UPSP's new shipping fees. Not eBay's fault but....
Summary: frogsandfish4u expressed frustration over the nearly 80% increase in shipping rates for rural areas, making it challenging to maintain free shipping for over 600 listed items. albertabrightalberta and yoonix1 suggested adjusting item prices or charging for shipping. soh.maryl and christworks discussed the difficulty in discerning rural locations, noting the impact of zip codes on shipping costs. Several participants shared experiences with different shipping providers and methods to mitigate costs, while others expressed dissatisfaction with the changes and debated fault between USPS and eBay. Suggestions included using calculated shipping and adjusting listing prices to accommodate the new rates.
Yesterday, shipping rates on eBay for rural locations went up by almost 80%. A package under 4 oz that used to cost me $5.50–$6.47 (which was already way too high) is now almost $9.00.
I advertise free shipping and have always been willing to absorb or write off the shipping cost, but at these rates, there's simply no return on investment.
I currently have 600+ items listed, with thousands more waiting to be listed. How is anyone supposed to survive these kinds of increases?
definingstyle
·1 week ago@christworks I don't think it has to do with rural zip codes. I downloaded the list you provided (thank you so much for doing that!!! I have been looking for something like that) and one of the items I was charged $8 for (a 3oz pkg) did not appear on the list. I can't be sure yet, because of all my sales in the last 2 weeks, only 2 have had super high shipping. I did notice that if I had chosen FedEx for one of those buyers, the rate was more within normal range. I'm still looking for other reasons, but like some other sellers here, I think it has to be an ebay glitch.
christworks
·1 week agoYou are welcome.
As I said in that post with the link to the list, as far as I know the list has not changed. There is always a chance USPS has made adjustments though when I was still doing audits for them the plan at the time was to only adjust after each census.
I do not think there is an eBay glitch at all. I think some people are sitting up and pay attention for the first time in a long time. They don't know their numbers and when they finally are figuring out, everything seems high. Not saying that is you, but that is the case with a lot of people.
I would be shocked if anybody has more than 20%-30% of their orders coming from rural zip codes. It is certainly not every order as some people claim.
definingstyle
·1 week ago · EditedOk. I just checked ebay announcements and actually it IS rural rates. Here's the announcement from the shipping team and there is also a new list. Both my sales were on this updated list. Update as of 7/13/26
📦 Ground Advantage Pricing Update
eBay Labels USPS Ground Advantage shipments under 1 lb to rural ZIP codes, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, APO/FPO/DPO addresses follow the new USPS pricing rules.
For the continental United States, the tiered-weight structure remains in place.
Sadly, now I don't know what to do about it. I'll try to see if I can find a way to add a handling fee to rural areas, tho that does not seem fair to them. Maybe I'll just raise my rates overall a bit based on the percentage of rural shipping I do. Darn, more math and spreadsheets. I'm a retired accountant, so I can figure it out (eventually), but not all ebay sellers are trained that way :(
bigriverbaits
·2 weeks agoThis SUCKS. Anybody know of a petition I can go sign? #*(#$&^%*$%)(#$*!!
"The core mission of the United States Postal Service (USPS) is to bind the nation together by providing trusted, affordable, and universal mail service. By law, it is obligated to provide prompt, reliable, and efficient delivery services to all communities, reaching every address in the United States and its territories."
I would say you can throw "affordable" out the window with this if we haven't already.
My component prices have been close to flat over the last 5 years. What has driven my price increases during that time has been TOTALLY postal increases.
broto_64
·2 weeks agoSame but my supplier's prices have risen as has their shipping so I have no other choice, the one thing that has stayed flat is my profit, in some cases it has even shrunk.
broto_64
·2 weeks agoOmg $7 and $8 for me for Ground / First Class stuff that I can remember costing $2!
