Anyone else fed up with FeDex Shipping Policies

[holeshotxr]

I recently had 2 bad experiences with eBay/Fedex and wondering if other Sellers have similar concerns ?  First off, I wonder why FEDEX charges are ESTIMATED SHIPPING Charges, and the ACTUAL SHIPPING charges are ALWAYS MORE !  USPS estimates are usually spot on ! I have had one item that the Buyer was required to pay additional Postage when he picked up the item.  That is 1 item out of 100's shipped using USPS.  On the other hand, FEDEX charges are almost always more than the ESTIMATED cost on the shipping label !!!!  They had all these hidden cost ? Fuel Surcharges, etc.... Why doesn't the estimating program add all these fees ???  My most recent shipment which was SUPPOSED to cost me $40 to ship an item from CA to Global Shipping Point in Erlanger, KY ended up costing me $243 !!!!!! Then the fun begins !  Trying to get ANYONE at Ebay or FEDEX to  explain the 10X the shipping cost is a JOKE !  eBay sends yo to FEDEX, who refuses to talk to you beacause eBay is the actual Customer, and then eBay refuses to help, except to send you back to FEDEx!  You are stuck in the perpetual ..." Not my problem" loop.  Why doesn't FEDEX just provide HARD shipping cost, and stop sticking it to the eBay Sellers with all their HIDDEN Costs...???? Can anyone help me

[anthonyd46]

I had 4 packages between December and April amount to $380 in overages. After a million phone calls to both companies they said they would refund it. One day about 3 weeks ago I get notification they refunded me I looked and it was only $177 so I called them sayign the amount was wrong, but to this day there is still roughly $200 difference they haven't refunded me. The only solution was to call Fed Ex and set up a business account. They will ask you how many packages you ship a week and as long as the number is 20 or more no problem being approved. Tell them you want the ebay discounts and smart post and after about a week or so the account will be setup. Then just ship from Fedex.com. The rates are within a dollar or 2 of ebay and if there are any overcharges (so far for me nothing from them) you can call fed ex directly and stop this ebay middleman nonsense. Its the only solution to solve the headaches.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Fedex and UPS both have fuel surcharges, residential delivery surcharges and dimensional weights that the Ebay calculator DOES NOT take in to account. USPS has no surcharges.

If you are going to use Fedex or UPS, you really need to open your own account. That way you can see fully all surcharges and other goodies that they decide to tack on, and you are the shipper of record, not Ebay. If you do this, though, you can't use the shipping calculator. You'd have to figure out a flat rate.

[berserkerplanet]

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@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

Fedex and UPS both have fuel surcharges, residential delivery surcharges and dimensional weights that the Ebay calculator DOES NOT take in to account. USPS has no surcharges.

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Prove it. I dare you.

You clearly don't use eBay FedEx labels.

[postingid2017]

@berserkerplanet - when my truck was running, I used FedEx (my own account) and there are extra charges added as southern*sweet*tea stated.  If you the shipper would like delivery after 7 pm, there is a fee for that.  Signatures, insurance over $100, also fees.  When I was working, my attorney (who was a partner) insisted on FedEx only.  FedEx will bill you if they have to "fix" an address at a cost of $10 per change.  I know because they have fixed a few of mine, so I only print out the label online.

If you go to their site it is there or download their current price list (which I have not done this year) all of the surcharges are listed.

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@berserkerplanet wrote:

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@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

Fedex and UPS both have fuel surcharges, residential delivery surcharges and dimensional weights that the Ebay calculator DOES NOT take in to account. USPS has no surcharges.

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Prove it. I dare you.

You clearly don't use eBay FedEx labels.

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I did once.

Never again.

To be clear, I'm not talking about SmartPost, I'm talking about regular Fedex Ground and Home Delivery.

[berserkerplanet]

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@postingid2017 wrote:

@berserkerplanet - when my truck was running, I used FedEx (my own account) and there are extra charges added as southern*sweet*tea stated.  If you the shipper would like delivery after 7 pm, there is a fee for that.  Signatures, insurance over $100, also fees.  When I was working, my attorney (who was a partner) insisted on FedEx only.  FedEx will bill you if they have to "fix" an address at a cost of $10 per change.  I know because they have fixed a few of mine, so I only print out the label online.

