Shipping cost drastically cheaper through Etsy than Ebay, how?

[jwshirts]

I've had one order through Etsy so I don't have other orders to compare this to, but I'm struggling to figure out how my shipping cost is drastically cheaper through Etsy than Ebay.

I had 1 order on Etsy.  2 t-shirts.  I selected Priority mail due to the weight (I can typically ship one t-shirt via 1st class since it's around 7-9 ounces).  Total shipping weight was 1 pound, 9 ounces.  I selected custom package size because I used a poly bag and I had to enter dimensions.  To just have something in there since I was using a bag, I used 8"x6"x1".  I received $100 in free shipping insurance, not the normal $50 when using Paypal shipping, USPS direct or through eBay.  My shipping cost was $6.46.  This was shipping from a US address to another state in the US.  I double checked everything 3 times before paying and printing out the label because I wanted to make sure this first order through Etsy was correct.

Now, hours later, I process an order through eBay for 2 t-shirts.  The exact same shipping service, Priority mail, using a custom package (my poly bag), dimensions of 8"x6"x1".  I received $50 free shipping insurance (not the $100 free through Etsy's USPS shipping option).  I used the same weight of 1 pound 9 ounces.  My shipping cost through eBay?  $10.28.  Again, both address in the US in separate states.

I went to Paypal and created a custom shipping label and manually entered all the above information since it wasn't tied to the actual order.  No difference.  $10.28 for Priority mail (same Priority option, regular, not express).

It's going to be cheaper for me to ship the 2 shirts separately as 1st class packages than to ship them together as a priority package.

I went back to Etsy and looked at my invoice and shipping details and it is in fact exactly what I listed above.

And of course, there's no option that I can find to create and pay for shipping through Etsy for items that were not sold through Etsy.

So how can Etsy offer such huge discount on the same shipping service?  Other than the USPS offering small discounts for buying postage online, USPS dictates the price, not the Etsy or eBay.

I know some are going to say I had to have made a mistake somewhere and didn't use the same information and details.  But I assure you I did.  This account I'm posting under is fairly new.  But I've been selling on eBay since within a couple of weeks of Ebay's inception (not a high volume seller but enough to know the specifics of the shipping process).  AND..... I'm a rural mail carrier at my local post office.  So I can assure you that I duplicated every detail, especially the shipping weight.

So has anyone else experienced this (cheaper shipping rates through Etsy)?  Or was this a fluke and/or mistake on Etsy's end that I'll end up paying for later?

[southern*sweet*tea]

Priority mail is zoned. The farther away, the more it costs.

Where are you, were did the Etsy shirts go, and where did the Ebay shirts go?

[deep-garnet-red]

6.46 is the price to ship to zone 3 for one pound, so I hope you did remember the 9 ounces on that one. 

10.28 is the price to ship 2 lbs to zone 8.

[jwshirts]

Yes, I did include the 9 ounces... 1#, 9oz.  I just looked at the label again after you asked.

Well, I carry the mail, I don't sell the postage in the PO so that's embarrassing and it explains it LOL.

I just have not seen that kind of price difference before.  I thought the zones on priority only came into play with the flat-rate regional A and B boxes.

[jwshirts]

I thumbed up you too for your helpful reply.  Even though I don't sell a lot it just seems over the years that I would have noticed that big of a difference before.  As mentioned I deliver the mail, I don't sell the postage and only have experience with pricing my own packages, which I can't believe I haven't seen that kind of price swing before 🙂

Thanks again everyone.

[jwshirts]

I guess you have a price chart with rates and zones?  Where can I see that?  I have a chart for stamp rates and package rates by the ounce but it doesn't mention zones.

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

USPS publishes all rates, retail and commercial, online at:

https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm

Note that the jump to Commercial/Priority Mail is wrong -- it leads to Priority Express, but just scroll down to the correct chart.

You might also want to print a postal zone chart for handy reference:

https://postcalc.usps.com/DomesticZoneChart

When you require Priority Mail because of weight, you might want to use the small FRB or any of the FRE's to keep costs down.  For example, a bubble FRE costs only $7.20 retail ($6.50 commercial) regardless of weight.

~~C~~

[lja440]

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@jwshirts wrote:

Yes, I did include the 9 ounces... 1#, 9oz.  I just looked at the label again after you asked.

Well, I carry the mail, I don't sell the postage in the PO so that's embarrassing and it explains it LOL.

I just have not seen that kind of price difference before.  I thought the zones on priority only came into play with the flat-rate regional A and B boxes.

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I have to ask, how long have you been carrying mail?

I have been with USPS as a rural carrier since 2000. You really need to learn your product! Get with your Postmaster or a clerk and learn about the different types of postage and especially Priority. Learn, learn, learn. Also, ask about the Cubic Foot pricing. 

