Buyer undercharged on USPS First class shipping labels, ebay issues refund to seller.

[desertwind2677]

Nearly every time I list an item and offer USPS First Class shipping, the Ebay shipping calculator gives the buyer a much lower rate than I have to pay.

Several times I have gone through the hassle of contacting someone at Ebay and after looking at the listing, they agree the calculator has made a mistake.
One person told me to not use "Large Envelope", just enter PACKAGE which I did and the buyer still paid a lower rate.

Eventually the person in the Philippine's transfers me to a Ebay employee in the US and only then does the error get corrected and a refund issued.

This has gone on for nearly 3 years and no one has fixed it.

Yes I use a scale, make sure I am offering USPS not UPS and it still happens.

Is anyone else having this problem?

[berserkerplanet]

I have never in 14 years of selling here had that problem.

What you are describing always turns out to be seller error (setting up the listing for envelope and paying package rate for label), or having global settings set to "pass on shipping discounts to buyers" (online rates) and then seller pays retail at Post Office counter and complains about the "overcharge".

Provide the details on one of those occurrences and we will figure out where the problem is.

Package weight?
Amount Charged to buyer?
Amount paid for label and where label was purchased?
Are your global settings set to charge buyers retail or online rates:
Is "My eBay > My Account > Site Preferences > Shipping preferences > Offer carrier-specific discounts to buyers" set to yes or no?

[kensgiftshop]

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@desertwind2677

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When I charge for First Class, I just charge a flat rate depending on the weight.

[kare-bearb]

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@berserkerplanetwrote:
I have never in 14 years of selling here had that problem.

What you are describing always turns out to be seller error (setting up the listing for envelope and paying package rate for label), or having global settings set to "pass on shipping discounts to buyers" (online rates) and then seller pays retail at Post Office counter and complains about the "overcharge".

Provide the details on one of those occurrences and we will figure out where the problem is.

Package weight?
Amount Charged to buyer?
Amount paid for label and where label was purchased?
Are your global settings set to charge buyers retail or online rates:
Is "My eBay > My Account > Site Preferences > Shipping preferences > Offer carrier-specific discounts to buyers" set to yes or no?

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Exactly what @berserkerplanet descibes.

example:  this item that you sold on March 11th:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-Vanity-Fair-Black-Long-TALL-HALF-SLIP-Size-Med-LL-Antron-Nylon-Waist-24...

It shows First Class shipping cost of $2.47 to me.

You cannot purchase a First Class package / parcel / THICK envelope eBay Shipping label for less than $2.66

$2.47 would be USPS' retail rate for an 8 oz LARGE envelope ( a FLAT, not a Package).

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When you are creating your listings, make sure you are selecting First Class package / parcel / THICK envelop, not LARGE envelope.  This selection is made on the selling form, below International Shipping, where you would input the weight & dimensions for the item.

Check your active listings & make any necessary revisions.

[desertwind2677]

Ok, on the Vanity Fair Slip.

First of all, I use Turbo Lister to create my listings and the choices are Envelope Large Envelope and Package. I sometimes put an item into a small box and then mail it in a envelope.  I selected Package, not envelope as the ebay person (via telephone) told me to do even if I do not use a box.

I got the wt down a bit by downsizing the envelope and omitting a box. 

The price if I took it to the USPS desk was $3.75 - 15% discount of $0.57 (for paying/printing the label at home) leaving me with a final cost of $3.18.

But the buyer paid $2.47 

This was $1.28 less than I would have to pay if I went to the USPS counter.

Label was purchased w ebay.
Carrier specific discounts I have set to "no".

The last 2 times I called Ebay, they reimbursed me the differance. But I am getting tired of the hassel. It only happens on First Class.

Thanks for the help.

[kare-bearb]

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@desertwind2677wrote:

Ok, on the Vanity Fair Slip.

First of all, I use Turbo Lister to create my listings and the choices are Envelope Large Envelope and Package. I sometimes put an item into a small box and then mail it in a envelope.  I selected Package, not envelope as the ebay person (via telephone) told me to do even if I do not use a box.

I got the wt down a bit by downsizing the envelope and omitting a box. 

The price if I took it to the USPS desk was $3.75 - 15% discount of $0.57 (for paying/printing the label at home) leaving me with a final cost of $3.18.

But the buyer paid $2.47 

This was $1.28 less than I would have to pay if I went to the USPS counter.

Label was purchased w ebay.
Carrier specific discounts I have set to "no".

The last 2 times I called Ebay, they reimbursed me the differance. But I am getting tired of the hassel. It only happens on First Class.

Thanks for the help.

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"Envelope" = Letter (put s stamp on it)

"Large Envelope" = a FLAT (think documents, not widgets)

"Package" = Package, parcel, THICK envelope.  What you would need to select if you are going to purchase eBay Shipping labels.

But the buyer paid $2.47

Because the listing was set up for LARGE envelope, not PACKAGE.

Use Sell Similar for the listing & check how it was set up.

[desertwind2677]

OK, I did have "Large Envelope" selected and that should be what the buyer was charged for and that is what I paid for.
I do not pass the discount for printing my labels on ebay to the buyer. Yet the buyer still gets a lower amount.

[berserkerplanet]

No, the buyer paid the correct retail amount for an 8oz large envelope (FCM Flat) which is how you set it up.

The problem is, you can't print labels for anything but First Class Package through eBay or PayPal (because they only provide access to print online labels with tracking).

The option to set listings up with envelope or large envelope is for sellers who ship in plain white envelopes (trading cards, etc) or ship FCM Flats - all WITHOUT TRACKING by using stamps or paying at the PO counter.

[partial*eclipse]

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@desertwind2677wrote:
OK, I did have "Large Envelope" selected and that should be what the buyer was charged for and that is what I paid for.
I do not pass the discount for printing my labels on ebay to the buyer. Yet the buyer still gets a lower amount.

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The buyer paid a lower amount because they were paying for a flat (AKA Large envelope), not for a package. eBay only prints labels for packages. As noted above, $2.47 is the correct postage for an 8-ounce flat. If you had set up the calculator as "package" rather than "Large envelope," the buyer would have been charged $3.75.

[kramarjam]

Yes it happens to me almost every sale.I measure an weight and end up eating the

some of the postage.Last item sold 40$ they paid 64$ postage.Reality was I had to

pay 88.45$ so I lost 24.45$ .I got 15.55$ for my item.After ebays cut an paypals cut

my cut sucks.One time the last 20 sales have they got it right.The time you have to

put in taken into account is making me about thinking its to much hassel to do it anymore.

Or maybe we should just say the packages are bigger and heavier.Good luck on your

problem.Sorry I just vented on your post.Hope you get it figured out over there.

[berserkerplanet]

Did you read any of the posts in this thread?

The problem is solved and is operator error - the OP set up the listing(s) incorrectly and exactly what should happen did happen.

Your issue has nothing to do with this, since this is a discussion about First Class Package / First Class Flat shipping. If you want to try to figure out what is going wrong with your shipping, start another thread and provide usable info like specifics of a specific shipment: how much buyer was charged (exact numbers), how much you paid (exact numbers), carrier (USPS/FedEx/UPS), where did you print the label or did you pay at the PO or FedEx counter, pkg weight, pkg dimensions, origin zipcode, destination zipcode, any handling fee, any other shipment addons like insurance or sig conf, and any other relevant info.