Anyone else missing USPS Priority Mail Cubic shipping option?

[prescott_plastics]

Not sure if it's due to the (obnoxious & annoying) new bulk label shipping platform, but I no longer have the option for PM Cubic shipping!! I used "classic bulk label shipping" & individual label purchase but the option was missing everywhere.

Any insight appreciated; my customers were really  digging the discount  we were able to pass on to them due to lower shipping costs. Wondering if I need to, again, reprice all my listings or if there's maybe just a glitch?

[orangehound]

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@prescott_plastics wrote:

Not sure if it's due to the (obnoxious & annoying) new bulk label shipping platform, but I no longer have the option for PM Cubic shipping!! I used "classic bulk label shipping" & individual label purchase but the option was missing everywhere.

Any insight appreciated; my customers were really  digging the discount  we were able to pass on to them due to lower shipping costs. Wondering if I need to, again, reprice all my listings or if there's maybe just a glitch?

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I don't recall that eBay has ever offered cubic postage through their postage sales ... you are thinking of some other site or vendor like pirateship.

[prescott_plastics]

We definitely recall it, & we do not use any other shipping services like you mentioned. We began using the Cubic Shipping, on eBay, daily from Nov 4th, 2018, & it was available up until this weekend (April 13th, 2019 to be exact).

The rates were HIGHLY competitive to Reg A & B boxes. IE, an order that would ship in a Reg B for $15.00 would be available as a Priority Mail Cubic rate of $7.55 (normally only a few cents more than a Padded Flat Rate.) We've been in business with eBay since 2000 so we are well versed on bulk shipping with eBay. 

[anthology-of-treasures]

Have you tried pirateship? They have cubic pricing. Their system will tell if its the cheapest option. You can import your eBay orders there. No monthly fee. You don't need a eBay account. They also give you $100 insurance as opposed to eBay giving $50 to some sellers and $100 to others. No garbage text or graphics in you labels to crop out.

For many years eBay was charging some sellers Commercial Basic and others Plus. Pirateship on the other hand was giving everyone Plus. Since the merger of Base & Plus eBay has been giving a 3% discount below the new merged rate to some sellers. In many cases this is true and eBay is now less expensive than pirateship; however, this is not always true as several packages I tested showed matching pricing.

There are two main theories as to how eBay is able to offer the additional 3%:

1. They've negotiated a private deal with USPS (as have many other companies). Pirateship indicated to me that they were persuing efforts to obtain matching rates.

2. Piratship has also indicated that there are rumors that eBay may be doing this on their own.

[dtexley3]

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@prescott_plastics wrote:

We definitely recall it, & we do not use any other shipping services like you mentioned. We began using the Cubic Shipping, on eBay, daily from Nov 4th, 2018, & it was available up until this weekend (April 13th, 2019 to be exact).

The rates were HIGHLY competitive to Reg A & B boxes. IE, an order that would ship in a Reg B for $15.00 would be available as a Priority Mail Cubic rate of $7.55 (normally only a few cents more than a Padded Flat Rate.) We've been in business with eBay since 2000 so we are well versed on bulk shipping with eBay. 

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Where did you see cubic rates?  I still use the classic form for as much of my shipping as possible and I've never seen options for cubic rate?  (That being said, I do compare to PirateShip on smaller packages > 1lb and have now used it twice because the cubic rate was cheaper than priority, even with the TRS discount.)

[prescott_plastics]

I was never able to see it as an option on the New Bulk Label page, but on the classic page you would click on the cell below "Shipping Service" & click "Compare Shipping Rates" at the bottom of the list. You'd get a pop-up with all the USPS rates displayed & on the right-hand side, below the "Calculated services (to 88866)" options, there was a 2-day Priority Mail® option (aka Cubic option) with rates always less than Reg A or Reg B Flat Rate boxes. Now my only options are regular 1-3 day Priority Mail® with rates much higher that Flat Rate. 

IE, For an 8lb 12oz order, I'm given the following options:

Priority Mail® (1-3 days) - Regional Box B $10.34

Priority Mail® (1-3 days) - Package $17.52
Parcel Select Ground® (2-9 days) - Package $17.86

(plus express, media, & first class)

The affordable Priority Mail is now missing from the available shipping options. The Cubic option was also a very helpful & time-saving option for my employees, preventing them from having the hunt down the appropriate shipping box, as Cubic Priority Mail follows the "use your own box" rules.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@prescott_plastics wrote: ... a pop-up with all the USPS rates displayed & on the right-hand side, below the "Calculated services (to 88866)" options, there was a 2-day Priority Mail® option (aka Cubic option) .... The Cubic option was also a very helpful & time-saving option for my employees, preventing them from having the hunt down the appropriate shipping box, as Cubic Priority Mail follows the "use your own box" rules.

