eBay

dhbookds · ‎11-09-2021

Mods......this is about shipping, but it specifically concerns sellers choosing a specific shipping method....and which sellers have had problems/questions about.....so I'd appreciate that it stays on selling Board.

From Griff on the Podcast this morning about USPS Parcel Select...........

First off, I've got to reveal something and I kind of cleared it with the Shipping Team. And hopefully we'll be more transparent about this, USPS Parcel Select is not necessarily going away. It has been a tricky option because a lot of times USPS Priority in parcel Select pricing is so close that it's actually better to select the Priority option, but that's still a seller option except that USPS Parcel Select as a option in eBay Labels is only available if you're a Top Rated Seller and there could always be a timing issue. If you happen to go in and out of the Top Rated Seller Program, there is the possibility that you're in the program. You are top rated. You list an item you add USPS Parcel Select as an option. And then weeks or months later, when the item sells, it happens at a time when maybe you're not Top Rated anymore. And that option isn't available for printing that can happen in a sellers case. But in the meantime, all those questions about USPS Parcel Select going away, I don't think it's going away. In fact, that's not what I was told. I was just told that it's kind of a benefit for Top Rated Sellers only.

I cannot find anywhere that using Parcel Select is a "benefit" only available to Top Rated Sellers....or that it's use is restricted only to them.

If anyone is ABOVE STANDARD, could you check on the listing form and see if Parcel Select is available to you WHEN you list?

evry1nositswindy · ‎11-09-2021

Yes, I see it available to me.

evry1nositswindy • seller since 2013
Volunteer Community Mentor

dhbookds · ‎11-09-2021

@evry1nositswindy and you are Above Standard........NOT Top Rated?

a_c_green · ‎11-09-2021

@dhbookds wrote:
If anyone is ABOVE STANDARD, could you check on the listing form and see if Parcel Select is available to you WHEN you list?

It is for me; yes. But good grief, that pile of word salad was one of the most disorganized "explanations" I've read in a long time; I don't think it clarifies anything. Some people need to organize their thoughts a lot better before speaking, or maybe read from notes if that's what it takes.

What I understand all that to mean is this: If you are Above Standard, you will have Parcel Select as a Shipping option when listing your item. If you are not Above Standard, you will not have that option. If you fall out of Above Standard while your listing is running, you will not be able to print a Parcel Select label if that is what your buyer chooses.

There. Got it in 60 words. I can do even better if using contractions, but I can never decide whether to count a contraction as one word or two. 😁

To be honest, I wouldn't consider Parcel Select as a Shipping option anyway, especially going into the Christmas season, unless it was significantly cheaper than Priority.

dhbookds · ‎11-09-2021

@a_c_green Podcast is live talk.......don't know how much prescreening they do on this "questions" type thing. Obviously, Griff had talked to the shipping team prior to the answer.

But I don't want to get into parcel select discussion.......more interested in trying to figure out why it's NOT available to some......when one tries to ship.

I did realize after I posted....that it could show......but the listing could be stopped/or parcel select may not show on the listing, even if selected by the seller...... Anyone have that happen?

a_c_green · ‎11-09-2021

@dhbookds wrote:
But I don't want to get into parcel select discussion.......more interested in trying to figure out why it's NOT available to some......when one tries to ship.

That is an interesting question. Only thing I can think of is that they're trying to steer less-than-perfect sellers away from problematic (i.e. slower or rougher) Shipping methods that could boost the chances of a less-than-perfect, um, "buyer experience."

redmodelt · ‎11-09-2021

I am pretty sure PS can be shown in the listing, but you can not buy the label through eBay, you have to get it at the post office or maybe one of the other online outfits that you can buy USPS postage through. Considering how close the prices are and shipping times, I would not even consider using it, so would stick with priority shipping.

Same thing with Media mail. If your listings are not in the correct category for MM, but items do qualify for that rate, you can show in the listing, customers can buy and pay that rate, but you are unable to print a shipping label through eBay. Again, you would need to buy at the Post Office or outside USPS postage vendor.

kensgiftshop · ‎11-09-2021

@dhbookds wrote:
But I don't want to get into parcel select discussion.......more interested in trying to figure out why it's NOT available to some......when one tries to ship.

The same reason as Retail Ground, you can offer it, but you can't buy the label through Ebay.

Have a great day

coffeebean832 · ‎11-09-2021

@dhbookds wrote:
But I don't want to get into parcel select discussion.......more interested in trying to figure out why it's NOT available to some......when one tries to ship.

In the eBay chat about a year ago I think it was Tyler that said they were phasing out Parcel Select from eBay labels because of slow service, too many INRs, and disappointed buyers.

You can offer it through a listing- but you can't necessarily print the label through eBay. I've never heard that only TRS can print the label through eBay- but that would explain why Parcel Select has never disappeared from my shipping label page as it has for others.

dhbookds · ‎11-09-2021

@kensgiftshop

@redmodelt

We offer parcel select on the listing and can print parcel select labels on Ebay.......but are TR.........

Problem is that some offer it on listing.....but don't have the option to print the p/s labels........question for some months/yrs (?) has been why some can't. Answer has been that Ebay is phasing it out.... Griff has come up with a different answer and that's the reason I'm trying to get feedback from Above Standard sellers......on whether it not showing for them on the listing form.....which seems to be what Griff is saying....... that they offer it on a listing WHEN they are TR, but then when it comes to printing the label...they are no longer TR and therefore it doesn't show on the label page.

evry1nositswindy · ‎11-09-2021

@dhbookds OOPS! Yes, I am top rated. Sorry.

evry1nositswindy • seller since 2013
Volunteer Community Mentor

bauble-babes · ‎11-09-2021

@a_c_green "To be honest, I wouldn't consider Parcel Select as a Shipping option anyway, especially going into the Christmas season, unless it was significantly cheaper than Priority."

Parcel can be $2-3 cheaper or more depending on item weight. When you factor in the added Shipping Tax, Priority then costs the Buyer even more.

Here's what I do to bring a Buyer's cost down: Offer Parcel Select only BUT when I create label, I select Priority since we sellers get a discount. With discount, it's about the same cost for me.

THEN, I message Buyer to say I've bumped them up to Priority at no additional cost to them. Ooo, they LOVE that! Win-Win situation!

iart · ‎11-09-2021

To sum up, eBay doesn't give a hoot how much shipping costs a seller.

Else, why would Priority Shipping always be a default - even when 1st class costs a third as much and gets there at the same time or nearly as fast? Other platforms offer up the most affordable shipping available for that product. 95% of the time they are right.

a_c_green · ‎11-09-2021

@iart wrote:
To sum up, eBay doesn't give a hoot how much shipping costs a seller.

Else, why would Priority Shipping always be a default - even when 1st class costs a third as much and gets there at the same time or nearly as fast?

I think you lost me a bit there. When I create a listing that's light enough to qualify as First Class Package, I make that the default (as Free Shipping), and it stays that way.

I offer Priority as a buyer-paid upgrade, but in the case of a sale that goes high enough and/or is an item that I can't easily replace, I upgrade the shipment to Priority anyway and eat the difference of a few dollars.