eBay rate tables and (versus) USPS delivery zones

[bitsofsiliconvalley]

I want to define shipping policies that let me quote Expedited shipping rates that reflect USPS's Priority Regional rates.

I think I've established that eBay makes this as hard as possible. I must define separate rate tables for Priority Regional A and Regional B, and in each rate table I must define a region corresponding to each postal zone for my shipping location. And I have to do it all through the Web interface, since there appears to be no way to upload a rate table prepared offline.

But does eBay let me do this at all? I can define a rate table "region" by enumerating the states it comprises, and in some cases, the parts of states. But I looked at some sample postal zone maps, and eBay's "parts of states" do not appear to track the divisions between zones. So eBay makes me define my rate tables in the most granular way possible, yet doesn't provide enough granularity to define them correctly!

If you use rate tables as I want to, how do you deal with this? If you settled for an approximation of your location's postal zones, do you think it's good enough?

[nobody*s_perfect]

Yes, it is truly inconvenient that eBay doesn't offer the Regional boxes as an option when setting up calculated shipping. And yes, it's ridiculous that shipping tables cannot be set up to correspond with USPS Zones. And it's extremely unfortunate that the Regional boxes prices no longer conveniently match the regular online rates for specific weights , so the price for an A box doesn't exactly match the regular zoned price for a 2-pound package..

However, let's not overreact.  The current price difference between the Regional A box and the regular 2 pound online rate ranges from 22 cents to 34 cents.  So I recommend that you just add a handling fee of approximately that amount and continue fudging  by calculating the price for 2 pounds.

[bitsofsiliconvalley]

I've been through this in other threads (which you quite reasonably haven't seen). Approximating the Regional A rates with 2-pound Priority rates (and Regional B with 4-pound rates) is fine only if I stop trying to sell internationally.

Here's an example. Say I'm selling an object whose dimensions are 10 x 6.5 x 4.5 inches and whose weight is nine pounds (an actual example for me). I list it with a weight of four pounds. For shipment anywhere in the U.S., eBay charges the buyer slightly more than my actual shipping cost for Priority Regional B, and everything is good. But if I must ship to Germany, eBay charges the buyer $55.40 for Priority Mail International, and the postage actually costs me $73.40.

Some of my best customers are international. Abandoning them is unacceptable! But so is eating $18 in shipping charges every time one of them buys something.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Ah, I always forget that because I don't ship internationally.  

So set up tables for  your international shipping -- the eBay tables and USPS price groups are both country/continent based, so they offer the convenient geographic matching that domestic doesn't.

[bitsofsiliconvalley]

Uh... you're proposing that I set up international rate tables to avoid setting up domestic rate tables.

Domestically I'd need two rate tables (Regional A & B) with eight regions each.

Internationally I'd need a rate table for each weight range I wanted to use domestically with Priority Regional A or B. If I want to be able to ship packages up to ten pounds, I believe I need eight tables. with ten regions each.

Once again, eBay is forcing me to do a tremendous amount of work to do the job right.

I don't think there's a good solution to this problem. The question is whether I can find a bad solution that's not-too-bad enough to live with.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Well, the problem you presented here was the geographic mis-match between the tables options and the USPS zones for domestic services.  And that problem doesn't exist for international rates.

When creating tables, you can build on/adapt an earlier one (like using Sell Similar to create a listing) so the allocation of countries would only need to be done once.   IIRC there are technically 17 international price groups but about half of them are specific countries. Yes that would be a pain to set up, looking up and entering 17 x 8 prices, but it would be accurate.  Until late January when the new rates go into effect.

[bitsofsiliconvalley]

Revisiting this... I tried to actually set up some rate tables, rather than just think about what I'd put in them, and I hit a wall. How do you do this?

I found lots of references, but the ones I visited were all so disorganized and chatty that I couldn't find the information I need, if it's there at all.

So far I've got "Go to My Account and select Site Preferences," but I don't see anything about rate tables on that page. It seems to me that My Account > Business Policies > Shipping Policies should be the right place, but I've studied that page and drilled down by opening one of my shipping policies for editing, and I don't see anything about rate tables there, either. Where are they hiding?

[nobody*s_perfect]

On the Site Preferences page, all you'll find is a link to the actual shipping preferences page, which is what you need:

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

[bitsofsiliconvalley]

Thank you, I found it... two more questions.

First, is there a way to copy a rate table? There are two steps to creating one: defining delivery zones and entering prices. If I can copy a table with the zones set up, it will save me a lot of work. If not, I'll have to define the same set of zones again in each rate table!

Second, what is the difference between the link for "Add Regions / States" and the link represented by a plus sign in a dotted-line circle? As far as I can see, they do exactly the same thing. At first I thought they must be two bits of text in the same link, but they aren't.

[nobody*s_perfect]

I'm sorry I can't offer more detailed help, as I have never bothered to actually use this feature.

[moo*cow*corner]

Go here...
https://apps.endicia.com/apps/zonemap

Plug in your zip and generate a personalized zone map for your location. It helps a LOT when setting up a rate table with ebay's clunky system. Not perfect, but way better than trying to fly blind when setting zones and states.

Save your map to another place on your computer for future reference.

Mine looks like this with my zip entered as 52761....

[moo*cow*corner]

As for the add regions/states bit...if you click on one of those, it should open a list of states in that region, so you can tailor surcharges as needed to cover each zone, using your handy dandy map as a visual reference.

Some states can be further divided by opening each state and using the check boxes.

For example, look at my map. Nevada is divided into 2 zones for me. I have a surcharge added for Western NV that will not be charged to a buyer in Eastern NV. Same for MT, WA, FL , ME and a few others.

[wastingtime101]

@moo*cow*corner 

Can you copy a rate table?

Once you set them up can you apply them on a per listing basis the same way business policies are applied?

What if you use business policies for shipping  - do you have any idea how the rate tables and the shipping policies work together?

[moo*cow*corner]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

@moo*cow*corner 

Can you copy a rate table?

Yes. All biz policies can be duplicated (copied) from this page- https://www.bizpolicy.ebay.com/businesspolicy/manage?&ssPageName=STRK:ME:LNLK

Once you set them up can you apply them on a per listing basis the same way business policies are applied?

Yes. In the listing form, the advanced listing form presents the shipping policies you have created and named in a drop down format, so you can choose which shipping policy will apply to that listing.

What if you use business policies for shipping  - do you have any idea how the rate tables and the shipping policies work together?

The rate tables are part of a named shipping policy. Edits and overrides for the table as a whole or per each individual listing can be done when creating a listing.

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[wastingtime101]

Ah, I get it. The rate tables are shipping policies. So they don't work in conjunction with your existing shipping policy, they're an alternative choice.