Shipping Label Price Increase

[hoqc]

Did anyone else notice eBay increased the shipping label prices. I contacted eBay today and was on with customer support for an hour and a half and they had no idea what I was talking about. For example a Flat Rate Envelope was $6.94 and today it is $7.33 .  After they finally figured out what I was telling them they said eBay never informed anyone about price changes. So I asked how we are going to be reimbursed for the extra charge. They said it would take about 3 days to fix this issue.

[buyselljack2016]

is there an issue to be fixed, or are you just seeing the USPS temp surcharge from oct 18-dec 27.

40 cents on Priority

25 cents on 1st Class

online only.  not at retail

[dhbookds]

USPS increased the prices temporarily thru 12/31, I think it was...........Google it

[kensgiftshop]

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@hoqc 

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It's USPS that raised the rates through Christmas.

[corvettestainless]

Was announced here on Oct 12th:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Announcing-no-surcharges-with-UPS-and-FedEx-when-you-shi...

[nobody*s_perfect]

Just to round out the discussion, here's the original USPS announcement from last August about this surcharge. As noted in one of the other posts, it is being applied only to online labels for Priority Mail, First Class packages, and Parcel Select Ground.

https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2020/0814-usps-announces-temporary-price-increase....

Top Rated Sellers get a 3% further discount from eBay on the prices for Priority Mail postage, so their increases might not be exactly 25 or 40 cents due to rounding. The Announcement that eBay put up on October 12 was not only rather late, it was also easily overlooked because the title only referred to UPS and Fedex, it didn't mention USPS!

[pburn]

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@hoqc wrote:

 I contacted eBay today and was on with customer support for an hour and a half and they had no idea what I was talking about.

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Well, that was a waste of an hour and a half of your time that would've been better spent doing about five minutes' worth of internet research. 

I'm voting against the reimbursement, just for the record.

[hoqc]

Thanks for the info. I also talked to the post master at USPS and they said the same thing that there has been no price increases. I showed the post master the temp price change from Oct 18 to Dec 27 and they said they don't know were that came from.

[hoqc]

Thanks for the info. So you are saying this is only a temp price increase  until Dec 27. Just asking because eBay didn't know anything about it and we talked to the post master and they said it was news to them.

[hoqc]

We did research it and when we found the temp increase from Oct 18 to Dec 27 and eBay doesn't know anything about it and the post master tells us that's news to them. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

You seem to be spending a lot of time and effort talking to eBay and USPS employees and writing comments on the discussion baord, but no effort reading the replies that have been provided here.

The surcharge is only applied to online rates.  Your local postmaster deals with retail pricing so it doesn't affect the prices of the postage that he and his staff sell.  It's a very busy time for him and he can't be expected to now about changes in ONLINE pricing.

eBay does know about it, though apparently some staff are uninformed. It was on the eBay Announcements board on October 12. Here is a link to the eBay announcement  which explains the USPS surcharge on online rates:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Announcing-no-surcharges-with-UPS-and-FedEx-when-you-shi...

[camlu6465]

"temporary increase"

LOL I love it!

Raise your prices every year, and then institute a "temporary" increase at some point that lasts an entire quarter.  That's basically like taking next year's price raise and sticking it to us this year, then come back down a little to "recover" from the slow times that come after the Christmas rush...

And spin it off as a "minor" thing, you know it's just "temporary" so that they'll understand, also it "seasons" them in for the real price raise that comes into effect in 2021.

Kind of like foreplay.

I will have to try this, "temporary" price increase on products where I raise the price on a regular basis anyhow.

[pburn]

@camlu6465 

You do understand this increase has been imposed by USPS and not eBay, right?

[inhawaii]

I did a Priority Mail padded flat rate envelope the other day and i could have swore the price went up.  I was glad to read this post.  At least i know i'm not losing my mind.