USPS raised prices... again!

[ScrappinRed]

Just in case any of you Ebay sellers missed it, USPS raised their prices again. It's pretty substantial on some, like small flat rate went up almost a dollar from $5.20 to now $6.10. Also padded flat rate used to be $5.70 and is now $6.10. Haven't checked them all out, and I understand they warned us about it.

Just passing along the info and grumbling over here in the corner...




*Also they are only insuring up to $50 for free now instead of $100 on priority mail.

[webuyselltradestuff]

my shipping is paid by the purchaser, so it sucks yes..but no so much for me. I am not a proponent of free shipping, but everyone has their own opinion on that. It does suck though for people that do offer free shipping.

[bigburtchino]

With the bottom of oil prices falling and labor way behind the eight ball, Why USPS?

[JustInTime]

For smallish stuff, that under 5 or 6 lbs, they're still cheaper than both FedEx and UPS.

[JnJunk]

Yea anything under a pound gets shipped first class. But all my heavy stuff goes out FedEx for a fraction of what USPS wants.

[armygreywolf]

Never EVER ship for free...I noticed a while back ebay was clipping shipping costs into final value fees...nope, never again...not gonna get charged three times for the same thing. (shipping, FVF and paypal)

[JohnC4X4]

Never EVER ship for free...I noticed a while back ebay was clipping shipping costs into final value fees...nope, never again...not gonna get charged three times for the same thing. (shipping, FVF and paypal)

3 different charges
PayPal's 2.9% is to cover the money transfer >> If you think it is too high, use someone else >> No rule you have to use PayPal
FVF >> That is eBay's fee >> about 10% of the total price
Shipping cost >> that is what the carrier charges >> USPS, UPS and FedEx being the 3 I use >> Cost based on weight, Package size if greater then a cubic foot and distance package needs to travel

My Buyers pay ALL those charges >> So I don't care how high they go >> If the Buyer wants the item they are willing to pay the price

Almost everything I sell has FREE shipping
I make more money that way
People buy several items at one time >> I put all in one package and the savings in shipping costs is additional profit since I have FREE shipping
My built in shipping covers zone 8 >> So when someone closer then that makes the purchase >> Cha Ching >> More profit in my pocket
I love FREE shipping!

[matador]

I'm very similar to John. I build-in the worst case scenario for shipping. If someone purchases a laptop, and they live in Colorado, I make an extra $8 for doing nothing. Not bad....

matador: "Nothing is ever free!"

[armygreywolf]

Except you don't...you will be assessed a fee going to your account, a fee again for shipping and FVF on the lot to begin with, so... essentially you lost money to do free shipping even if you purposely put yourself in a place to make money to absorb shipping costs. I do 400 listings a month now (or more) and not one of them includes free shipping. Although right there in the listing the buyer knows if they make multiple purchases shipping will be combined. I've also taken the time to be as exacting as possible with my shipping rules. Hard lessons learned for those of us with alot going out the door.

[ryanw]

army - OK, you've lost me. I've sat here thinking about this for awhile, and still don't see what you're getting at. I do at least a couple hundred individual sales a month on ebay - so I'm not a novice. I also do free shipping on everything. Here is what I know about the FvF, and this was from what I knew several years ago when it switched.

If you have a separate shipping charge, then there will be two fees recorded in your records. One for the sale price, one for the shipping price.
If you have no shipping charges on the listing, then it's just one FvF fee for the sale price.

I don't get what you're talking about with the extra fees. Please elaborate, and tell me where to look for evidence of this in my account. I'm interested as I can be missing something.

[JohnC4X4]

Except you don't...you will be assessed a fee going to your account, a fee again for shipping and FVF on the lot to begin with, so... essentially you lost money to do free shipping even if you purposely put yourself in a place to make money to absorb shipping costs.

eBay gets roughly 10% of total cost
You sell something for $100.00 with FREE shipping >> FVF's total $10.00
You sell something for $90.00 with $10.00 shipping >> FVF on the $90.00 item is $9.00 and FVF on the $10.00 shipping is $1.00 for a total FVF of $10.00
You sell something for $10.00 with $90.00 shipping >> FVF on the $10.00 item is $1.00 and FVF on the $90.00 shipping is $9.00 for a total FVF of $10.00

Please explain how I

essentially you lost money to do free shipping

PayPal takes 2.9% plus 30 cents on the TOTAL Price >> They don't care what the split is
So FREE shipping does NOT cause me to incur any additional fees on PayPal

The "worst" thing that can happen is the Buyer is located on the West Coast, Hawaii, Alaska or one of the Territories >> Zone 8 for me
At that point I "Break even" with the money built into the item price to cover shipping cost
If the Buyer is located nearer to me then Zone 8 >> Then I make additional money/profit from the "left over" shipping money
AND I LOVE when the Buyer lives in New England or New York >> again I make even more additional money/profit from the "left over" shipping money

[ScrappinRed]

Yea anything under a pound gets shipped first class. But all my heavy stuff goes out FedEx for a fraction of what USPS wants.

