Post Office Pricing
USPS with rates is going to put all out of business.
Making almost impossible to sell small items on EBay.
I buy from Ali Express pay only $1.99 per package all the way from China, but When I send an 8ons package in US about $6 one small package outrages!!!
SAL
13 comments
kibble-net
·8 months agoApples and Oranges. I don't sell things that can be purchased on AliExpress, so here is a big shrug for you.
Quit blaming USPS, and start blaming yourself if your business isn't getting you the success you desire. If you are selling cheap items that buyers can acquire on AliExpress then maybe you're in the wrong business.
fullers_uk
·8 months agoYes, there are various factors with ali shipping and other services from China.
#1 USPS only do the final mile delivery and only in certain regions otherwise its bottom feeders like speedx.
#2 China is considered and undeveloped country by the UPU a part of the United Nations that regulates international mail services, this mean China pay far less interchange rates than the US and the UK, thats why, just like you I pay around $14.00 USD dollars to send a tracked envelope to the US but China pay less than $2.00 usd to send the same parcel to the US and the UK.
#3 The Chinese government subsidises there outbound shipping.
While tariffs have gone some way towards helping the situation in certain circumstances its thought they may be breaching international trade regulations by subsidising aspects of international trade.
reallynicestamps
·8 months ago#2 China is considered and undeveloped country by the UPU a part of the United Nations that regulates international mail services, this mean China pay far less interchange rates than the US and the UK, thats why, just like you I pay around $14.00 USD dollars to send a tracked envelope to the US but China pay less than $2.00 usd to send the same parcel to the US and the UK.
As of September 2016, the UPU moved China out of the "undeveloped country" status and they are now paying other nations the same fees for final mile delivery as Italy or the UK or the USA.
This was achieved by a virtual strike by the postal systems of developed nations , which put Chinese packages at the bottom of their priority list, leaving millions of packages held up at border points for weeks or months.
The other problem was that the postal system was being used to smuggle in fentanyl, so not only postal systems were involved. The smugglers and China Post were not actually accomplices in this part of the problem.
This was a huge international operation.
There was a lot of discussion about this here on eBay and the threads, some hundreds of posts long, are probably still archived.
today0
·8 months agoI agree completely with you. It wasn't long ago I had to revise the shipping on all my auctions. I just did it again this weekend. A padded flat rate Priority envelope was $11.xx. I cannot justify Priority anymore. I've switched to Fedex ground for most items over 2lbs. I had to change from Fedex ground/ home delivery. There is a difference in price. However, I don't trust Fedex. They have screwed me twice on up charges and Ebay is hopeless fighting them. Fedex is dishonest. I cannot talk to Fedex because I'm third party. I cannot afford UPS. USPS is nearly at the same price as Fedex ground, but I'm afraid to use them for everything. I think we're getting close to the end for our store as sells have slowed with our shipping increases. We've been doing this a long time and never seen shipping prices go up so quickly. Keep in mind, Ebay is charging you a percentage for your shipping fee. It has to affect all sellers, maybe it just takes longer for some to realize it. For our business in outdoor power, I think our customer's will decide to throw it away verses repairing it. The industry is changing to battery powered anyway. We try to keep shipping at break even. Office supplies for us are boxes, bubble envelopes, tape, printer ink and paper. $8052 in shipping expenses, charged our customers $7824 in 2025 on 1338 orders. We learned the hard way not to use free shipping as you eat it on returns.
meme6253
·8 months agoIt is definitely not making it easier for us sellers!, There are multiple ways to add the cost to the customer, But it keeps happening & at some point that will no longer be feasible either.
robbie31415
·8 months agoShipping from China for 1.99 is because tax payers subsidized it.
I feel that should be ended more than decreasing USPS.
For the most part the USPS is the most competitive priced shipping in the US.
Sorry that some here want to milk tax payer money for their cheaper shipping.
If anything USPS needs more drastic price increases.
Maybe that would decrease volume and force people to recognize the USPS needs to be downsized and consolidated with automation to make pricing competitive.
Change needs to be done, US so hesitate to do so.
eric.lang
·8 months agoI mean not all the time but most the time for me usps is more for a far lesser service not as bad as fedex though
reallynicestamps
·8 months agoYou can buy discounted mint never hinged postage stamps on eBay.
That could take your shipping cost down from $6 to $3 or less.
Some warnings.
The cheap rolls of Forever stamps are Chinese counterfeits.
"Unused" or "No Gum" stamps have been soaked off envelopes. They are also illegal to use.
"Hinged" stamps are legal, but someone licked that hinge at some point. Ick.
hartungcards
·8 months agoYou can always drive your orders across country and deliver them yourself.
tobaccocardyahoo
·8 months agoThe cost of shipping requires reassessing what you sell. Just as many other issues require reassessing what you sell.
Choices may be
This is an exercise which would have been better to have performed when the new rates were announced, but you and I are not the only ones who did not act sooner.
krazzykats
·8 months agoBundle items whenever possible—like offering a pair of license plates or creating sets of related products—for more value for the money. Would selling a pair of license plates for around $19.99 be a better deal than selling only one with free shipping?
Anyway, something along those lines.
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eric.lang
·8 months agoSo go with Ups they are faster and cheaper anyway.
stainlessenginecovers
·8 months ago@eric.lang
Very Wrong!
No idea WHERE you get that from (unless you have an account w/ UPS shipping 100's of items a week)