shipping charge
Listed a box of books which weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. It was calculated shipping using Ground Advantage. The box sold and the buyer paid $7.34 for shipping. When I went to print out the ebay shipping label, I used 8 lbs. 3 oz. as the weight and Ground Advantage but I had to pay $9.45. Why the $2.11 difference? I was out the $2.11.
11 comments
carlmarxx
·1 year agoI use USPS Media mail for shipping books . I never used parcel post before it was renamed Ground advantage for shipping books .
wastingtime101
·1 year agoThat's not always the best deal anymore @carlmarxx . Original poster paid $9.45 for a Ground Adv cubic rate which includes insurance if the package is lost in transit.
Media Mail would have cost $10.63 for the same 9lb package. Uninsured and slower service.
carlmarxx
·1 year agoThanks for the information. interesting because eBay has the USPS Commercial shipping Media rates which included shipping insurance.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoMedia Mail is not insured whether purchased through eBay or elsewhere. Not unless you spend the $ on separate insurance.
nobody*s_perfect
·1 year agoeBay shipping labels for Media Mail cost the same as the retail price that you'd pay at the Post Office counter. Neither includes insurance.
jg.mason
·1 year agoI always check ground advantage against media mail after the last media mail increase. I just sold a 10 lb box of cassettes and ground was cheaper. I would say I'm only using media mail about 25% of the time now.
ewsupply
·1 year agoHave seen this calc Shipping descrepecies before, it does go off those entered dim from the listing. Usually when selling a similar item it goes directly from the "templated" auction and up front more or less the package dim will be the same from my pov. So when I prepare it and send there have been times when the box was different and esp weight will vary depending on the packaging of the the item itself (can easily add 8 oz). I personally find it better to put a flat rate for Shipping, say in this instance for yours buyer pd $7.34 I'd peg the item Shipping est to be $10 (more or less) if like in my example, it was templated from another auction. Happy Sellin'!
wastingtime101
·1 year ago$7.34 is the ground adv 0.1 cu rate to zone 6 and the seller paid $9.45 for the 0.3 cu rate to zone 6. If the buyer was in zone 8 that cost would be $10.86 or zone 9 would be $11.57
And if weight-based because the package didn't qualify for cubic rates based on dimensions you're looking at $13.99 to zone 6 and $18.60 to zone 9
Plus there are eBay fees on that cost which bumps the price even more.
All those rates are going up in a few days with holiday surcharges which means any flat rates would need to be adjusted. They they'd have to be adjusted again when rates change in January.
Using a somewhat random flat rate can really bite the seller. As it is, the seller was concerned about a $2.00 discrepancy. I'd suggest sticking with calculated shipping, but as said above - enter accurate dimensions and/or charge retail rates to make sure the seller is charging enough to cover their costs.
Flat rates are good when the seller is very experienced with shipping, knows their business financials, and has done the calculations to work out the numbers for their flat rates.
If a seller doesn't have enough shipping knowledge to know the difference between cubic rates and weight-based rates, flat rates is not the path I'd suggest. 😉
jchan1701
·1 year agoI always use USPS Ground Advantage. When I create the listing, I put in measurements for the length, width, and height of the box, as well as the weight. Shipping cost is calculated based on size of the box, as well as the weight.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoPackage dimensions.
You had smaller (or no) dimensions on the listing form.
When you purchased the label the dimensions were higher than what was on the listing form.
It's a difference in discounted cubic rates which are calculated based on package volume rather than package weight.
If you want to avoid this in the future, make sure the package dimensions on your listing form are correct. Or - don't charge buyers the discounted rate and the buyer will pay retail which doesn't have cubic discounts.
The question is whether you want to charge buyers retail rates or discounted rates. Keep in mind that you have access to discounted rates when you purchase labels on eBay regardless of how much you charge the buyer.
The setting to offer buyers discounted rates can be found on your shipping preferences page under the carrier specific discounts setting: https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf
Since eBay charges a fee on total cost buyer pays (item + ship + tax), by charging discounted rates you are losing money on every single package. If you want to make up for that you can add a handling fee or increase your item costs - or simply charge retail rates for a built in cushion instead of passing on the discounts.
midsummersattic
OP1 year agoThank you so much for this info. I will make the correct changes to avoid this in the future.