Ebay should consider cutting a deal with USPS like Poshmark has to bring back the buyers!!

[wingsneck]

Poshmark charges a flat USPS priority mail shipping rate of $7.95 to it's buyers for up to 5 lb packages.  Why on earth doesn't Ebay negotiate a deal like this with USPS?!!  To ship a 1 1/2 lb package from MA to CA is almost $20 using the current shipping fees and structure.  Bring the buyers back, become competitive!  I would much rather sell on Ebay than Poshmark.....

[ittybitnot]

To ship a 1 1/2 lb package from MA to CA is almost $20 using the current shipping fees and structure.

@wingsneck 

I would guess that eBay prefers to take their % of shipping fee on $20 instead of $7.95.  

[dolcetreasures]

Agreed, the shipping cost is absolutely outrageous. 

[redmodelt]

eBay isn't setting the rates, the shipping services are. 

"Poshmark charges a flat USPS priority mail shipping rate of $7.95 to it's buyers for up to 5 lb packages."

So, who is paying the extra cost to ship those packages? Seller? Poshmark? other USPS customers? I would also imagine that those packages have very specific requirements such as minimum and maximum size and packaging materials. 

[wingsneck]

Apparently you do not sell on Poshmark...  if you did you would not have to ask these questions.  Poshmark's PoshPost shipping system is a partnership with the United States Postal Service (USPS) that offers a flat rate for expedited shipping.  Flat rate up to 5 lbs, anything over the seller pays a very small fee based on lbs.  No size requirements, I can ship in any kind of priority mail box including large flat rates for the set fee.  It is the easiest platform to ship on.

[wingsneck]

I agree which is a very short sighted business approach as buyers leave in droves.  

[valueaddedresource · Accepted solution]

@wingsneck  eBay is working on something they call Simple Delivery managed shipping which is more in line with how Vinted does their shipping and maybe even a little similar to what Poshmark does, though I'm not sure how the rates compare.

Currently it's only in the UK and it is optional for now, but sometime in Q1 2025 it will become mandatory for UK private sellers as part of the larger consumer to consumer (C2C) initiative eBay is doing over there including getting rid of FVF for private sellers and introducing buyers fees in Q1 as well.

With Simple Delivery, basically eBay decides which shipping methods to show to the buyer, the shipping amount the buyer pays goes to eBay, eBay provides a pre-paid label to the seller and eBay pockets any difference between the rate the buyer pays and their negotiated rates with the carriers as profit.

More info:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/postage/simple-delivery

UK sellers are mostly not happy about the coming mandate, for what it's worth, but I haven't really heard much opinion one way or the other from buyers.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Postage/What-are-managed-shipments/m-p/7722564#M56591

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Business-Seller-Board/Private-sellers-to-have-sales-funds-held/m-p/7... 

CEO Jamie Iannone has been very direct in saying they have no plans to bring fee-free selling to the US, so it's hard to say if managed shipping will make its way here or not, but in my opinion if eBay finds it to be successful at generating revenue for them in the UK, it will likely eventually be expanded to other markets in the future at least on a voluntary basis kind of like eBay International Shipping.

[fern*wood]

Be careful what you wish for.  I cannot see any change that would benefit me more than ebay.

[pickapaper]

@wingsneck wrote:

"Poshmark charges a flat USPS priority mail shipping rate of $7.95 to it's buyers for up to 5 lb packages.  Why on earth doesn't Ebay negotiate a deal like this with USPS?!!  To ship a 1 1/2 lb package from MA to CA is almost $20 using the current shipping fees and structure.  Bring the buyers back, become competitive!  I would much rather sell on Ebay than Poshmark....."

If I understand correctly, you are saying everything purchased on Posh goes Priority Mail and costs $7.95 to ship?  Are there restrictions to this?  What about small things or things that don't weigh very much?  What about packages that are oversized but weigh less than five pounds?    Can a seller opt out of using that $7.95 service?   (I don't buy or sell anywhere else online so do not know anything about the other venues.)

