USPS Rate Hikes~how are you adjusting to them? Raising Prices, creative packing?

[castlemagicmemories]

I know USPS raises it's prices every year, and that is usually reflected in item price or shipping costs.  I know sellers have to constantly change to stay on top of changes like this, and show great versatility.  Very challenging!

A prominent poster recently asked about boxes, and that got me thinking.  Perhaps this thread can garner helpful observations and reflections on how to cope with this latest USPS increase~things that will be helpful to all.  Maybe you can share how you intend to handle this increase.

Maybe more will use flat rate boxes.  Maybe some have come up with creative packing ideas.  Some may move more shipping into item prices to show a lower shipping fee to buyers.

I'm sorry I have nothing to offer on this.  I truly appreciate any responses and I hope this starts a conversation that is interesting, beneficial, and helpful.

Thank you in advance for sharing!  Your input might greatly help your fellow sellers.

[lex-talon]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

I know USPS raises it's prices every year, and that is usually reflected in item price or shipping costs.  I know sellers have to constantly change to stay on top of changes like this, and show great versatility.  Very challenging!

A prominent poster recently asked about boxes, and that got me thinking.  Perhaps this thread can garner helpful observations and reflections on how to cope with this latest USPS increase~things that will be helpful to all.  Maybe you can share how you intend to handle this increase.

Maybe more will use flat rate boxes.  Maybe some have come up with creative packing ideas.  Some may move more shipping into item prices to show a lower shipping fee to buyers.

I'm sorry I have nothing to offer on this.  I truly appreciate any responses and I hope this starts a conversation that is interesting, beneficial, and helpful.

Thank you in advance for sharing!  Your input might greatly help your fellow sellers.

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I will definitely have to raise my prices a bit to offset the USPS increases for 2019. Also using smaller, poly bubble

mailers will bring the weight down a bit; so I can ship items FCM instead of Media all the time. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

Just as a rising tide lifts all boats, the rising postage costs affect all sellers equally.  I don't plan any significant changes, I will continue to use free shipping for Media Mail and First Class, and calculated shipping for Priority Mail items and offer a flat rate box when it's a better option for some buyers.  

With prices for Regional boxes no longer conveniently matching the online prices for a specific weight, I'll have to decide whether to stick with the weight-based calculation and absorb the difference, or add a handling fee.

For First Class, I'll probably add the Zone 5 or 6 cost to my asking price, so expenses average out; the differences between the new prices for Zone 1 vs Zone 8 are about 50 cents.

[sam9876]

I'm just going to eat it.

[buyselljack2016]

I do mostly 1st Class with shipping included, so the zoned pricing will be a challenge to cover.

I will be changing some of my packaging to save some pennies where I can.

Trimming/resizing boxes to stay under the next pricing tier increase when I can.

Going from a new  purchased box to reusing a bubble mailer when practical.

As I am on the coast, I may need to add a few pennies to some items to try to average out. I will eat a bit of the postage.  Sometimes you just can't roll any more in, and still expect to sell.

[tsme35]

Raising shipping for sure, I already cut down packages and boxes to cut corners as it is. Also will be cutting out more inventory seeing shipping's getting to be more then some small items I sell but been doing that the last couple years. With the new 1st class zone rating, I'm still trying to figure out wether to charge a flat rate or by weight and add handling, some zones could be as much as a $1 difference, even at $.30-.50 cent that's a big chunk when you sell 300-500 items a month.  I have to look into being able to charge by zones and maybe just raise on the higher zones.

I'm lucky and live in Missouri, in the middle, I feel bad for the ppl living on one of the coast's, they could take a big hit on shipping. Whats gonna take the most time is to put in a NEW tax advisory on 1400 listings, with ebay starting to collect taxes next year I don't want buyers get mad because they go to pay and taxes are added. Not just from my state but others, I've seen its like 8 states now  ebay's gonna collect from and pretty sure more will be added thru 2019

[adkhighker]

IMO, the best way to adjust to rising shipping costs is to stop doing free shipping and just charge the buyers exactly what USPS is charging you to ship it, rather than hiding your shipping cost in the price of your listing. Most buyers don't care if you're selling them something for $10 with a hidden $4 cost of shipping built into the price or if you're selling the same thing for $6 and charging them $4 for shipping. For as long as I've been selling, my buyers always know what their shipping cost is up front because it's calculated by location, and since I don't charge them anything for handling, I've never had anyone complain about their cost to ship anything they buy from me. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@tsme35 wrote:

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 .... With the new 1st class zone rating, I'm still trying to figure out wether to charge a flat rate or by weight and add handling, some zones could be as much as a $1 difference...

The difference between the prices for Zone 1 vs Zone 8 ranges from 43 cents (up to 4 ounces) to 59 cents (over 12 ounces).

[tsme35]

oh my freaking bad, $.43-.59 still adds up for 300-500 listings a month times 12 months

[nobody*s_perfect]

Yikes, just trying to point out that your worst-case scenario was 40 cents less terrible than you thought.

[18704d]

The new rates aren't big enough to signficantly affect me.

I'll still use free shipping on everything, both FC packages and Priority.  And free return shipping.

I won't raise prices.

Lynn

[buyselljack2016]

Big one I will have to watch is my items at 12/13 ounce.

That 13 ouncer will jump from $4.10 (all zones) to $5.53 (zone 8/9) in January

9 ouncer  now $3.34 will be $4.33 on the long ride.

[femmefan1946]

Some of my listings use Calculated Shipping. This will automatically correct the shipping prices. I don't have to do anything with those.

I buy and ship in Canadian dollars and sell in US dollars when I list here on dotCOM. I am forced to use Flat Rate shipping here.

I have benefited from the currently weak Canadian dollar which has dropped from $0.85US to $0.75US since 2015.

This means I am buying and shipping for less than I did three years ago. 

(And generally, the low loonie means our exporters are doing well.  Plus we have negotiated two new Free Trade treaties with the Pacific Rim (TPP) and with the European Union (CERN) although those are more useful to our soybean farmers and aluminum manufacturers than sellers of vintage paperbacks.)

[buyselljack2016]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

Yikes, just trying to point out that your worst-case scenario was 40 cents less terrible than you thought.

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that 40 cent average is just the variation in the new zoned base pricing.

There is much more to cover when compared to the current rate.

[luckythewinner]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

I know USPS raises it's prices every year, and that is usually reflected in item price or shipping costs.  I know sellers have to constantly change to stay on top of changes like this, and show great versatility.  Very challenging! 

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I ship virtually eerything by media mail or first class, so there is little that I need to do other than adjust the shipping cost. And Turbo Lister allows me to adjust my listings es in bulk in a matter of seconds, so for me there is no challenge to it.