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Delivery after 7 pm is a special service that Usps doesn't offer, signature confirmation, extra insurance are also added value services that all carriers including USPS charge for, so what is your point?

I've never run into a FedEx address correction surcharge - I always print my labels online and correct and questionable addresses beforehand. If you screw up a USPS address, and USPS along the way or the final postal carrier can't fix it up somehow it gets returned to sender as a total fail. FedEx and UPS charge for the correction service and make the delivery. Again, what is your point?

FedEx (and UPS) increase the billed charges when the shipper screws up and misdeclares the weight, dimensions, or characteristics of the package. USPS delivers a misdeclared package postage due to the recipient.

Need USPS special handling? There's a $10.25 surcharge for that.

USPS package pickup during a certain time window? $22 surcharge.

Sun/Holiday PME delivery?  $12.50 surcharge

10:30am PME delivery? $5 surcharge.

(none of which are avail via eBay USPS label flow)

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If you go to their site it is there or download their current price list (which I have not done this year) all of the surcharges are listed.

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You must be new around here. I'm the "avenging angel of FedEx non-fact death" - wielding the sword of facts with the goal of eradicating ignorance and misinformation everywhere in these forums since there seems to be nothing but that here, and nobody else says anything.

Some of the statements in these forums about FedEx and UPS charges such as "eBay Fedex labels don't include surcharges like residential delivery surcharge , fuel surcharge, oversize charge, etc" are in the same league as a statement like "the earth is flat" or "water isn't wet"  or "Sellers with no-return policies always automatically forfeit the item and are forced to refund in a dispute" - no basis in fact.

FedEx and UPS are not USPS - their business model is different and their fee structures are different. You pay for your mistakes and for value added services with them, but none of the fees are hidden.

It IS true that there some of the more esoteric or non-standard added options with their associated fees that can be selected at FedEx.com are not offered on the eBay FedEx label flow.

Such as pickup vs drop off: At Fedex.com it is selected and charged accordingly. On the eBay label flow it is assumed all packages are drop off packages (the user of course has read and understood the FedEx T&C agreed to by printing that label). If the eBay FedEx label user chooses to schedule a pickup and gets charged later for it... it's on him.

The main thrust of my challenge concerns the obvious misinformation in statements here like:

"eBay FedEx labels don't account for dimensional weight, residential, oversize, signature confirmation, additional handling, etc". All of those assertions are total horseplop.

See my next post which addresses the original challenge.

[berserkerplanet]

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You clearly don't use eBay FedEx labels.

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I did once.

Never again.

To be clear, I'm not talking about SmartPost, I'm talking about regular Fedex Ground and Home Delivery.

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Once?

Regular FedEx Home Delivery examples:

$3.45 residential surcharge

$4.20 Extended Delivery Area Surcharge (as other charges)

$0.94 Fuel Surcharge

$3.45 residential surcharge

$2.10 Fuel Surcharge

Base Rate accounted for Dimensional Weight too (75# vs actual 22# weight)

And the estimated amounts for FedEx Ground, Home Delivery, and Smartpost ALWAYS (except 1 time years ago) match the final billed amount within pennies.

[postingid2017]

@berserkerplanet - please do not let the postingid fool you - no,  I am not "new around here,"  I've been on eBay since '01 on my main account and selling since '03, however, not here anymore.  I thought that was funny LMAO!

The novella that you replied to is too much to jibberish - my final thought, you do not like FedEx, which is fine by me, I happen to like FedEx - far better tracking, on-time delivery, better customer service both in person and over the phone, therefore, you stick to what you like and I will always love FedEx.  The use of USPS is only temp for me.

Have a good day

[berserkerplanet]

I asked if you're new arounfd here because of how off the mark you seem to be on just about everything.

If you actually read and comprehended post in these forums it would be pretty obvious I am a big user and DEFENDER of FedEx. You missed that I guess.

>>The novella that you replied to is too much to jibberish

Wow. Current pricing and services info to support my points made your eyes glaze over?

Discussing this or anything with you appears to be a futile effort.

Good Day.

