Sellers can no longer rely on Ruby Lane shipping calculations beginning January 26. The vintage-and-antiques platform blamed changes USPS is making to its APIs – something the USPS has been warning developers about for a long time and about which Ruby Lane warned sellers about last May.
A seller on the platform forwarded the notification and shared their response: “I don’t like this at all. The API migration was announced more than a year ago. Why can’t they just apply it like everyone else has to? Looks just another way for RL to make more profit from their sellers.”
Sellers who use calculated shipping may be in for a bumpy ride until Ruby Lane implements a new third-party solution. In the meantime, it advised sellers to consider offering fixed-price or free shipping which don’t rely on calculated rates.
Ruby Lane notification to sellers:
Dear Ruby Lane Shop Owners,
We want to give you a heads-up about an upcoming change that will affect shipping calculations on Ruby Lane.
Beginning January 26, shipping cost calculations for USPS services may be inconsistent or unreliable at times. This is due to ongoing instability and limitations with USPS systems and their new APIs (the system used to automatically exchange information between Ruby Lane and USPS) that are outside of Ruby Lane’s control.
The good news is, Ruby Lane is actively working on a more robust 3rd party system that does not depend on USPS technology at all. More on that at the end of the note, but first…
What’s happening
USPS is transitioning infrastructure behind the scenes, and the available APIs are currently:
Rate-limited (far below what a marketplace our size requires)
Not fully tested
Producing inconsistent results during live quoting
After careful evaluation, we’ve decided not to migrate to USPS’s new API, as doing so would introduce more disruption rather than improve accuracy or reliability.
What this means for you
Some calculated shipping quotes may fluctuate or fail temporarily
You may want to double-check shipping charges on higher-value or time-sensitive orders
Manual adjustments may occasionally be necessary during the transition period
What you can do
Consider offering fixed-price or free shipping to minimize disruptions or inaccuracies, as these options do not rely on calculated rates
What we’re working on
In last year’s survey, we asked whether Ruby Lane should move to Fixed or Free shipping only. Many of you liked the idea, but there was a large percentage that wanted to keep the calculated shipping.
Because of this survey, we’re actively working with a new shipping solution! It’s designed to be significantly better than what’s available today, including:
More stable and accurate shipping calculations
In-house shipment tracking
Purchasing shipping labels direct from Ruby Lane’s site
Potential discounted shipping labels
Reduced dependency on unstable third-party shipping systems
This is a priority initiative for us, and we’ll be sharing additional updates over the coming weeks as the transition progresses.
We appreciate your patience while we work through this change and build something more reliable for the long term. Our goal is to give you better tools, fewer surprises, and a smoother experience for both you and your buyers.
Your Ruby Lane Team
