best shipping services?

[marrie-69]

What company is the best to use when it comes to shipping. I've been using USPS but seem to pay alot for shipping. i now have the buyer pay for shipping and now have no gotten 1 sell. UPS seems to be fairly cheap and less of a hassle picking the shipping method.(priority,1st class etc...) 

  What do you think?

[bonjourami]

Your shipping costs are extremely high! You are not competitive with other sellers at all..hence, the no sales. I find the USPS to be the best shipping deal out there.

[bonjourami]

UPS has all levels of shipping services but priority, or first class, is not one of them.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Compare the actual costs for a few of your packages, using this eBay shipping calculator which you can set to show either retail ("in store") rates, or the discounted online rates that you'd pay through eBay.

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

[mam98031]

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@marrie-69 wrote:

What company is the best to use when it comes to shipping. I've been using USPS but seem to pay alot for shipping. i now have the buyer pay for shipping and now have no gotten 1 sell. UPS seems to be fairly cheap and less of a hassle picking the shipping method.(priority,1st class etc...) 

  What do you think?

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I think you are confused a bit.  USPS = United States Postal Service.  UPS = United Parcel Service.

USPS is cheaper than UPS for what you sell by a huge margin.

As others have said, your shipping rates are extremely high.  In some of the item I looked at you are about 4X higher than it needs to be.

You also have some issues in your description.  Ebay doesn't want you saying some of the stuff you do in your listing about opening cases, leaving FB and the such.  You really should consider taking all that stuff out of all your listings before Ebay's bots run across it and force you to.  Besides, it doesn't look good to prospective buyers anyway.  That could be scaring a few people off too.

[johnrj1226]

All your items have a $11.01 to $11.78 shipping charge seems very high as some appear to  be light weight.  You need to see if you can use  USPS First  Class Package service  up to 15.99 ounces can ship for $2.66 to $4.94 or oteh Priority Mail services.  My cost to  ship from Atlanta  GA to   Missouri in a Regional Rate A Box for $7.40; to Denver, CO $9.47.  Further  shipping distances the rate will be  higher.  Regional  Rate A boxes  ship at the 2 lb.  Priority Rate for weights up to 15 lbs.  rate.   Padded  flat rate envelopes ship for $7.10  anywhere in the 50 Unites Sates and US Protectorates - like Puetro Rico and Guam .

Very seldom have I every used Priority Flat Rate services , except for teh small box & padded envelopes.

Always buy  your postage on line to get the Commercial Rate Discount  on the  Over the counter rate (Std Retail Rate).  We  only use eBay shipping lables.

Do some  homework and see what services  can best fit your needs.

Always buy  your postage on line to get the Commercial Rate Discount  on the  Over the counter rate.  We  only use eBay shipping lables.

Beware what  shipping price I have stated above more than likely will change effectivel mid January, 2018.   USPS has historicaly changed rate in January  of each year and every now & then do some tweeking in between.  eBay will anounnce the  change when they are offical.

[johnrj1226]

I agree that UPS shipping is not the  cheapest way to ship.  Plus it is a lot more inconvenient to ship via UPS.   We just stick our USPS shipments in my mail box & put the red flag up.  our carrier scans the package in.  If the package is too big for the mail box I just put a note in my mail box and the carrier  picks it up (usually on the  trunk of our car in the  garage - now I have  that arrangement worked out with my carrier in advanced.

[penguins_dont_fly · Accepted solution]

@marrie-69

First ... do you have a shipping scale? If you do not ... get one. Don't guess, you will be wrong, trust me 😄

Anything under 15.999 ounces can ship USPS First Class Package 

Anything under 70 lbs and less than 1 cubic foot can ship Priority Mail.

Use calculated shipping.

Enter the weight of the fully packaged item and the dimensions of the box into the listing.

The buyer will be charged the correct amount for their location.

When you go to print the label, you can then choose if it is cheaper to ship using a Priority Mail Flat Rate Box or Envelope (or a Regional Box) or Regular Zoned Priority Mail.

You can schedule free pickups  from USPS online.

You can order free Priority Mail Boxes and envelopes online from USPS.com.

They have flat rate  and non-flat rate boxes available in lots of sizes.

Regional Boxes are a different breed of thing ... but they can be very cost effective on an Item weighing over 2 lbs that happens to fit in the box 🙂

You can use your own boxes and envelopes to ship Priority (non-flat). 

Don't try to get fancy with your shipping rates or free shipping until you get the hang of what box/how much ... keep it simple and just use the calculator 🙂

[marrie-69]

Is there any way that I can subscribe to your page or anything like that you have a lot of information that I could use well me and my wife

[marrie-69]

yes I do have a scale measuring tape I have all that and I do use it but sometimes USPS it gives me a different shipping method like it'll give me I'll put in the waist and stuff but then it'll give me a different recommendation

[penguins_dont_fly]

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@marrie-69 wrote:
yes I do have a scale measuring tape I have all that and I do use it but sometimes USPS it gives me a different shipping method like it'll give me I'll put in the waist and stuff but then it'll give me a different recommendation

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If the listing says USPS, you must ship USPS.

Do not switch up the carrier or method after sale.

You can change from Priority Flat Rate to Regular Priority (or vice versa) ... and you can upgrade USPS First Class or Parcel Select to Priority ... but you cannot change from Priority to Parcel Select or to FedEx Ground (for example).

[sam9876]

"Anything under 70 lbs and less than 1 cubic foot can ship Priority Mail."

What about packages that are larger than one cubic foot?

[lintbrush*]

$11 to ship a light bulb

$11 to ship a (soup) can of grow your own cilantro

$11 to ship a plane flake grater  (yes, $7.25 padded flat rate envelope - but only if I open the shipping tab do I see that option - and I still wouldn't spend that much to get a common, easily found item)

Those items should qualify for First Class Mail (under 15.99 ounces)  and would ship for about $3-$4.  

I'm not sure what you're doing wrong, but you need to get the right dimensions/weights/service into your listings and remedy that.  

[penguins_dont_fly]

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@sam9876 wrote:

"Anything under 70 lbs and less than 1 cubic foot can ship Priority Mail."

What about packages that are larger than one cubic foot?

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Ah ... SocraticSam 😄

I was trying to keep it simple ... 

A good article about USPS Balloon Rates ... also called Dimensional Weight (Dim Weight) can be found here (easier than trying to read USPS Notice 123) 🙂

https://store-stamps.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/169/~/dimensional-weight%2C-balloon%2C-and...

Dim.Weight Pricing also applies to FedEx and UPS

https://shippingeasy.com/dimensional-weight-shipping-calculator/

[marrie-69]

i appreciate the advice i changed my shipping prices. can you give me feed back on that. thanks