Why does my item show lowest calculated shipping amount?

[grimmtrixx]

I am selling an item that weighs 40lbs and is 20x20x10. When I check the UPS ground calculated shipping it shows a span of roughly $35-300. So I did some sleuthing and the $35 is if the item is nearest me. It makes sense, right? However, after I listed the item, when I check the listing itself, as how others see it, it just says shipping is $34.27. It does NOT show that it could cost the buyer much more if say they live on the west coast (I am on the east coast).

I recently had to eat some shipping costs because I sold an item to California and the shipping that ebay said it was was $16 short. This is a heavy item. I don't want someone who may bid on it to think it's gonna cost them $34 when it could potentially be vastly more than that. Here is the listing in question if this helps. When I go into it to revise it, for me it shows calculated shipping. But to a potential bidder it doesn't look like it shows that. What can I do to make it known (and make it calculated when they go to "pay now") to make sure I don't get screwed?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/204243889703?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=qv8tIzwHS22&sss...

[grimmtrixx]

I am on the app. When I check "shipping, returns, and payment" I don't see an option to change it. I just see my info and I can't click or toggle anything

[krazzykats]

It shows US $163.75 Expedited Shipping to Southern Oregon.

[grimmtrixx]

Sidenote again: I just noticed that my ship from address shows my old address. However, I am literally 10 min down the road from my old address (parents house). But also... my UPS location is in a MA city. I live in RI but both my old address and new (lol new I've been here 7 years) are 5 min from this city in MA which is where most things are. But that's the UPS I ship from. But my post office is in the city I live in now.

The thing is, when I check my ship from address in ebay settings, it shows where I live now. But when I go into a listing, it shows the city I used to live in. It's such an odd thing cuz items we sell don't come from where we live necessarily as not every city has ups or whatever. But do people put their local ups in their ship from settings? My old address was 02861 so I don't think 02864 would be a big thing.

Could a lot of my issues stem from the fact that the actual UPS store I bring my item to is not in the city I live in (my city doesn't have one but this store is 5 min from where I live). Geographically is in the same geneal area. This was never an issue when I used to sell on ebay 10 years ago. I get it, things change, but really that bad?

Also, that 14lb box I sent that I ate $16 shipping on... it was a light box, but it was a very LARGE box dimension wise. I did not know about DIM weights. The box for the item I am selling now is a fraction of the size of the box for that 14lb item. But regardless, shouldn't ebay have charged my buyer based on their location and not just the $20 which was for an item sold near my location?

[wastingtime101]

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@grimmtrixx wrote:

1.) The weight was 14lbs. Sadly I don't recall the dimensions and I don't see them in the listing as I cannot go in and edit its contents so I can't see what I put. But I measured it myself and put them in with the weight.

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5.) It went UPS Ground and was a calculated shipping option which I presumed was based on the winners location.

6.) Ebay Item number is 204237438265

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OK so here's the problem with that listing 204237438265 for the game @grimmtrixx - whether I enter a NY or CA  zip code it's charging $20.00 which means you had it set up as flat rate, not calculated shipping.

Find that item in your sales history and click "sell similar" - scroll down to the shipping section - you'll see the dimensions and the flat rate shipping. You can close out of the listing and delete it from your drafts without publishing it. Hitting sell similar is just a way to see what your shipping options were.

If your typewriter has the right shipping box dimensions and weight entered, it should produce a rate that's close to what you'll be charged. Well for USPS the rate will be exact. For UPS it will be an estimate due to fluctuations in fuel surcharges, potential residential & delivery area surcharges added on, etc. Sometimes sellers get his with that nasty delivery address correction surcharge which is in the $20 neighborhood.

One thing I suggest: If you're shipping UPS Ground, buy your label from pirateship.com not from eBay. Sellers have been hit with some high (& incorrect) surcharges for things like oversized package and when they buy the labels through eBay it's nearly impossible to fight the charges since it's eBay's UPS account. I purchase my UPS from pirateship with good rates, and the one time I was mis-charged, the appeal process was literally the click of a button and a typed comment - was credited for the difference within a week.