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Where are you getting "AKA"?  Regular Priority Mail has always been offered through eBay shipping labels, and doesn't require any special box.  I am beginning to suspect that you thought that regular Priority Mail was "Cubic."  Did you actually SEE the word "Cubic" anywhere in the eBay shipping process?

When USPS shows an estimated delivery time for Priority Mail, such as "2 days" or "1 - 3 days" those aren't different services, those are just different estimates of delivery times based on factors like the two ZIP Codes of the sender and recipient.

[pargran3]

entering the measurements of the package is the same now as it has always been.

Incredibly some people think they are forced into flat rate shipping. I was getting some strange rates and shipping methods at first when the new form was forced but at no time has it not been possible to check the weight and dimensions and choose your shipping method even using the new form.

No clue where the "cubic" is coming from unless that simply means putting the measurements of the package in the blanks. If you have those in your listing (as you should to give the buyer the most accurate information possible) then those dimensions are what shows up.

Priority shipping uses cubic inches to determine oversize packages. Nowhere in eBay shipping has the word cubic been offered as a shipping option

Radine

[orangehound]

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@prescott_plastics wrote:

I was never able to see it as an option on the New Bulk Label page, but on the classic page you would click on the cell below "Shipping Service" & click "Compare Shipping Rates" at the bottom of the list. You'd get a pop-up with all the USPS rates displayed & on the right-hand side, below the "Calculated services (to 88866)" options, there was a 2-day Priority Mail® option (aka Cubic option) with rates always less than Reg A or Reg B Flat Rate boxes. Now my only options are regular 1-3 day Priority Mail® with rates much higher that Flat Rate. 

IE, For an 8lb 12oz order, I'm given the following options:

Priority Mail® (1-3 days) - Regional Box B $10.34

Priority Mail® (1-3 days) - Package $17.52
Parcel Select Ground® (2-9 days) - Package $17.86

(plus express, media, & first class)

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I believe you are confusing the regular Priority Mail "Commercial Base" Pricing offered on eBay (it requires dimensions and weights) with "Cubic" pricing.  Cubic pricing is a special pricing structure that has been desired by sellers for a long time on eBay ... for example, see this thread.

Regardless, here is a screenshot of the old screen you are referring to for a 3-pound package.  There is no cubic pricing, just flat-rates Priority Mail,  Commercial base Priority Mail and the other services ... It has been this way for years.

By the way, before you tag this second post as "unhelpful" and "inaccurate" (like you did my first) ... you might want to consider that I could be right ... you know, like everyone replying to this thread is suggesting.  🙂

[prescott_plastics]

There were two separate Priority Mail options during the time I've quoted. One expensive, one affordable (one Regular, one Cubic). I didn't "think" it was cubic; The word "CUBIC" was only visible on the shipping label (hence my "AKA" statement, apologies for any suspicious I caused you). Now, I only see the one expensive option. 

I'm starting to think, due to our very high sales/ship volume, it was glitch that eBay even offered this discount to us begin with. Seems to have come & gone with no one else ever noticing. Too bad they caught on... guess it was just a "good while it lasted" thing.

[prescott_plastics · Accepted solution]

As seen in your screenshot, for a nice chunk of time (Nov-Apr), I had the two Priority Mail options ("Package/Thick Envelope" & "Large Package") as well, however the prices were remarkably different. I, unfortunately, don't have a screenshot of the old print Compare Shipping Rates dialog. For the past several months I haven't paid at all over $10 for any Priority Mail order that's gone out. I believe there was one 25 lb order that we paid around $12 to ship.

I now only have one expensive, Priority Mail option.

Thank you all for your concern, however I'm not confusing anything; I keep detailed records of all costs of running our business. Based on everyone's answers, other sellers (at least active on this thread) weren't receiving the volume discounts we were..  & for the time being, I'm just going to assume they are never coming back.

Let's just hope eBay is working on offering their volume discounts to sellers & my access to them for the short while was some sort of beta I was accidentally allowed to benefit from.

[arcvet_vintage_thrifts]

Hi, I'm a new eBay store seller and recently started following in the community. I guess my question would be: Does eBay monitor and respond to community messages? I would think they would and would want to, but I do not see any official response. Perhaps I missed it. Anyway, great to join eBay and the community!

[nobody*s_perfect]

No, this community is made up of eBay users, not employees.  They can be summoned when necessary by alerting them with an @ and their ID.  But these boards are managed separately by an outside vendor. There i a weekly chat with eBay staff on Wednesday afternoons which you can find under the "Inside eBay" section in Community.

[kh-ornesh]

Hi everyone,

Due to the length of time that has passed since this thread began, we have locked it from future replies. If this is still an issue that warrants discussion, don't hesitate to begin a new thread HERE.

Thanks.