First class has to be under 13oz

[ScrappinRed]

For smallish stuff, that under 5 or 6 lbs, they're still cheaper than both FedEx and UPS.

Fedex Smart Post is often cheaper for anything 3lbs and up. It all depends on whether the address is residential and how far they are from me. Many people complain about Fedex Smart Post or say you get screwed on insurance and claims and such. I have personally not had problems... yet

[JohnC4X4]

First class has to be under 13oz

Along with the recent price increase online postage weight for First Class parcel was increased to 16 ounces

[ScrappinRed]

Along with the recent price increase online postage weight for First Class parcel was increased to 16 ounces

I did not know that! Thanks for letting me know. That's the one good things I've heard about their changes

[matador]

I add to the cost of the item to cover that 10% fee when possible (Though that's usually pretty small for most items I sell). This doesn't work as well for "Commodity" items such as bulk lots of RAM or hard drives, where there is a definite price point, where if you charge above that, you'll just have a no-sale.

SmartPost works well for me on the lighter items usually, but for the ones above 10 pounds, FedEx Home Delivery is usually cheaper than SmartPost (Though I'm in Wyoming, so the fact that most shipments of mine go a long distance might have something to do with that)

[adda]

With the title of this post, I was glad to have shipped my daughter's (forgotten) blow dryer back to her already, after Christmas visiting was over. Still, that was $12 and only JUST fit into the medium flat rate box. When I think about it, though, I'm still pretty impressed at how well the USPS does, overall, speed and money-wise.

I used to sell (books) on-line and already getting ideas for selling scrap finds and refurbs, so the info people gave about FedEx and the increase in 1st class weight/USPS is helpful.

On the ebay charges/controversy (fees) don't some of you who sell there also have a separate web site that customers can get to via your posting (or otherwise) to sell direct to customers?

[alloy2]

With the bottom of oil prices falling and labor way behind the eight ball, Why USPS?

Because some ebay seller like to save their foreign customers money, also helps with sales. I personally will not purchase from a seller with the only shipping option as Fedex is too expensive with additional brokerage fees on delivery.

What is the big deal for the seller to make out a shipping / customs label from paypal then drop the package in the mail, I've been doing it since 1998. Never had a parcel lost in the mail, wife shipped wrong positrack to a guy luckily we still had the right one sitting on the kitchen floor to ship the dude.

[webuyselltradestuff]

With the title of this post, I was glad to have shipped my daughter's (forgotten) blow dryer back to her already, after Christmas visiting was over. Still, that was $12 and only JUST fit into the medium flat rate box. When I think about it, though, I'm still pretty impressed at how well the USPS does, overall, speed and money-wise.

I used to sell (books) on-line and already getting ideas for selling scrap finds and refurbs, so the info people gave about FedEx and the increase in 1st class weight/USPS is helpful.

On the ebay charges/controversy (fees) don't some of you who sell there also have a separate web site that customers can get to via your posting (or otherwise) to sell direct to customers?

If you sell any amount of items, then YES you should put an ecommerce site up...they are inexpensive and a cart like say Volusion comes with EVERYTHING you will ever need (it is a professional shopping cart you can pay monthly for)...and WooCommerce for Wrdpress is easy cheesy too...Volusion just has WAY more features.

[pjost]

OK normally I wouldn't defend any government entity, especially one run as inefficiently as the USPS. Honestly though, I can drop a letter in the mailbox and have it arrive anywhere in the country in a day or two for $.49. Forty Nine Cents!!! You cant buy a can of soda pop for $.49.

I shipped 6 DVD's from South Dakota to my niece in North Carolina on Friday. She got them on Tuesday. $6 and change. A bargain if you ask me.

Go ahead and flame me about my stupidity.... I think the USPS is reasonable!