Granted that $2 was a bit of a while ago but these increases!
bolensparts-360
·2 weeks agoIs there a way we can edit all our 2,000+ buy it now listings to bump the prices 2-3$ to cover this nonsense? It was easy on my shopify account I already adjusted my flat rates in under 15 seconds , on ebay making a change to not have a seller lose money is like climbing Mount Everest 80 steps and hoops to jump.
toyboyjake
·3 weeks ago · Editedthis totally sucks hard...i sell small items for cheap and shipping is cheap too.....but now i keep getting hit with a $2 rural fee and it is decimating me....wth am i supposed to do?? email buyers and demand more money for shipping after they paid...Great ..just great...Ebay knew this was coming and could not adjust their program proper in time is Unacceptable.
As usual..it is us the Sellers that have to bear the brunt of Ebay's Foul Ups.
i am so disgusted with them but they are the only viable game in town.
GET YOUR CRAP TOGETHER EBAY AND FIX THIS!
sassykzt
·2 weeks agoYou need to switch to calculated shipping - cost varies by buyer location. This automatically charges those buyers w/ rural zip codes the appropriate amount. If you use flat rate shipping you will have to eat the 2 -3.00 adjustment as of Jul 12.
Go into your businesses policies and set up as many shipping policies as you need using the calculated shipping. * in your shipping preferences you can decide whether or not to pass along eBay's discounted rates. Here you can also set up combined shipping rules or to allow buyers to request an invoice when they purchase multiple items.
albertabrightalberta
·2 weeks agoThis isn't ebay's "foul up." it's USPS who raised rates. Blame USPS if you're upset.
Sellers need to adjust their shipping charges to buyers. Stop with the "free" shipping that isn't free!
aspme
·3 weeks agoShipped 4 packages today... one small one was cheapest/same as Pirate with Ebay G/A, one was cheapest with Pirate Ship G/A , and 2 a little bigger/heavier were cheapest using eBay FedEx ground. last week they would have all been Ebay G/A. saved about $8 by shopping around, but what a PITA
authentic*vintage
·3 weeks agoPirate ship is showing the tiered rates as of yesterday - I signed up and I will use that for rural zip codes.
soh.maryl
·3 weeks agoStill waiting to hear exactly what rural locations are.
I live in a moderate-sized town with all the amenities of a town, like water, sewer etc. A family member has a small dairy farm not far away with the usual farm things like well and septic tank. We share the same zip code. So how does eBay determine who's in a "rural location"? Asked this previously and got no answer.
christworks
·3 weeks agoUSPS bases the rural designation on the 5-digit zip code. Our friend @valueaddedresource published a PDF with the impacted zip codes a couple of years ago when USPS first introduced what is commonly called the rural 'surcharge.' I'll link to their 2024 article. Scroll down about a third of the way and you will see links to a ZIP file and PDF. I have a copy of the PDF saved on my computer. So far as I know the actual list of zip codes impacted has not changed.
Some sellers have been confused because they are being charged more when shipping to a big city, like Los Angeles. Because USPS looks at the zip code, it is possible for the mailing address be to a large city, but the zip code be defined as rural by USPS.
Unfortuantely eBay does not (yet) have a way to exclude rural zip codes from making purchases. I wish they would. Not because I would block them, but because I would zag while everybody else zigs. That would create an artifical supply shortage, which those of us who stick with the rurals would reap extra profits from.
yoonix1
·3 weeks agoAs I see, all your listings are collectables, and offering a free shipping you just undercut yourself. Whoever wants to buy a collectable item would care less about shipping. Everybody knows that nothing is free. So far USPS raises prices every year, even twice a year, and free shipping for 1 item is not a way to go. You can create a sale offering a free shipping with minimum $$$ amount of purchase, whatever gonna work best for you.
albertabrightalberta
·3 weeks ago"I advertise free shipping and have always been willing to absorb or write off the shipping cost, but at these rates, there's simply no return on investment."
and
"How is anyone supposed to survive these kinds of increases?"
If you want to keep "free" shipping, increase the prices of your items.
If you're unwilling to increase your selling prices, charge for shipping.
soh.maryl
·1 week agoThose sellers who are using F/S should always be adding the shipping into the listing price of their items. Why are you absorbing or writing off the shipping costs, especially now that shipping costs have risen dramatically? Are you making so much money on eBay that you can afford to do that?