USPS Flat Rate Medium Box cost is not generated nor the specified shipping method in the listing
Tried to post a listing where I ship by USPS Med Flat Rate Box.
In both Basic and Business submittal forms, eBay does not assign the box cost to the listing - it does not even state that USPS Priority Flat Rate Box is the provided shipping method.
Please advise.
NOTE: I haven't posted in 2 years. Clearly much has changed.
23 comments
tomatbay
OP3 years agoI'd also like to comment on the instructions to manually fill in the USPS FR Box dimension to "get" the algorithm to load the FR Box information:
If the alg recognizes the manually input FR Box dimensions, it means those dimensions are already stored in the algorithm.
This means any incompetent programmer would load those values automatically when a FR Box shipping method is selected.
This is PPP (**bleep** Poor Programming) on a New Level considering the scale and dominance of eBay in the online market.
The ramifications of this are manifold - and they're all not good ranging from incompetent managing to cost cutting to the bone - either way the future of the company is in transition, probably damaged by Covid, new $600 1099-K limit and of course a stock price that took a big hit and is not showing any evidence of strength.
I was going to put a few things on eBay but if I have to deal with this terrible new submittal form, I am not interested in the continual frustration associated with using it. Too much drama to put a few coins in my pocket. A "conspiracy theory" might be that eBay is trying to run off the casual user since business users look at the current situation simply as the cost of doing business. (Or they use completely different platforms to post listings.)
I will give this one more attempt: getting someone from eBay on the phone and have them walk me thru the process and if it is as many say here, I feel sorry for that rep because I won't go quietly! LOL
tomatbay
OP3 years agoI'm sorry but selecting "Calculated: Cost varies based on buyer location" simply cannot be the correct selection for a Flat Rate box which Does Not "...varies based on buyer location."
Or having to manually enter the dimension of the Flat Rate box.
If submitting a listing now becomes an Easter Egg Hunt to find the combination of wrong inputs to get the right output, then there has to be instructions on how to fill the form out. Because the working on the selection choices has nothing to do with what actually happens when you select them.
The previous system 2 years ago - a child could fill it out.
pjcdn2005
·3 years agoYou are getting the correct information. You can list either by entering the cost yourself for your chosen service or by using calculated shipping. If you don't want to enter the cost yourself you have to use calculated shipping. That's how it works whether or not you think it makes sense. To be honest, I don't remember the calculator working differently years ago than it does now. The shipping section does look a bit different than it used to but it works the same way.
tomatbay
OP3 years agoThe previous was 100% intuitive.
When you select shipping method, you did not select Calculated or Flat rate - that was determined by what service you selected.
And as far as box size went, when you selected MFRB, there were 2 to select, one for each box size.
So all you did was select the shipping outfit (USPS, UPS, FedEx) and the service (MFRB #2) and you were done.
One Click.
Seriously, Click "Calculated" instead of "Flat Rate" for a Flat Rate Box? Why wasn't that programmer fired???
I'm concerned now that when it comes time to print labels, that will be a mess.
monica-sells
·3 years agosimply put because it is "calculated"
IF the price changed tomorrow, the MFRB price would reflect that with Calculated Shipping....
IF your listing was "Flat Rate" it would not show the NEW price increase (until such time that you manually increased the price for EACH listing using Flat Rate), and you (seller) would be short-changed. Thus...."calculated" shipping is, in fact, calculated, based on real-time whereas flat rate does not change no matter what the underlying cost may be.....
tomatbay
OP3 years agoNo, that's not how shipping costs are determined. Flat Rate is NOT Calculated. Calculated varies according to Buyer Location and has nothing to do with Flat Rate services.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoIn this case, the terms "calculated" and "flat" are being used in their general sense, and not referring to specific USPS services. In this context, "calculated" just means that the price is based on USPS charts rather than on a flat price entered by the seller. As noted in another post, calculated postage will automatically update when USPS rates change, such as happened today.
tomatbay
OP3 years agoNo, "Calculated" is not as you say. This is what it says, "Calculated: Cost varies based on buyer location"
That clearly does not apply to Flat Rate services
Here is what Flat Rate clearly states: "Flat rate: Same cost regardless of buyer location"
kalyoth
·3 years agoAs the other reply stated, unless you use the defined dimensions & proper weight range USPS assigns to the service, the service will not ever appear.
tomatbay
OP3 years agoThere are no defined dimensions that show up. There are 2 different Med boxes yet only 1 choice is available. This results in the weight and dimensions being auto-filled. While this is wrong since there are 2 Med sizes, if I accept this auto-fill, on the right there are 2 radio buttons: Free shipping Seller pays and Buyer Pays Fixed amount where there is a blank field where the Seller is required to enter the amount. There is no provision to auto-fill the actual cost of the Med Box.
Once you select the Med Box you want, everything should be automatically filled out. This is the way the site worked previously and I'm sure it hasn't gotten harder to use with all the improvements.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoIndeed, the recent change is not at all an improvement; some programmer at eBay must have up this requirment, heaven knows why. The advice given above provided the recommended dimensions: use 14x12x3 or 11x8x6 as your dimensions and then the Med FRB will show up as an option. What a nuisance that is!
tomatbay
OP3 years agoI tried 11 x 8 x 6 and it still does not autofill the cost of the FRB.
I still have to enter an amount.
If I want to only charge the customer for what it actually costs to ship, I have to get on the USPS web site and get a cost. But eBay provides postage at a discount - how do I get that number?
It seems like the purpose of all this is to offer Free Shipping - especially when you have no idea what the shipping is going to cost. Or it could be that eBay is not going to keep up with changes in USPS rates even if they negotiated a discount.
Maybe businesses use some kind of 3rd party software to generate listings because the provided form is truly a deterrent.
NOTE: No one mentioned Preferences. I remember a very long and detailed list of many preferences that users set up. Is that still present? The problem might be there.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoIf you want eBay to fill in the price for you, you have to choose calculated shipping.
eBay's current postage price for a MFRB is $17.10. You can check eBay prices through their shipping calculator:
https://www.ebay.com/shp/Calculator
Your site preferences is where you'd choose whether the shipping calculator will charge buyers the retail price or the eBay price ("offer carrier-specific discounts for buyers").
https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf
tomatbay
OP3 years agoAll of the suggestion made above Do Not Work.
The Only Way to get Shipping by MFRB to show up in Listing Preview is to specify Buyer Pays even though I have my Preferences set to Pass On eBay Shipping Discounts to Buyer.
Box dimension if blank or set to MFRB values have no effect on the result.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoOf course you have to set it up as "Buyer pays;" the alternative is free shipping, which of course doesn't have any price show up. Your site preferences determine how much the buyer pays (i.e., retail price vs eBay price).
monica-sells
·3 years agoif I understand your question correctly...
to get the USPS options to show up properly for your selecting you need to have these sizes in your dimensions:
USPS Flat Rate Envelopes: 12x9x1
USPS Small Flat Rate Box: 8x5x1
USPS Med Flat Rate Box: 14x12x3 or 11x8x6
USPS Large Flat Rate Box: 12x12x6
eBay Standard Envelope: 11x6x0.25
tomatbay
OP3 years agoI have no idea what the dimensions of flat rate boxes are - those dimensions should be populated when I select the particular Flat Rate Box.