eBay

petebarbe-8 · ‎12-20-2020

Recently I sold an item that was approximately 10 lbs and had 14x14x4 dimensions which I wanted to ship through USPS Priority Mail from Seattle to Tennessee. Both Priority Mail and USPS Ground were $45 to ship!

Yet FedEx and UPS were both around $15 for ground shipment for the exact same weight and dimensions.

This has been happening repeatedly. It is costing me sales. A lot of buyers don't want to use FedEx or USPS and each of those options can have hidden charges on my monthly invoice.

Is anyone else experiencing this or have an idea of why USPS is running at 3x the rates of FedEx/UPS for even moderately heavy items? Is this something wrong with the way eBay is calculating this or is the post office just losing its mind? I don't recall this happening before.

pooh333piglet · ‎12-20-2020

Thx for clarifying. I made a mistake and meant fedex or ups ground. Absolutely not will USPS ground get there before priority.

Well at least not when Covidmas. Nowadays theres no way to know what will happen for sure.

dbfolks166mt · ‎12-20-2020

You may want to try Pirate Ship. You can purchase and print USPS labels at about the same rate as what you get through eBay. However, Pirate Ship offers Priority Mail Cubic which eBay does not. I plugged in a random Seattle zip code and a Nashville one along with the dimensions and weight and got a cost of around $20 to ship Priority Mail Cubic. Everything else was in the $40 and up range.

lja440 · ‎12-21-2020

@dbfolks166mt wrote:
You may want to try Pirate Ship. You can purchase and print USPS labels at about the same rate as what you get through eBay. However, Pirate Ship offers Priority Mail Cubic which eBay does not. I plugged in a random Seattle zip code and a Nashville one along with the dimensions and weight and got a cost of around $20 to ship Priority Mail Cubic. Everything else was in the $40 and up range.

Note that Cubic foot pricing tops out at .5 cubic feet. It will work for this package 14"x 14'x 4' = .46 cubic feet but won't work for anything larger.

Also note that max weight for cubic foot packages in 20#.

disneyshopper · ‎12-21-2020

Why are their additional charges invoiced?

That's just the way these private couriers charge: transportation, rural delivery, etc.

When I was shipping heavy items, I used UPS, and they would charge $14 (as I recall) if the buyer left off the apartment number. I no longer ship heavy items, so everything I ship goes via USPS.

disneyshopper
Volunteer Community Member

buyselljack2016 · ‎12-22-2020

@pooh333piglet wrote:
Thx for clarifying. I made a mistake. I meant fedex or ups ground instead of USPS priority. USPS ground is not a good option rarely.

Out going by FedEx, or UPS is not an option for my eBay shipping, so I rarely look at rates, but I do see that for the OP it would be a better price option.

Last FedEx out was a prepaid return to an auto parts place. I did that when I had a FedEx coming in, otherwise the FedEx, and UPS shipments don't work out for me.

I can give outgoing items to either if they are stopping by, but other times it would be extra miles making a run to a FedEx, or UPS location to ship.

I have, or at least did have, my own FedEx account, but with a "scheduled pick up" charge it is not a good fit for my day to day eBay sales. Not only the charge, but the not knowing when the truck will be here would be a issue. My USPS carriers are fairly consistent. If I have a biggie, or a bunch I can make a morning run to a nearby (not my) PO to ease the carrier burden, or keep them (the packages, and the carrier) dry.

ra_201044 · ‎12-22-2020

@disneyshopper wrote:
Why are their additional charges invoiced?

That's just the way these private couriers charge: transportation, rural delivery, etc.

When I was shipping heavy items, I used UPS, and they would charge $14 (as I recall) if the buyer left off the apartment number. I no longer ship heavy items, so everything I ship goes via USPS.

It's 17 bucks now for an address change. I've fought them for some - one package was changed and charged from one address to another then another charge to change it back to the original address, where it was delivered.

Large corporations don't have the resources to go thru their parcel bills - especially if they ship 500-1000 packages per day. So it's usually 'free money' for UPS or Fed Ex.

cobanescollectibles · ‎12-22-2020

While the OP question was answered I wanted to provide some additional info along with some hints/tips with shipping costs.

Weight, box dimension and shipping zones (from - to) are the variables used to calculate the shipping rate. (See nobody*s perfect post for great links to see zone maps). With USPS I have noticed recently once going over the 12x12x12" box dimension or packages 5+ lbs there is a larger disparity in price between USPS and Fedex/UPS costs, especially when shipping greater distances.

Fedex/UPS are only "estimated" costs I have generally found them to be pretty accurate as long as you enter the proper weight and dimensions of the package. The main difference is these label costs are billed to your monthly invoice instead of being taken out directly when you ship the item when using USPS. While I have found the "estimated" rates to be pretty accurate there are some fees that get tacked on. I write down the displayed cost when I use Fedex/UPS so I can check my invoice each month, but since I ship mostly smaller items I don't use it daily.

For beginners it can be a big surprise the difference in shipping costs depending on size of the package and where it is going. I suggest for all new users to play around with these numbers when they go to ship something out to learn the costs to certain areas based on weight and size of the package. This is also why I use the calculated shipping method on large/heavy packages when selling on Ebay.

*Now if you want to save some $ through USPS when printing the label you technically only have to enter the weight for ebay to accept and print the label. You can also enter anything up to 12x12x12" without the price being affected for "dimensional weight" and when you drop off packages they only ever check the weight*

sfau · ‎12-22-2020

I keep running into dimensional weight and want to cry! Luckily I do consignment sales and my kids are the kids toys are dwindling.

dtexley3 · ‎12-22-2020

@petebarbe-8 wrote:

eBay really needs to be more up front about the real costs of shipping FedEx and UPS with its sellers. When I agree to a certain price to ship something that should be the price, not that plus whatever arbitrary amount they add at will to my monthly bill afterwards....

I wish people would stop with the myth that FedEx estimates are inaccurate. I ship a lot of FedEx and RARELY do I see an upcharge of any kind. BUT I make sure I get the dimensions and weight entered correctly in the listing. Most cases that I've seen posted (other than the occasional gross errors) have all come back to the seller not entering the correct dimensions.

USPS doesn't charge a dimensional rate until you hit 1 cu ft and people get lazy and "estimate" the size of box they'll need and then are surprised when they get tagged for entering the wrong info on the listing.

Member of the Grumpy Old Man crew