You need to know these things for your job. Please do not tell me you are not paying attention to your packages (both incoming and outgoing). I catch around $50 to $300 in revenue just on my route in short paid postage each month. My top one is $54.31 short paid from rockauto.com, a 26# (max is 20#) .50 cu/ft box with a .20 cu/ft label. 

I would post more but I have to leave for work. 

[partial*eclipse]

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@jwshirts wrote:

I guess you have a price chart with rates and zones?  Where can I see that?  I have a chart for stamp rates and package rates by the ounce but it doesn't mention zones.

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"Buy the ounce" is for First Class which (as yo'uve noticed) doesn'thave zoned pricing.  Neither does Media Mail.  But all of the other services do (Priority Mail, Parcel Select, Retail Ground).

Use and bookmark the link that duchess posted for Notice 123.  It's a live link, so when prices change (usually in January) they update automatically.  It's so handy, I actually print out the most relevant pages. Study the pages about Priority Mail rates.

By the way, the package dimensions for your T-shirts don't really matter.  The surcharge thresholds for Priroity Mail are a package volume of 1 cubic foot (1728 cubic inches) for Zones 5 - 9, and a length-plus-girth over 84 inches for Zones 1 - 4.

[rastoma]

$50-$300 in incorrect postage per month?  On just YOUR route?  And the other carriers in your PO do the same thing?  No.

90% of the packages do not have the postage amount displayed on the package.  It's prepaid labels that do not show the postage amount.  I can tell a letter and large envelope that doesn't have enough postage and I catch those sometimes.  You must work in an office that has one or two routes and you must have an auxiliary route with so few boxes that you have time to worry about that.  It's absurd to think that the clerks are going to take every package you give them and you say "weight this and check the postage".  And again unless you're in an abnormal postal facility you're not seeing the postage amount on the packages.  For you to claim that is happening every week out of every month, 12 months a year is just not feasible or possible in a typical post office unless you took your own scale in and weight them yourself to check.

Yes, I deliver mail and admittedly I should have known more about zones, but I don't need to know about zones.   I don't sell postage.  I don't weight packages.  I don't sort packages.  I have a little over SEVEN HUNDRED addresses/customers on my route.  I look at the address and deliver the letter or package and that's all anyone can do, will do or expected to do.  So you can claim to be that "I'm better than you" person and try to elevate yourself above others that you can do more and are better than someone else because you got lucky once   But I could care less and know that it's nowhere remotely possible that there are that many packages that are slipping by the automated scanners and that you get the majority of them.  If your route really has that much lost revenue that you're catching then the other carriers in your PO are doing the exact same thing, correct?  Because if you were trained so well then your PO is recovering many thousands of dollars of postage every year because you're implying that you just have a typical route which means every route in the country has up to $300 of incorrect postage slipping past every automated scanner,  and ultimately  every carrier.   Whatever.

[partial*eclipse]

@rastoma

She doesn't need to see the postage amount on the packages.  Online labels will show what WEIGHT and Zone were paid for, and whether a surcharge was applied (such as for dimensional weight).  Zone and weight is all you need to figure out what potsage was paid, and how much should have been paid. Underpaid weight is the most common way that senders evade postage costs. 

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@rastoma wrote:

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 ... you're implying that you just have a typical route which means every route in the country has up to $300 of incorrect postage slipping past every automated scanner,  and ultimately  every carrier...

Yes, that's exactly what happens.

[jwshirts]

Just looked in my hamper, 1st PKG on top... From Rock Auto, LLC.   No postage amount just like the hundreds of RA pkgs I've delivered.  But you can catch postage mistakes on those.  

I've dug through at least 60 other pkgs this far this morning.  No postage amt anywhere on any of them.  I must have a weird oddball route.

[partial*eclipse]

Indeed, online labels usually don't show the postage cost; that's the default. But ebay and PayPal labels (and probably others) do have an option to show the postage. There are situations where the sender wants the buyer to know what they've paid.

As your image shows, the label does show the weight and zone paid for.  If you feel that the package weighs more than 3 pounds, just pop it on the scale to check.  If it's overweight, then the Postage Due  will be the difference between the actual postage to Zone 5 vs the postage for 3 pounds.

[jwshirts]

Yes that is correct and I know that.  It was implied that I'm don't know how to do my job by checking that information and that someone is so good at their job they are catching them daily.  But in reality when you're handling 150 packages a day along with 2000 letters it's not possible to stop and look at those tiny numbers, balance the package in your hand while imagining the weight while looking at a price chart 150 times a day.  And to randomly check a PKG every now and then and find up to $300 in mistakes every month?  Not possible.

[jwshirts]

Excuse the grammar mistakes... Sending from my phone.