Can I ship by UPS instead of USPS?

[designsandthings]

I ship most of my items via USPS since it's typically cheaper. But I sold something today and because of their location (it's a commercial address), it ends up being way cheaper to ship by UPS.  UPS would arrive on Thursday, USPS would arrive on Wednesday. But because I state a 2-day handling time in my listings, it says the item would arrive between Thursday and Monday. So either way, the package would arrive in the estimated time frame.

I like to save myself and my customers money, so if we shipped by UPS, I could offer a partial refund.

Is this a bad idea?

[tarpedge]

You need to ask your buyer, in case UPS is a problem at that location.

[designsandthings]

Oh yeah for sure, I'd definitely ask.

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

UPS Ground would be an upgrade from Parcel Select, but a downgrade from Priority Mail. Definitely ask your buyer if UPS is acceptable. Remember that USPS may deliver to a business office but UPS may deliver to a warehouse loading dock, causing major inconvenience.

Offering a partial refund is very kind but, of course, you won't get a rebate on eBay's FVF fee. Next time, offer UPS as an option in addition to USPS when you set up a listing (although eBay is known for messing up UPS rate quotes).

~~C~~

[designsandthings]

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@duchess-at-speakeasy wrote:
UPS Ground would be an upgrade from Parcel Select, but a downgrade from Priority Mail. Definitely ask your buyer if UPS is acceptable. Remember that USPS may deliver to a business office but UPS may deliver to a warehouse loading dock, causing major inconvenience.

Offering a partial refund is very kind but, of course, you won't get a rebate on eBay's FVF fee. Next time, offer UPS as an option in addition to USPS when you set up a listing (although eBay is known for messing up UPS rate quotes).

~~C~~

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I used street view for their location on Google maps and their business has a "UPS access point" sign on their door (and it's definitely a business, they sell custom t-shirts). I'm confused about your comment about where the package would be delivered, wouldn't either service deliver to the actual address??

We decided instead of a refund, we'd throw in 25 extra parts (they bought 250 parts). (But I know I wouldn't get that FVF back if I refunded.)

We don't trust eBay or any other site to calculate shipping. We would have shipped this in a large flat rate box by USPS, so we just charged a flat rate anyway. No way to select two options, I had to pick. Normally USPS is cheaper but since this is a commercial address, UPS is cheaper.

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

Tossing in an extra 25 parts is a great customer service gesture -- you'll likely get a repeat customer and referrals!

Your customer's location is simple and straight forward, a store or other small building.

An "actual address" may have variable delivery points in a multi-building complex. As a temp, I frequently have worked in industrial areas where USPS (or a postal courier) delivers mail to the receptionist in the business office. But UPS, FedEx, DHL and freight companies are directed to the loading dock in a building across a very large parking lot. Same address, different doors almost a block apart.

When you select calculated shipping, the various USPS FRB/FRE's are on the list. For example, when I list books, I can offer Priority Mail (weight-based), medium FRB, bubble FRE, Media Mail and even Priority Express Mail. I could include UPS or FedEx if I wanted to (I don't) or substitute a Regional A or B box if it's cost effective.

Similarly, with the fixed-rate option, I can name any service at any amount I care to specify. I do so for lightweight domestic orders as well as for all international destinations.

~~C~~

[designsandthings]

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@duchess-at-speakeasy wrote:
Tossing in an extra 25 parts is a great customer service gesture -- you'll likely get a repeat customer and referrals!

Your customer's location is simple and straight forward, a store or other small building.

An "actual address" may have variable delivery points in a multi-building complex. As a temp, I frequently have worked in industrial areas where USPS (or a postal courier) delivers mail to the receptionist in the business office. But UPS, FedEx, DHL and freight companies are directed to the loading dock in a building across a very large parking lot. Same address, different doors almost a block apart.

When you select calculated shipping, the various USPS FRB/FRE's are on the list. For example, when I list books, I can offer Priority Mail (weight-based), medium FRB, bubble FRE, Media Mail and even Priority Express Mail. I could include UPS or FedEx if I wanted to (I don't) or substitute a Regional A or B box if it's cost effective.

Similarly, with the fixed-rate option, I can name any service at any amount I care to specify. I do so for lightweight domestic orders as well as for all international destinations.

~~C~~

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Oh, I see what you mean. For this situation, I highly doubt they'd be delivered to two separate spots, I wish I could send you the address so you could see. Especially since that business is a UPS drop off point.

Another reason we don't do calculated shipping because then we'd have put in the weight for every single item. I don't really have time to figure that out before hand, I would rather just do it when it sells (if even I need to, most of what we sell goes regional or flat rate). We ship the cheapest way we can, and most goes by Priority Mail. 

It's also hard to do calculated shipping because eBay doesn't know it's a commerical address. So for this case, let's say I offered both USPS and UPS. The UPS price would probably come up more because it would give a residential rate. So USPS would be cheaper and that's what the customer would have chose. But when I go to print a label, UPS would actually be cheaper since it's commercial. So there's another problem I guess.

[plumbingspecials]

Yes, you can use any carrier you'd like. But you have to enter (upload) the tracking number for that transaction for your seller protection against a Not Received case. Also if you have specified a carrier or shipping method on your listing, and using UPS makes the delivery later than the Estimated Delivery Date, it could cause problems.

If it is a commercial address, you likely will not have any issues using UPS as your carrier, but you might want to let the buyer know before shipping it out, in case it's going to be a problem for the buyer.

[designsandthings]

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@plumbingspecials wrote:

Yes, you can use any carrier you'd like. But you have to enter (upload) the tracking number for that transaction for your seller protection against a Not Received case. Also if you have specified a carrier or shipping method on your listing, and using UPS makes the delivery later than the Estimated Delivery Date, it could cause problems.

If it is a commercial address, you likely will not have any issues using UPS as your carrier, but you might want to let the buyer know before shipping it out, in case it's going to be a problem for the buyer.

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Oh yeah, I would definitely upload the tracking number lol.

If we shipped it today, the UPS package would have arrived on Thursday. eBay's estimated delivery frame was Thursday to Monday. So that would have been fine. It was a day longer than USPS, but still within the frame.

Yeah I messaged the buyer, offering to use UPS and throwing in some extra parts to make up for the 1-day delay. I assume they'll take it because more parts is always good!