USPS $4 Fee Gets Tacked on to Some eBay Labels

by: etectra

eBay cannot display the correct USPS rates to buyers due to eBay's rounding policies violating USPS policies and because their listing form does not allow decimal values.

eBay has also instructed developers not to  submit decimal values.

Cubic rates are rounded to the nearest 1/4" when computing the rate. This means packages are showing rates for the next highest tier or even being disqualified from the Cubic rate.

Some other packages are rounded to the nearest inch. So a 12.4" x 12.4" x 12.4" package is over a cubic foot, but under USPS rounding rules its considered to be 12" x 12" x 12" and not subject to dimensional rates. eBay; however, would be displaying the dimensional rate as it tells sellers to round up to 13".

This means items may never be purchased due to eBay displaying the hugely inflated dimensional rate for the item rather than a standard rate.

eBay can't claim they do not know about dimensions as their own calculator tool does calculate the rates using dimensions, except for the Cubic rates the last time I checked as eBay was not properly rounding the dimensions to the next quarter inch.

I do not use eBay for labels as they are clueless as many of the so called "experts" on YouTube.

These "experts" are actually wasting time entering the pounds and ounces rather than just rounding up to the nearest pound and cutting their time to enter the weight in half.

Selling on eBay is about continually improving your system and shaving "X" amount of time off procedures instead of staying in the same rut and telling others to stay in your rut.

by: ZZ

There is a quirk which only pertains to USPS Ground advantage:
Where dimensions are not an issue, there is one rate (for each each zone) from ? to and including 8oz, a higher rate from 8.001 to 12 oz., a higher rate from 12.001 to 15.999 oz. Not to 1 lb.  If you enter 1 lb, the rate goes up about $4.20 more than the 12.001 to 15.999 0z rate.
Thus if your package weighs 15 or more oz. don't round up, round down to 15 oz. You won't have any issues with USPS.

by: Chicago48

If it's too confusing seller should use pirateship or a similar service.  OR offer FREE Shipping and choose your shipping options.

by: Shanna

The solution is to stop buying labels from eBay. You can use free services like Pirateship or Stamps.com. Both offer lower rates than eBay. Both can download your orders and send back the tracking automatically.

Ebay makes more money off the shipping labels than the FVFs, stop enriching them.

by: DalTxJim

Stamps.com has not had a free plan in years, that I am aware of.  $21 a month makes it an option only for the biggest of sellers.  

PirateShip may be free, but I just compared a small package and they were $1.00 higher than eBay shipping.

by: NYSteve

Pirate ship and Shippo are not 'free', and the post office should be a No-frills, economy service, of course they cant compete with the big boys (UPS FEDEX),
it only makes them look worse and in need of 'help'

@ZZ- rounding down works, until it doesnt

by: DalTxJim

From PirateShip site:
No monthly fees, label costs, markup,
or hidden gotchas of any kind...

Pirate Ship is completely free!

by: NYSteve

@DaltxJim-

i have some 'free' items i can sell you.
I was going to list them on ebay

by: Plain1

I have not looked into this as yet.
However their is a sitewide issue regarding new listings using the bulk listing tool..
I was so dissapointed by clicking on a link to "Upgrade listings to Top Rated Plus"
From that point I received a ton of errors that would have took me a long time to fix.
I am not happy with that, so I did very little to resolve it.  

by: etectra

@ZZ

"There is a quirk which only pertains to USPS Ground advantage:
Where dimensions are not an issue, there is one rate (for each each zone) from ? to and including 8oz, a higher rate from 8.001 to 12 oz., a higher rate from 12.001 to 15.999 oz. Not to 1 lb.  If you enter 1 lb, the rate goes up about $4.20 more than the 12.001 to 15.999 0z rate.
Thus if your package weighs 15 or more oz. don't round up, round down to 15 oz. You won't have any issues with USPS."

