alternatives to fedex smartpost

[ernieswagon]

Does anyone know what to do to combat fedex shipping smartpost huge price increase?  I see a lot of business have not changed there pricing much and I am guessing its because they have negotiaged pricing and it desn't hurt them much.  This kills the little guys who don't do a lot of business.  Any smaller compies strike any good deals with negotiated pricing?  I am waiting on Fedex and UPS to call me back to see if I can get some help.  This could put my business under.  I just want to be competative.  Any advise?  Anyone had any luck with negotiated pricing with usps?

[berserkerplanet]

You don't "negotiate" with USPS except on their published terms - pretty much a minimum of 10,000 - 100,000 pieces per year volume required?

[dtexley3]

eBay hasn't notified sellers that there is a problem with the FedEx SmartPost pricing.  When they look in their listing the SmartPost shipping cost looks almost unchanged.  When someone buys, the buyer is charged the incorrect lower price, the seller is charged the new higher price when they purchase the label.

As of 2/2/2018 this has not been fixed (to the best of my knowledge) and other than posts in the forums and notifications have not been sent to the sellers.  The first clue they have of a problem is when the item sells and they discover the discrepancy.

I'm expecting to sell a lot less this year with the loss of SmartPost as a shipping option.

[berserkerplanet]

As dtexley3 said, there is an issue with everything but the actual label calculator coming up with ridiculously low Smartpost costs (due to not using dim weight). That makes Smartpost unusable at the moment. It's not fixable with any workarounds, or slapping on a handling fee.

One (small) bright light is that Trinton confirmed that eBay FedEx Smartpost (along with FedEx Ground/Home Delivery) is supposed to be using the better 166 Dimensional Weight divisor which takes away some of the sting, but was not doing so the last time I checked. (I need to run some tests and see what's happening with FedEx Ground and Smartpost and will post any updates)

[weaselsrule!]

Keep track of any buyer undercharge/ seller overcharge situations you got stuck with (i.e. went to mail it and found the buyer had a rate much lower than the cost you paid to ship it) and then dispute it vigorously when you get your monthly invoice - i contacted ebay about getting hosed for 3 items that sold in a day and all had this situation - i took a loss on all 3 of them.  They said to keep track of the variations and to forward documentation when your invoice arrives.  Obviously someone has an incorrect rate table/algorithm and it shouldn't take TWO weeks+ to fix the *()*)(* thing.

[weaselsrule!]

They should put out an immediate message to all about this.  They know it's a problem and it's nothing more than a land mine out there for sellers who are going to be unpleasantly surprised when something sells and they're going to find out that they are taking a loss on a sale due to them having to pick up the extra ship charges. 

[tonyscollectibles814]

I noticed this morning that FedEx smart cost is costing less than few days ago.

3 lbs package 14 x10 x6 discount 7%

3lbs package 14 x6 x 6 discount is now 19%, it was 7% startng Jan 22

Look at it and let us know

[berserkerplanet]

Where are you getting those numbers from?

I'm seeing no change in eBay Smartpost amounts. Actual shipping labels are still using incorrect (139) dimensional weight divisor and are a bit too high, and estimating, search, listing, and checkout calculator is not considering Dim weight at all and is way too low when dim weight is involved.

[testingforms_com]

Stamps.com offers USPS Priority Dimensional Rates if Flat Rate is too much for you.