Shipping method drop-down box: Why can I not correct media rate shipijng to USPS Ground? What's up?

[dunker2]

I have listed a number of things suitable for media rate.  I also have some items goping at USPS Ground Advantage.  Somehow, the Ground Advatage shipping shows up on the item listing as media rate instead.  Every time I try to correct it I get nowhere. 

I have ended a few listing because of it, added a corrective note on a couple of others.

What am I missing?  

[jonathanbrightlight]

What category are you listing them in?

Does it show Ground Advantage on the listing itself, or just when you go to purchase the label for a paid order?

[1786davycrockett]

@dunker2 

Many of the items that you have listed for USPS Media rate are magazines (such as AVIATION HISTORY or EQUSS:  THE HORSE OWNER'S MAGAZINE or SCOTT STAMP MONTHLY MAGAZINE or SPORT AVIATION MAGAZINE or ANTIQUE AUTOMOBILE MAGAZINE or ROLLING STONE) -- or any of the other many magazines and periodicals which you have listed for USPS Media rates.

USPS does not permit the use of Media rate postage for ANY items which contain advertising (no matter how old), including magazines, comic books and catalogues, as well as yearbooks (such as your Sampson Air Force Base 1955 yearbook) and sports program brochures.  All those items need to be changed to USPS Ground Advantage.

And some of the items which you have listed to be shipped at USPS Media rates are not even remotely media items, such as the String Swing wall-mount guitar hanger ; or the Diamond Point clear syrup and cream dispensers; or the Trumpet Straight-Mute; or the 1977-S Coins Proof set; or the Faith Hope Charity ring; or the 1" Clear Rhinestones Religious Virgin Mary Pin Brooch; or the 1950 Kansas City Centennial Souvenir felt hat; or the Shotgun Cleaning kit -- absolutely NONE of those items qualify for shipment as media items under USPS regulations.  All need to be changed to USPS Ground Advantage or Priority.

And check through all those postage stamp collecting books and pamphlets as well -- if any of them include advertising, they cannot be shipped at USPS Media rates.

USPS is beginning to clamp down hard on items being shipped at USPS Media rates which do not qualify, and many of your items may be returned to you marked "Insufficient Postage" -- or (worst case scenario) shipped to your buyers marked "Postage Due."

Better safe than sorry.

[wastingtime101 · Accepted solution]

Can you provide more detail @dunker2 - is this when setting up the listings or when you buy the labels?

If it's when setting up your listings, post a screenshot of the shipping section so we can see what you're seeing. I'm thinking maybe you inadvertently opted in to business policies?

@1786davycrockett posted important information about the use of Media Mail. Please review not only his comments, but this very helpful guide on what is and is not permitted with Media Mail. It's a clear chart that offers more info than the general USPS pages.

Media Mail - Is it eligible?

[dunker2]

A couple of those items, particularly the stamp things, I was unaware of, and will need to change those. 

But magazines I have listed at Ground Advantage, not at media rate.  The other items you point out as not even remotely qualified for media rate - you are absolutely correct.  But  I also did not list them at media rate. 

Over 25 years I have sold mostly books.  But this problem I have not run into until very recently.  I did not change any of those things, unless inadvertantly, and that is what I am trying to figure out.  When I try to correct the items, I go to check the listing itself, and it still shows the shipoping as at Media Rate.  

Usually when I switch the listing to Ground Advantage, I get a red warning say the entry is a duplicate - and thus I can't change it.  Or haven't figured out how, anyway.  I started ending listing when this happened, and likely will be ending more for the same reason.  (Like the ones I added corrected notes to, in thelisting description.) 

So, while you are correct that they need to be changed - which I have been trying to do for a few days now -  I still do not have an answer on why they are NOT being changed when I go through the process.  OR how to correct it without the correction going through.  

[dunker2]

Thanks for the link - some of those I do need to correct, and had not seen a complete listing of qualifications.  

(I just printed a copy of this as a guide to correcting the ones I have done incorrectly.)

Meanwhile, I am still trying to figure how how to correct the shipping in listings that need it, and why the corrections are being rejected.  It might be a simple keystroke or something right in front of me, but I have tried a couple of variations to no avail.

Thanks again, though.

[wastingtime101]

Can you post screenshots @dunker2 . I'm sure we can guide you if we know what exactly you're seeing.

What I think is happening, and correct me if this sounds wrong, is you're using business policies.

You're trying to edit business policies, not the listings themselves, and you're getting error messages when changing shipping on the policy.

If that's what's happening then likely you have a shipping policy for Ground Adv, so when you try to edit the Media policy to Ground Adv you're getting an error because the Ground Adv policy already exists.

If that's what's happening then you shouldn't be editing the policy. Instead you should be editing the listing and assigning a different policy (the Ground Adv policy).

[1786davycrockett]

@dunker2 

As @wastingtime101  has suggested -- "What I think is happening, and correct me if this sounds wrong, is you're using business policies."

"You're trying to edit business policies, not the listings themselves, and you're getting error messages when changing shipping on the policy."

"If that's what's happening then likely you have a shipping policy for Ground Adv, so when you try to edit the Media policy to Ground Adv you're getting an error because the Ground Adv policy already exists."

"If that's what's happening then you shouldn't be editing the policy. Instead you should be editing the listing and assigning a different policy (the Ground Adv policy)."

I agree with @wastingtime101  -- your problem may be the necessity of editing the shipping policies of each  individual item.  This involves either creating a brand new shipping policy, or tweaking an existing policy.

Try an experiment:  Find one of your items that needs to be revised.  Click on it, and you will see the message "Revise listing" -- click on that.

Then scroll down to "Shipping policy."  To the right of the grey box is a circle with 3 dots -- click on that, and click on "Create shipping policy."  You will be able to create a brand new shipping policy for that item alone.

Then scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click on "Revise it."

There are quite a number of items that need editing; but, once you get the hang of it, you should be able to whip through all of the items that need revisions.

Additionally, you have just stated "But magazines I have listed at Ground Advantage, not at media rate."  I just checked your listing for "Magazine: Rolling Stone - Dr. Dre and Ice Cube cover August 27 2015", and it clearly states :

"Shipping:

US $6.00 USPS Media MailTM. See detailsfor shipping

Located in: Hannibal, Missouri, United States"

You might want to re-check all those magazine listings again, as they all need to be changed to USPS Ground Advantage or USPS Priority.

And you have just stated "The other items you point out as not even remotely qualified for media rate - you are absolutely correct.  But  I also did not list them at media rate."  But they ARE listed at USPS Media Rate -- did you possibly inadvertently skip past the shipping policy when you created those listings, rather than creating NEW shipping policies?

Try making some individual editing revisions, and see if that's successful for you.

[dunker2]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I have tried a few variations - one did work, but I could not duplicate it afterwards, and had to stop at that point. 

Messages I got were (1.) that I already had the shipping policy requested (identical), and (2.) my business profile is identical (/or changed - I've lost btrack).  The first I have tried to work around; the second I have not figured out.

I saw none of this until a few days ago, and have no idea what might have changed any of it, unless it camne from a "Sell one like this" connection somehow.

Well, I will return to all of it as soon as I can, including your suggestions, even if I have tried them before.

Thanks again.

[dunker2]

As it turns out, you were correct, I had indeed inadvertantly opted into the business policies thing.  The solution boiled down to finding out how to opt out, which took me a while but was as simple as pushing a button.  Thanks for the lead, and the link as well.