rural Zipcode) much cheaper through the USPS Click N Ship Business Rate. Think outside the box and go there.
delu-doug
OP1 month agoThank you I will check it out. Have you used this and is it much cheaper ?
thriftyfiftyfifty
·1 month agoYes i have a Business Rate account. Still provides the Ounce Tier pricing regardless of Rural or not.
ryry-jj
·1 month ago · EditedThen your competition is loosing money too. Don't tell me this is a race to the bottom? Everyone, you, me and your competition has to price to cover cost.
You may find that you need to source your item cheaper to compete. But without major economy of scale, we are all seeing the same shipping costs