What happened to Priority Flat Rate Options in Shipping????

[yellow-snapdragon]

I'm trying to list a heavier item and I want to offer priority medium flat rate as a shipping option but it is no longer in the options. WTH? None of the flat rate boxes are listed anymore.

[nobody*s_perfect · Accepted solution]

eBay's wacky programmers have recently introduced a completely unnecessary hoop to jump through for sellers who want to use Priority Mail flat rate packaging: Sellers must enter specific package dimensions which correspond to the dimensions of the flat rate package. This is what member wastingtime101 wrote about the situation:

eBay made an unannounced change related to setting up listings with certain types of packaging. When package dimensions entered exceed eBay's programmed dimensions, eBay will not show you those shipping options when setting up your listing.

To access these services, enter the following package dimensions:

USPS Flat Rate Envelopes: 12x9x1
USPS Small Flat Rate Box: 8x5x1
USPS Med Flat Rate Box: 14x12x3
USPS Large Flat Rate Box: 12x12x6
eBay Standard Envelope: 11x6x0.25

[yellow-snapdragon]

Good grief! eBay filled in wacky dimensions of 25x14x4 for my package. Not nearly that big. Thank you! I was able to find it.

[texasbay1]

ok, that's good to know.  That's a pretty big change to make with no announcements.  I thought I was losing my mind.  Soooo....what if you just want to give them that choice but also still give them the option to ship it USPS ground ?  I mean there is only one location to type in the dimensions, right ? 

[nobody*s_perfect]

Dimensions have no effect on the USPS shipping cost for packages up to 1 cubic foot (1728 cubic inches) and up to 22 inches long. So if your alternate box for ground shipping is below those limits, then the exact dimensions don't matter and you might as well enter the ones that eBay wants for the flat rate box option.

[agemelee]

@stuff4divas

this is the issue why its disappearing

[tomatbay]

I'd like to mention that the Small FR Box dimensions are Max. 70 lb, 8.7 x 5.4 x 1.8 in.   So the correct dimension to enter are 9x6x2 since you always round up to the next inch.

If the algorithm requires 8x5x1 to trigger FR Box, that is garbage programming on a new level.

[nobody*s_perfect]

USPS always rounds up weight, but dimensions are rounded off to the nearest inch. Which of course is irrelevant with this garbage programming which has been a known issue for several months.

[tomatbay]

Ouch, sorry to hear that.  So it went to s**t just a few months ago.

I'm leaving as much detailed negative feedback to eBay about all this and still plan to have an eBay help person walk me through how to make the listing.  I will be polite but I really want to hear their answers to my, "Well, why would I do that?  It doesn't make any sense." questions.

I think it is ironic that in my Settings I have it set up to pass my eBay shipping discounts to the Buyer and then I still have to manually enter that number which I have no clue what it is.

It could be that eBay owners have realized their growth phase is over and are cashing out and either courting a buyer or shifting operations into maintenance instead of development.  Stock price looks unrecoverable in the near and mid-term.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@tomatbay wrote: ... in my Settings I have it set up to pass my eBay shipping discounts to the Buyer and then I still have to manually enter that number which I have no clue what it is.....

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The eBay listing form uses the terms "flat" and "calculated" shipping in their broader sense.  If you want eBay to enter the postage prices, then you have to choose "calculated" shipping, even if you plan to ship in USPS Priority Mail flat-rate packaging.  

To check on prices for eBay shipping labels, enter your info in their shipping calculator:

http://www.ebay.com/shp/Calculator

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@tomatbay wrote: ... still plan to have an eBay help person walk me through how to make the listing.  I will be polite but I really want to hear their answers to my, "Well, why would I do that?  It doesn't make any sense." questions....

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LOL, even if you can get in contact with a customer service rep, you are seriously overestimating their ability and willingness to provide detailed, accurate support. They have no more insight than you nor I into why eBay's programmers would suddenly require sellers to enter arbitrary, specific dimensions for USPS flat-rate packaging.  Come back to these discussion boards any time, with any specific questions, where you can get help from actual experienced sellers.

[anjofak]

Iv been going with 1x1x1 if I'm going to use usps FR ..

[tomatbay]

"1x1x1" is interesting....    Maybe the stupid algorithm wants to see the "required" dimensions are smaller than the FR box.

Still doesn't solve my problem of having to manually enter the Fixed Postage Amount since I want to pass my eBay discount to buyer.

[nobody*s_perfect]

The price for Priority flat-rate packaging will be entered in your listing automatically if you (1) set up the listing with calculated shipping; and (2) set your site preferences to offer carrier-specific discounts.

https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf

[tomatbay]

UPDATE:  Entering the following makes form complete with eBay discount shipping rate passed to buyer:

• Manually enter 1 x 1 x 1 dimensions
• Choose:  Calculated shipping based on buyer location
• Choose FR box

However, PREVIEW shows "broken " shipping information:  it says "SHIPPING:  Calculated" and does not state 1) the Fixed Rate Amount and 2) Shipping method of USPS Priority FR Box.

Further, the Shipping Tab in PREVIEW opens a page that shows all the 200+ countries I do not ship to even though I am not offering international shipping.

So I'm still left with How TF do I fill this form out?

[tomatbay]

...forgot to add that in the PREVIEW Shipping Tab, to get the "calculated" rate of a FR box, I will have to enter my zip code.

Am I to assume the PREVIEW is totally **bleep** and should be ignored???