Question on using Pirate Ship

[u.s.carbine]

Hello all! 

I want to try using Pirate Ship for shipping and have a question.  As we all know when you use Ebay shipping you choose a service and then a shipping cost will appear in the listing according to the buyers location.

It seems Pirate Ship will only generate a price after the item is sold so is Pirate Ship only used if the seller is paying for shipping? I have integrated Ebay with Pirate ship but it seems items are imported only after the auction/listing ends. I'm I overlooking something.

Thanks!    

[rfmtm]

For calculated shipping, you can only use ebay's calculator based on the service, weight, dimensions, and buyer's Zip Code.   Generally Pirate Ship with be equal or less the cost quoted on ebay.  However, for USPS there can be some small exceptions depending on, if you have the old TRS plus discounts or a holiday surcharge is being waived.  Also Pirate Ship offers cubic rates, which can save cost, and will be good to have when the Regional Boxes disappear.

For UPS, while you may see a cheaper price on ebay, but very often it is not the actual higher price you will end up paying.   This generally is not a problem with Pirate Ship, which has a better quoting system.  Also Pirate Ship offers USP cubic and flat rate, which can be cheaper.

[knuck456]

I am trying to understand something that was asked before but didn't get any responses.  Shipping using ebay has gotten too expensive for my buyers, so I signed up for Pirate Ship, which appears to have better rates based on what I need to ship.  However, the rates vary considerably (regardless of service) based on where the buyer is located.  Since I don't know  in advance where the buyer is located and since I am not using ebay to automatically calculate shipping,  if I want to use Pirate Ship rates, do I use "fixed shipping" and then pick an "average rate" based on rates across different parts of the country and what I'm comfortable with?

thanks

[rfmtm]

Yes, you could pick an average Zip Code cost to use with Flat Rate.  You also can still use ebay's Calculated Shipping, even though you ultimately will ship with PirateShip. 

The problem is PirateShip has some lower rate services, like cubic, that ebay doesn't offer, so your buyers won't see the lower cost.  However, you can compensate for this by adjusting the package information to fool the ebay calculator into showing something very close.

There is also one other alternative and that is to set up your Shipping Rate Tables for a flat rate appropriate for each shipping zone.  This will be closer than just applying a single average flat rate.

[nobody*s_perfect]

If you charge a flat price, then you'll inevitably overcharge some buyers and/or undercharge others.  IMHO it's better to set up calculated shipping and charge the buyers the eBay price. Then if the Pirateship price is lower you can either refund a bit of the difference, or just keep it as a handling fee.

AFAIK, the only USPS domestic price which is substantially lower on Pirateship is Priority Cubic which eBay doesn't even offer. Perhaps you can fudge the weight so that the calculator charges a price that's close to the Cubic price.