I have a shipping question

[lazray]

If you have a heavy over sized item it has to be shipped priority but, you would like to offer ground shipping to people across the country. What is to stop people closer to you from choosing ground, because usps will not ship ground that close, only priority  

[wastingtime101]

The short answer: nothing.

You can add something to the package to make it eligible for retail ground, such as those alcohol wipes you find in first aid kits.

I believe you can set up rate tables so you can offer retail ground rates for buyers in your chosen zones yet offer parcel select (online ground) rates for buyers that reside closer.

Or set up your rate tables so that everybody is charged retail ground but closer zones have an added handling fee to make up the difference for the parcel select or priority rates.

It's a lot of work to set up rate tables, but if you ship large/heavy frequently it may be worth it.

[golfingaddict]

Can you offer both?  Just put the size and weight into the shipping portion of the listing and use calculated shipping.  Then select that you offer Ground and Priority and the buyer can decide.

Or actually, ebay will decide which one to show the buyer.  Apparently they have a system that shows only the best choice to the buyer.  (even though sellers offer lots of choices ebay has a new deal where they only show what they decide is best to the buyer)

[lazray]

Well I guess I will have to offer only priority and refund overage to people I can ship ground to.

[wastingtime101]

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@lazray wrote:

Well I guess I will have to offer only priority and refund overage to people I can ship ground to.

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That's another option, but remember you won't get a fee credit on the amount you refund so factor that in to your process.

[lazray]

I found out you can not offer both. I thought I did something wrong on my listing. I offered both and a customer choose ground and they are a couple of states over and usps does not offer ground to that state from my state. Now I am stuck paying the difference.

[dhbookds]

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@lazray wrote:

Well I guess I will have to offer only priority and refund overage to people I can ship ground to.

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You can't do that, at least with ebay labels.........if the buyer chooses priority, it must go that way......  you don't even get the lower rate choice when you print a label.  I imagine you are talking about just taking it to the PO. 

As far as the ground.........I presume you are talking about retail ground, which you have to buy at the Post office. It is cheaper than parcel select, which is the same service, but the on line equivalent albeit at a higher price because in the last USPS price increase, USPS didn't include dimensional as a cost with Retail ground.   Just know that come the end of Jan., when the new increase goes into effect, retail ground will also be charged at the dimensional rates......so the price advantage will be gone.

[poppyswag]

This is news to me. Has anyone else had this happen? How does it look on the shipping page if buyer chooses Ground but you have to ship Priority due to USPS rules?

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@wastingtime101 wrote: ...

It's a lot of work to set up rate tables, but if you ship large/heavy frequently it may be worth it.

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When the new USPS rates go into effect on January 26, Retail Ground will also be subject to the dreaded "dimensional weight" for packages over 1 cubic foot.  So it's probably not worth the trouble to set up shipping tables that will be obsolete in 3 weeks.

https://pe.usps.com/resources/PriceChange/January%202020%20-%20Notice123.pdf

[myescape]

usps will ship ground IF you do it with parcel selectI(create label online)

And if your listing only offers priority you can not downgrade to ground no mater the savings UNLESS buyer requests it

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@poppyswag wrote:

This is news to me. Has anyone else had this happen? How does it look on the shipping page if buyer chooses Ground but you have to ship Priority due to USPS rules?

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There is no difference on the shipping page.  The shipping label page won't ever show Retail Ground, because it's not an online service. Parcel Select can be used for any Zone; it doesn't have the same restrictions as Retail Ground.

Just as with Media Mail, sellers are expected to know the rules about when they can use a service.  Sellers are allowed to offer Retail Ground, because they might be shipping an item that CAN be mailed via Retail Ground to Zones 1 - 4.  

[mr_lincoln]

@lazray   I offer both Parcel Select and Priority Mail on items over 1 pound.  95% of  Buyers select Parcel Select because its cheaper then Priority mail ... those in the same or adjacent zone will sometimes pick Priority Mail as the prices are close enough they'll pay a little more to get it faster.

You can also ad Local Pick up to your listing and give folks that option.  I have a large heavy item for sale right now set for Local Pick up only NO shipping at all.  I have had a couple of people ask if I would take it to FedEx or a UPS Store and they would have it packed and shipped on their account ... for myself that answer is no.

[wastingtime101]

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@dhbookds wrote:

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@lazray wrote:

Well I guess I will have to offer only priority and refund overage to people I can ship ground to.

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You can't do that, at least with ebay labels.........if the buyer chooses priority, it must go that way......  you don't even get the lower rate choice when you print a label.  I imagine you are talking about just taking it to the PO. 

As far as the ground.........I presume you are talking about retail ground, which you have to buy at the Post office. It is cheaper than parcel select, which is the same service, but the on line equivalent albeit at a higher price because in the last USPS price increase, USPS didn't include dimensional as a cost with Retail ground.   Just know that come the end of Jan., when the new increase goes into effect, retail ground will also be charged at the dimensional rates......so the price advantage will be gone.

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Excellent points - I wasn't even thinking about the downgrade in shipping. If Priority is offered the seller can't downgrade to Retail Ground unless the buyer requested it before purchase so it could be added to the listing or invoice.

Since the retail ground loophole will be closed in 3 weeks with dimensional rates being added to retail ground, the OP would probably be better off searching for another service alternative to USPS Priority.

Depending on the size/weight of the package UPS might offer more competitive ground rates for distance shipping compared to Parcel Select.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

@lazray   I offer both Parcel Select and Priority Mail on items over 1 pound.  95% of  Buyers select Parcel Select because its cheaper then Priority mail ...  .

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Parcel Select LOOKS a lot cheaper than Priority Mail largely because the eBay shipping calculator in the listing defaults to show the retail price for Priority Mail.  If you look at the current pricing charts, you'll see that  the Parcel Select and online Priority Mail prices for packages under 20 pounds to Zones 1 - 8 are less than $1 apart; for zones 1 - 4 the difference is literally a dime.

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

[dhbookds]

I might also say..

Since we don't get a discount on parcel select, if the buyer chooses that, for us, the priority price is actual 10-15c less with our discount, so we usually bump the package up to priority.........

I think discounts are different (TRS is higher?) , so that may NOT be true for everyone.....