Bring the buyers back?  I didn't know they had left.  Buyers and sellers come and go every day.  Always changing. 

Become competitive?  All online venues are competitive in some ways but not all in the same area.  For example, say I'm looking for a certain item and can only find that one item on eBay, so if I really want that item, I will pay whatever the seller has it listed for.   It doesn't make any difference whether Posh has it listed for a better shipping price if no one on Posh (or any other online venue) has the item. 

[valueaddedresource]

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@pickapaper wrote:

@wingsneck wrote:

"Poshmark charges a flat USPS priority mail shipping rate of $7.95 to it's buyers for up to 5 lb packages.  Why on earth doesn't Ebay negotiate a deal like this with USPS?!!  To ship a 1 1/2 lb package from MA to CA is almost $20 using the current shipping fees and structure.  Bring the buyers back, become competitive!  I would much rather sell on Ebay than Poshmark....."

If I understand correctly, you are saying everything purchased on Posh goes Priority Mail and costs $7.95 to ship?  Are there restrictions to this?  What about small things or things that don't weigh very much?  

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@pickapaper this is always something important to keep in mind, whether it's the marketplace setting the rate or individual sellers - when something that usually has variable costs is offered at the same flat rate to everyone, it's a pretty good bet that rate may be being averaged out somewhere which means some people are not paying as much as it actually costs and others are paying more than it actually costs.

For example, sellers here who offer free shipping (which really just means some amount baked into the item price to cover shipping costs) or a custom flat rate shipping amount have done the math for their business, figured out on average how much they need to add for shipping to meet their overall profit/margin goals for their business with the understanding that on some individual sales they may lose a bit if it is going very far away but on other they will make that up with a little extra if it is closer.

Same thing honestly with how USPS does flat rate pricing - somewhere someone has done the math to figure out what the average price should be to have the aggregate amounts end up within a certain range.

So to answer your question, in a system like what Poshmark has, small things that don't weigh very much probably don't actually cost Poshmark $7.95 to ship, but that difference subsidizes the extra costs for items that cost more than that and somebody  there has done the math to figure out it all evens out to where they want it in the end.

[pickapaper]

@valueaddedresource 

I already am aware of everything you have said.  But I asked specific questions about Posh's method and you didn't really address that.  

[wingsneck]

Yes a flat rate of $7.95 for all packages up to 5 lbs.  Anything over 5 lbs, the seller pays a very small fee for the overage.  Oversized does not matter.  Seller's cannot opt out.  Since Poshmark only allows for USPS shipping, USPS is guaranteed all of their shipping business.  Win/win.

I don't disagree that buyers desiring unique items, collectibles, etc tend to purchase on Ebay.  I am not familiar with what you sell but I have been selling on Ebay since 1996 and track my sales and income and I can assure you that for my categories in clothing, the buyers are far and few in comparison to years goneby.  I am happy for you that you have not experienced this!!

If I could purchase a Ralph Lauren 1/2 zip sweater on Ebay or Poshmark with pricing being the same, I am going to purchase it on Poshmark since the shipping will most likely be significantly different.  

[wingsneck]

?  sorry, I do not know what you mean by that.  

[luckythewinner]

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@wingsneck wrote:

Poshmark charges a flat USPS priority mail shipping rate of $7.95 to it's buyers for up to 5 lb packages.  Why on earth doesn't Ebay negotiate a deal like this with USPS?!!  To ship a 1 1/2 lb package from MA to CA is almost $20 using the current shipping fees and structure.  Bring the buyers back, become competitive!  I would much rather sell on Ebay than Poshmark.....

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Does Poshmark actually have a deal with the USPS, or is Poshmark simply providing the labels? 

[luckythewinner]

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@wingsneck wrote:

I agree which is a very short sighted business approach as buyers leave in droves.  

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If buyers are leaving "in droves", then that does not seem to be having much effect on the amount of buying on eBay. eBay's quarterly GMV has been remarkably consistent for the past couple years and mirrors pre-COVID numbers.