Back in day of First Class Package Service sellers had to be careful of their eBay discount preferences and listing items. Retail rates were limited to 13 ounces whereas the commercial rate was 15.999 ounces. This meant if the seller offered retail rates on their listings and entered a value slightly more than 13 ounces up to 15.999 ounces the listing would show the rate for a one pound package as these weights do not exits for retail pricing. The solution for those charging retail rates was to use a listing template with a weight of 13 ounces for items with an actual weight of 13 to 15.999 ounces.

by: etectra

@ DalTxJim

"PirateShip may be free, but I just compared a small package and they were $1.00 higher than eBay shipping."

Depends upon various variables.

For years eBay charged Non Top Rated Sellers the higher Commercial Base price and gave them $50 insurance while Top Rates Sellers were given $100 insurance and the lower cost Commercial Plus pricing.

Yet any of these sellers could go to PirateShip and get Commercial Plus pricing and $100 insurance without even having a eBay account.

After USPS essentially did away with the Commercial Base & Plus rates eBay gave Non Top Rated Rated Sellers the new Commercial rate and $50 insurance and gave Top Rated Sellers the Commercial rate less a variable discount, which was really just a partially rebate of the FLV they were paying on the shipping. The Commercial Base & Plus categories were still listed in USPS's Notice 123 publication for a time but they had the same prices.

Now eBay gives sellers the base commercial rate with or without any further discount.

Another example of a massive consumer fraud committed by eBay on its users.

by: etectra

@NYSteve

"Pirate ship and Shippo are not 'free', and the post office should be a No-frills, economy service, of course they cant compete with the big boys (UPS FEDEX),
it only makes them look worse and in need of 'help'"

PirateShip is free. Been sing them for years and you do not need a eBay account.

PirateShip and Shippo are not carriers like UPS or FedEx. They are third party label providers for carriers.

by: Bill

Pirate Ship is absolutely free. NY Steve does not know what he's talking about.
Been using Pirate Ship for years and never had a problem and was always cheaper than eBay.

by: FerretFan

This morning I tried to purchase a USPS Ground Advantage label for a package weighing 15 oz going from Iowa to Miami, Florida. eBay attempted to charge me $10.64 for a label that should have cost $6.64. To verify, I purchased the same label through Pirate Ship for the correct price of $6.64.

The bigger concern is that I’ve noticed many of my 1,250 listings showing inflated shipping quotes. Then I remembered I read this article about the same issue, where eBay is overcharging by approximately $4 for USPS Ground Advantage labels.

This problem is directly impacting sales—customers are seeing unfairly high shipping costs, leading to low offers and a steep decline in my sales over the past few days. Both sellers and buyers are being overcharged, and it’s hurting our businesses.

I’m having eBay call me about this because it’s a serious technical issue. I checked for an open technical issue and couldn’t find one. There needs to be a ticket opened on this immediately so it can be investigated and resolved.  

by: Andy

@FerretFan: ''eBay attempted to charge me $10.64 for a label that should have cost $6.64.''

Have you reviewed the listing to see whether the Irregularly Shaped Package option was checked? There have been reports of the Irregular Package checkbox being filled in when not needed, resulting in a $4 surcharge that was not actually required.

by: Rexford

"structural rate changes that bring it closer to its rivals"

Seems like USPS would want to undercut their rivals a bit to gain or keep customers.  If I have a choice of UPS or USPS I always go with UPS if the price is pretty much the same.  UPS shot themselves in the foot with their last price rise.  I am using UPS less and less due to this.

And Pirateship is free and they are amazing.  You can easily challenge an overcharge by USPS on Pirateship (I haven't lost a challenged overcharge yet) and their Reports feature is the best.  At the end of the year I know what I've spent for the entire year with just a few clicks.

by: bluetwa2

I had the same thing happened as the ''irregular'' box was checked in and I did not do that. Took quite a while to figure out WHY I was going to lose money on this sale. by being overchaged $4 which would be double the usual fee.