[berserkerplanet]

@holeshotxr wrote:

I recently had 2 bad experiences with eBay/Fedex and wondering if other Sellers have similar concerns ?  First off, I wonder why FEDEX charges are ESTIMATED SHIPPING Charges, and the ACTUAL SHIPPING charges are ALWAYS MORE !

@holeshotxr

My ebay FedEx charges have always matched the estimates at label creation time within a penny or two (other than 1 incident a couple of years ago)

 On the other hand, FEDEX charges are almost always more than the ESTIMATED cost on the shipping label !!!!  They had all these hidden cost ? Fuel Surcharges, etc.... Why doesn't the estimating program add all these fees ???

There are no hidden charges. See my previous posts in this thread and the dozen others in various forums here on the topic over the last few years.

I have yet to have anyone show me that residential, delivery area, fuel, oversize, signature required, insurance, dimensional weight, or any other normal surcharges are not shown and included in the eBay FedEx label quote. Every time I demonstrate via actual screen shots of eBay FedEx showing the surcharges there in plain English, I hear nothing but crickets in response.

My most recent shipment which was SUPPOSED to cost me $40 to ship an item from CA to Global Shipping Point in Erlanger, KY ended up costing me $243 !!!!!! Then the fun begins !  Trying to get ANYONE at Ebay or FEDEX to  explain the 10X the shipping cost is a JOKE !  eBay sends yo to FEDEX, who refuses to talk to you beacause eBay is the actual Customer, and then eBay refuses to help, except to send you back to FEDEx!  You are stuck in the perpetual ..." Not my problem" loop.  Why doesn't FEDEX just provide HARD shipping cost, and stop sticking it to the eBay Sellers with all their HIDDEN Costs...???? Can anyone help me

The eBay <--> FedEx finger pointing is a known situation.

There is no way for FedEx to show the "hard cost" - the estimate is based on data input by the seller which is often wrong, things can happen during shipment (**bleep** packaging falls apart, recipient doesn't sign for/accept pkg, bad address, etc and the FedEx (and UPS) business model doesn't include eating the cost of the errors (the way USPS mostly does -except postage due to receiver for seller error)

There are a few things that could cause the final billed amount to be more than the estmate:

• FedEx or eBay database/billing error - possible, but have never seen actual evidence of this
• FedEx misweighing or mis-measuring the package - this can and does happen. It is what seems to have happened with my FedEx Smartpost shipment that magically increased in weight and size a few years ago. Best guess is that another package was on top of it when weighed/measured on an automated conveyor.
• Seller error: not entering ACCURATE weight and dimensions in the aBay listing and/or in the eBay FedEx label creation page. A half inch can result in major increase in shipping cost when it causes dimensional weight considerations to kick in, addition handling surcharge for  >60" length or >30" second side length, etc. Many seem to think FedEx will let them slide on these things - nope.
• Seller error: using eBay calculated shipping in listing with discounts passed on to buyers and then taking package to a FedEx counter and shipping it retail (not unheard of)
• Seller error: using eBay FedEx shipping to generate label and then taking pkg to FedEx store for packaging somehow expecting that the outrageous fees FedEx stores charge for packing are included in the label price (not unheard of)
• Seller error: using eBay FedEx shipping to generate label and then calling for FedEx to pick up the package thereby incurring the pickup surcharge (which might be billed to user's FedEx account or tacked on to the final eBay invoice billed amount) (not unheard of)
• Bad or incomplete buyer address which incurs address correction surcharge. Assuming that the fact that the eBay FedEx label flow accepts an automatically populated address (from the PayPal transaction)  may be a mistake. I don't believe the address checking in the eBay label flow is as rigorous as that of the label flow at FedEx .com Behooves the seller to look at the address, and if it looks incomplete or funky google it and/or contact the buyer for confirmation/correction.

