Shipping Defaulting to Higher Shipping Option?

[voguevintage]

Today when I went to ship I noticed something strange. When I go to the "Print your shipping label" page (for single labels, not bulk shipping) it was defaulting to the next highest shipping option instead of the default/buyer selected.

So media mail was defaulting to First Class, First Class was defaulting to Priority and Priority was defaulting to Priority Mail Express!

I've never seen this before. It always defaults to "buyer selected" which for me is whatever I set the shipping to be when I listed since I only give one option unless a buyer contacts me requesting other arrangements.

As a result today I almost paid for a label for Priority Mail EXPRESS!

Is eBay doing this to try to mitigate shipping delays by defaulting all items go a faster route than the buyer selected that way it'll be able to make in during the guaranteed delivery date or is this just another glitch?

Either way it's messed up and needs to be fixed.

[donnydonnamc]

Still not fixed!!

[pjcdn2005]

@donnydonnamc 

I am guessing that your problem is a bit different.  eBay no longer supports printing Parcel select labels so if that was the option that the buyer chose, ebay usually defaults it to a different method...usually a flat rate envelope.  The buyer was still charged for Parcel Select but you will have to print the label on another platform such as paypal.com/shipnow or Pirateship.com or you can buy postage at the post office.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

@donnydonnamc 

I am guessing that your problem is a bit different.  eBay no longer supports printing Parcel select labels so if that was the option that the buyer chose, ebay usually defaults it to a different method...usually a flat rate envelope.  The buyer was still charged for Parcel Select but you will have to print the label on another platform such as paypal.com/shipnow or Pirateship.com or you can buy postage at the post office.

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Or you can ship via eBay Priority Mail (regular, not flat rate envelope), which costs only a little bit more than Parcel Select Ground and would be cheaper than shipping at the PO.

[2112lady]

How do you take the purchase and print on a different platform as you suggested?

I am being nickled and dimed on every ship I make out of my own pocket. My customer's final price for shipping is always less than the shipping rate.

Also, mine defaults to "envelope" most the time, and whenever there is a PO Box. I use multiple shipping options from the calculator but ebay allows them to pick the one that is not offered and doesn't warn them that it is not available. I either have to try to invoice them for the difference in shipping or eat it.  I beg everyone who makes an offer to accept the original price and try to return the excess from shipping in an invoice before they pay. But this now happens on EVERY purchase this year. I never had any of these problems the prior 8 years I have been on Ebay... It makes me want to take all my sales to Etsy.

I don't understand why it has become so hard to keep the shipping calculator up to date and stop customers from purchasing shipping they cannot have. As a solution for not refunding my on their bad shipping calculator Ebay told me to select flat rate and told me it is the most expensive, but I can see in the calculator most often it is not the most expensive, and it is not a good solution for customers that don't want to buy something because the shipping is ridiculous.

I also have over 100 listings. Editing all of them with the shipping calculator every month to make sure the rates are high enough is not possible. I already do it 2x a year.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Just stop offering Parcel Select Ground.

[fun-snowbunny]

I am having the same issue. I ship USPS Ground Mail and that is what the buyer pays for.  After my buyer pays, my USPS Ground Mail option is not showing up. Its defaulting to Media mail which my items do not qualify for or it forces my to use Priority mail.  I do not feel like this is an accident.  I've never had this issue before.

[nobody*s_perfect]

USPS does not have a service which they call "Ground Mail." The service formerly known as Parcel Post is now called Retail Ground when purchased at the Post Office, and as Parcel Select Ground when purchased online.  

eBay has decided to phase out access to Parcel Select Ground labels, even though USPS has made no changes in their services or policies, and it's offered by all other online postage sellers including PayPal, endicia, stamps.com, etc. When it's not offered, the shipping label page usually defaults to the first option on the list which is flat rate envelope. You can purchase Parcel Select Ground postage through PayPal at

www.PayPal.com/shipnow

But do compare prices before you do that. For Zones 1 - 4, the USPS online price for Priority Mail is  less than a dollar more than Parcel Select Ground. If you're a TRS you get a 3% discount when purchasing Priority labels through eBay, which often makes it cheaper than Parcel Select

IMHO Parcel Select ground should only be offered when necessary such as for hazmat or Oversize packages (i.e., length-plus-girth above the Priority limit of 108 inches).

[eye_of_the_tiger]

@voguevintage 

This has never happened to me on eBay, I just had to print a shipping label two days ago and it went fine. However, I did buy something (not from eBay) and I noticed they did not offer free shipping (like they usually do), nor USPS First Class, but the lowest, slowest option they had was USPS Priority Mail, at $13! I've heard that USPS is using faster shipping types to get Holiday gifts in time before Christmas. It might go with eBay as well. Just a theory though. 

[aswietlicki]

It looks like it, and I want eBay TO STOP DOING THIS! As a buyer who lives in the Seattle area, I have seen that about %50 of the listings for shoes that I've looked at are showing shipping cost of $62.60 from most of the US (except from the West Coast). Some sellers have NO IDEA how to deal with providing me other options, so there are sales *that would have been made, that I just avoid,* because the seller doesn't know how to deal with it properly. I can't imagine how frustrating this is for sellers.

eBay: please note: SALES ARE BEING LOST BECAUSE OF THIS

[kh-jean]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.