@vintagequeennyc wrote:
If you’ve been selling online for a while, you know that all major selling sites have worked out a deal with USPS for shipping rates that are lower than the commercial rates. Yet, for some reason, eBay, the 2nd largest online site hasn’t been able to work out a better deal for its sellers. OR HAVE THEY???
I have heard a rumor from a credible source (which was told to them by eBay employees), that eBay HAS negotiated a lower shipping rate but they are pocketing the money instead of passing on that lower rate to sellers.
If this is true, it is beyond awful on the part of eBay. Truly nefarious and scummy.
It’s no secret to any of us who have been here for a while that eBay is going downhill VERY rapidly. Revenue is plummeting. Fees keep going up. Search algorithm is beyond broken.
I just had my worst 2 weeks in sales since I started selling on eBay 12 years ago. I sold two items in ten days. This is wa outside the normal ebb and flow. And in 2018 my sales dropped by 50% when they rolled out the new algorithm.
I truly believe the terrible management at eBay is destroying this selling platform. It just shows you how desperate they are if they ARE pocketing a shipping discount instead of sharing with sellers in order to drive lower prices and sales and increase competition with Amazon.
They have to be, and they basically confirmed it with some of the recent comments.
First off, the prices offered in some cases match Commercial Plus rates, and in other cases are 5 cents more than Commercial Plus. Seeing as they aren't even giving us Commercial Plus when they definitely have the bulk to do so, suggests they are getting better prices.
Combine this with the fact that if they are "negotiating" rates, the only time you would have to negotiate is if you want a discount "beyond" Commercial Plus rates. Because Commercial Plus simply requires bulk of shipping to be approved, no negotiation.
Furthermore, eBay CEO Devin Wenig was recently in an interview involving these comments:
"With regard to USPS postal changes impacting Chinese imports, it's a little early, we're pretty well positioned if those changes take fruition."
Wenig referred to SpeedPAK a new shipping service eBay rolled out to help Chinese sellers reach US consumers through multiple delivery options that would not be subject to proposed postal changes, a reference to the Trump administration's decision to pull out of the Universal Postal Union and "self-declare" higher rates for goods coming from China.
In fact, Wenig said he thinks eBay is better positioned than other companies when it comes to US government action regarding China:
"I wouldn't say there is no impact, but actually, in some ways, if the changes happen for everyone importing China inventory, we think we're about the best positioned given that we've been in this business for a long time, and we've taken a lot of changes to shrink time and distance and costs for Chinese sellers and build diversity at the last-mile."
Regarding those comments, the offerings of SpeedPAK, and considering those offerings wouldn't be possible without cheaper rates than US sellers are getting... it's basically confirmed eBay is not passing the same discounts to US sellers.
Devin went as far as saying this in addition:
"A majority of our China inventory is now warehoused in the United States," he explained in response to a question about tariffs. "Obviously they're not our warehouses, but we've helped our Chinese sellers with warehousing domestically, so that wouldn't be subject to those quarters."
You can interpret that one as you will...