There are some oddball, sporadic, recent issues with eBay FedEx shipping:

•  eBay FedEx calculations are using the wrong dimensional weight divisor (166 instead or 139) which results in about the label cost at creation time and the amount charged to the buyer being about 10% too low. Only applies to shipments where dim weight kicks in, and I don't know what happens then - assume FedEx bills the higher correct amount later. (I haven't had a billing issue with it but have seen problems doing mock labels and researching ship costs using the eBay calculator)
• Second issue - that I have not encountered - is a few sellers are saying (I think) the calculators are showing correct amounts in the listings and the label flow (discounted rates) but charging the buyers retail rates, resulting in the sellers having to refund shipping amounts, loss the eBay/PayPal fees on the overage, buyers scared off, etc.

Not all or maybe none of the above necessarily apply to your situation, but $40 going to $243 is curious. I'm pretty sure it's going to turn out to be either a FedEx weighing/measuring/billing error, or a major GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out) error on your part...

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Provide full information on the shipment so it can be analyzed, and we can then try to figure out what may have happened.  Once real facts are obtained, and atheory on what went wrong, we can try to get eBay to help.

• Actual Weight (exact and what you put in calculator)
• Actual Dimensions (exact and what you put in calculator)
• Origin zip code
• Destination zip code (important for DAS determination)
• Destination commercial or residential?
• Service used (Ground/Home Delivery/SmartPost)
• Any other addons (Sig conf, insurance, handling fee, etc)
• Was it a "normal" box and not a long banded tube, an auto tire, etc?
• Was label printed via eBay labels?
• Did you drop it off at a FedEx location or call for pickup?
• If not, did you have FedEx ship it at the counter retail?
• What was estimated amount at label creation time?
• Where did you get the high charge from? Your eBay invoice?
• What were the charge details and the charged weight and dimensions on the invoice?

[holeshotxr]

FEDEX Customer Service SUCKS ! I don't know who you have talked to, but I have made several calls and received "ZERO" help.... that is when eBay is involved !! FedEx wants nothing to do with eBay Sellers ! EBay is their customer, and the Sellers are eBay's Customers. You won't find a FedEx Customer Service willing to discuss the why or reasons as to why you were charged an erroneous amount that was substantially higher than what was printed off the eBay Shipping Page. So I call "**bleep**" on the statement that FedEx has good Customer Service !!

[oz_in_ohio]

never use it...io only use the post office or USPS

[holeshotxr]

Funny you say that ! I have multiple instances that beg to differ ! Most recently, I shipped an item weighing 20 lbs from CA to KY. Shipping was printed out for $34. Label was applied, and I was charged $342 for the shipping of that item some 3 weeks later !!!!! Still fighting to get an EXPLANATION of those shipping costs ! eBay says it's not under their control, and that I should contact FedEx. FedEx in turn tells me that eBay is their Customer and they cannot discuss the eBay Account with me, the Seller. ??????? This is a viscous cycle that continues when trying to get an explanation of the shipping charges. I don't have a Certified, Calibrated Scale, but it is more that accurate for shipping purposes. And I have been measuring things for 25+ years... so my measurements are close enough for shipping a box. I shipped a dirt bike frame through FedEx, and their measurements were 60" x 31" x 36" ???? I have never seen a dirt bike frame that is 31" or 36" wide ? How would a rider straddle a dirt bike that was 31+ inches wide ????? FedEx 's measurements make no sense, but nobody at FedEx will talk to me or explain their secret measuring technique or what FUZZY logic was used to come to such measurements !!

[holeshotxr]

PACK A LUNCH and lots to drink..... It's going to take time and commitment to resolve shipping problems involving FedEx ! These types of situations happen a lot more often than anyone wants to admit. I have 8 calls already logged on my situation , and there is no end in sight. Corporate Rules of engagement are in play.... eBay is FedEx's Customer, and FedEx is not at liberty to discuss the eBay Account ? Then you call eBay, and they give you a number at FedEx to call, and the first question is for a 9 digit account number ??? it is a viscous circle, with no real Help from eBay. Ebay just gets billed by FedEx who in turn bills the eBay Seller. Ebay gets a discount from FedEx, while the eBay Seller gets the bill. eBay has no financial incentive to figure out the overbilling to an eBay Seller. The eBay Seller gets to try to out the FedEx Maze, and get the billing issue corrected. Lots of Luck getting thru that maze... I've been in here a while, and no end in sight at this point. Very Frustrating to get no assistance from Ebay or FedEx !!!!