[wastingtime101]

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@grimmtrixx wrote:

I am on the app. 

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When you "sell similar" on the game - do it from the website not the app. The app is problematic as a selling tool, missing most features the website has. If possible, use the classic website from a laptop, don't use the mobile site on your phone.

[wastingtime101]

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@grimmtrixx wrote:

The thing is, when I check my ship from address in ebay settings, it shows where I live now. But when I go into a listing, it shows the city I used to live in.

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My old address was 02861 so I don't think 02864 would be a big thing.

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OK, that's a separate setting on the listing form - item location. Item location does not have to match your residence, it's supposed to match where you're shipping from.

Those 2 zip codes are fine because the first 3 digits are the same and that's what determines USPS zone. But you should change it since it's the next state over. I suggest doing this from the website listing form, not the app. Like I said above, the classic view website will present you with more options.

[grimmtrixx]

Ok well that's weird because I 100% didn't puck flat rate cuz I knew it wouldn't be a flat rate. Sigh well I hope this other auction and future auctions work too. I don't have a preference between ups or usps. Should I stick with USPS? They're the same thing to me essentially as I don't advertise super fast shipping or anything. Well someone here said they checked their zip code on my more recent auction and that it was still coming up lower than it should so I will see. I took screen caps on usps and ups sites for proof so ebay doesn't bone me.

[nobody*s_perfect]

I'd stick with USPS because they don't have hidden surcharges and surprises like FedEx and UPS.  The shipping calculator is completely accurate for USPS.  However, that wouldn't help you in the case of that game (204237438265) because you or the eBay gremlins somehow set the shipping to a flat $20 for generic "Standard" shipping.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Oops, it wasn't flat Standard; it was a flat price for UPS Ground.

[tamtam1tamtam2]

grimmtrixx

 ,I know how hard it is trying to explain this situation and why you cant seem to apply any of the easy fixes suggested to you.  I have found a similar phenomenon with shipping ever since they did the last update or upgrade or whatever it was. I have actually had potential customers message me upset that i was sending them ads of a lamp with shipping that cost over a hundred dollars and to please quit messaging them with such ridiculousness.... this was from washington state to florida and the proper shipping should have been about fifty dollars. Someone finally was willing to send me a screenshot of the shipping and no matter what i did it continued to show that amount. what i eventually had to do was have the customer pay the price plus the shipping ebay was asking for because i had promoted the item and could not change it or relist it with different perameters. once she paid i waited it for it to credit then i purchased the proper shipping and issued her a refund of the difference. there was NO other way I could find to do it. The poor woman was amazingly understanding and i sent an extra little gift with the lamp to show my appreciation. after she paid full price, ebay sent my information showing that they charged her the hundred or so dollars for shipping but when i went to buy the  postage it showed the correct amount, there was no warning, no ooops we overcharge your customer for shipping, just the numbers showing where they took their percentage of the sale including the overcharged shipping.... yet an algorythm can find an email address or phone number in a message from or to a buyer...I dont know whether its a problem with the system that the mail carriers link up to this platform or if its on ebays side but its ridiculous and it needs to be fixed or ebay is going to owe a lot of people a lot of money, and possibly even us, the only way I have found to get around this is to calculate shipping and add it to the sale price and list as free shipping, then refund the overage if there is one depending on the location shipped to.  the maiin problem for me is that i know for a fact that this is discouraging buyers from buying items, who wants to pay 100 shipping on and 89 dollar item? ive also caught and notified other sellers of this exact problem by looking at different listings and they have found the same problem, some didnt even have any idea. If enough people keep speaking up something has got to get done about it. until then, if i dont offer free shipping i am noting in my listing that if the shipping seems high to please contact me and ill look into it. i cant afford to lose customers because of this issue. if you get this figured out please let us all know and ill do the same.TammyT