In its latest newsletter to sellers, eBay said it would lower the postage rate for certain low-weight packages through its shipping label service beginning on Sunday, April 10th, and eBay warned its sellers to calculate their shipping costs correctly.
The reason for the lower rates is due to the USPS “Spring 2016 rollback.”
The USPS is lowering market dominant rates next month because it had received permission to raise them in 2014 higher than allowed through a temporary “exigent” price increase. The exception was made in order to allow the Postal Service to recapture some of the revenue lost due to the 2008 – 2009 recession.
Market-dominant prices will drop on April 10th an average of 4.3 percent.
eBay wrote to sellers, “As a result of this price decrease, we plan to lower the eBay label rate for First-Class packages between 1 and 3 ounces to match the First-Class Mail Parcel retail rate.”
It also made a chart available on the eBay Announcement Board showing it will charge $2.45 for First Class Package Service packages weighing 3 ounces and below.
Wondering why the USPS implements price changes on a Sunday? It’s one of the lightest mailing days. “The Postal Service has deployed price changes on Sundays in order to minimize the risks associated with the transition to new prices. Because Sunday is one of the lightest mailing days, and mailer and consumer usage of Postal Service systems is reduced, there is minimal pressure on Postal Service and mailer systems to perform at optimal levels. If any issues arise during the deployment, recovery time is very short and few, if any, customers are affected. Additionally, if a system shutdown occurs, a Sunday deployment allows the Postal Service to mitigate its negative impacts because recovery time is built into the deployment schedule.”
