Ebay Postage Question

[shedless]

New to buying postage on Ebay and wondering why it gives me a different % off of postage every time?? In the last 3 days I have bought postage and once it was a 5% discount, once was 33% and the last time was 40%, that's a big difference but i can't find shipping cost info anywhere!

[missjen831]

eBay charges you the published USPS commercial rates. The discount is the difference between the retail/counter rate and the commercial rate. It’s not a set %

[mam98031]

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@shedless wrote:

New to buying postage on Ebay and wondering why it gives me a different % off of postage every time?? In the last 3 days I have bought postage and once it was a 5% discount, once was 33% and the last time was 40%, that's a big difference but i can't find shipping cost info anywhere!

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Yes, what Jen said.  And the discounts are different between types of mail services you use as well as the weights.  It varies all over the place.  But it is still cheaper to purchase postage online that it is to go to the PO and buy it.  Plus online tracking is a must for sellers.

[nobody*s_perfect]

The rate that eBay charges you is not some special eBay rate; it's just the USPS's own published online rate.  

eBay then compares that price against the regular published USPS retail rate (what you'd pay at the Post Office counter) and calls this difference your "eBay discount."   When USPS is determining their  online rates, they don't just deduct a percentage off of the retail rate, so eBay's "discount" percentage varies considerably.  But you will find that it's the same difference every time, for the same specific combination of service/weight/dimensions/distance.

You can look up the exact prices in the official USPS rates publication, Notice 123:

http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm300/notice123.pdf

[muttlymob]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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But it is still cheaper to purchase postage online that it is to go to the PO and buy it.  Plus online tracking is a must for sellers.

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Online tracking is available with retail postage too.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Indeed, all USPS domestic package postage automatically includes tracking (formerly known as Delivery Confirmation) at no additional cost.

[mam98031]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

The rate that eBay charges you is not some special eBay rate; it's just the USPS's own published online rate.  

eBay then compares that price against the regular published USPS retail rate (what you'd pay at the Post Office counter) and calls this difference your "eBay discount."   When USPS is determining their  online rates, they don't just deduct a percentage off of the retail rate, so eBay's "discount" percentage varies considerably.  But you will find that it's the same difference every time, for the same specific combination of service/weight/dimensions/distance.

You can look up the exact prices in the official USPS rates publication, Notice 123:

http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm300/notice123.pdf

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While Ebay nor any other online site can negotiate FCP domestic rates as USPS doesn't allow it.  They do allow negotiations on FCP International, PM and Express mail.