Postal rates up again

[Exhibitman]

I think those are retail prices. eBay has a discount on shipping. I printed three labels this a.m. from my store and noticed that the eBay shipping charge stayed the same but the discount value increased.

[Jim F]

It costs $3.00 with tracking?

[D. Bergin]

Stamps.com guys. Online prices on 1st Class still seems static from what I've seen so far. USPS is trying to discourage paying for postage at the Post Office from what I can tell.

[scooter729]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I think those are retail prices. eBay has a discount on shipping. I printed three labels this a.m. from my store and noticed that the eBay shipping charge stayed the same but the discount value increased.

Exactly this. The 1-4 oz package printed via eBay was $2.61 (discounted from $2.67) last week, and remains $2.61 (but discounted from $3.00) today. And includes free tracking.

Gotta use eBay shipping labels when selling stuff through eBay - so much easier and cheaper.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by scooter729

Exactly this. The 1-4 oz package printed via eBay was $2.61 (discounted from $2.67) last week, and remains $2.61 (but discounted from $3.00) today. And includes free tracking.

Gotta use eBay shipping labels when selling stuff through eBay - so much easier and cheaper.

Postal increases usually just happen without a lot of fanfare. As soon as the fan flares toward EBay, their rates will go up. Enjoy it while you can, but it will not be long before the EBay rate jumps as well. Don't ya think?

[scooter729]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

Postal increases usually just happen without a lot of fanfare. As soon as the fan flares toward EBay, there rates will go up. Enjoy it while you can, but it will not be long before the EBay rate jumps as well. Don't ya think?

Gotta piss in my Cheerios and can't just let me enjoy my 33 cent discount, huh Frank??

[Exhibitman]

No doubt, Frank. eBay excels at fee extraction from its members, so we are sure to see that cost go up too.

On an unrelated eBay note, gotta love this eBay math from my store:

Late shipment rate 0.55%
Tracking uploaded on time and validated 98.65%

MIA: 0.90%

[autograf]

I'm sure ebay gets a chunk of each and every package processed through their site.....just like Stamps.com. When/If they need to extract a little more to prop up Wall Street expectations, it'll be passed along even further. Dropped about 60 packages at Post Office today for scanning and my window person said she just saw it this morning. Said they normally get much advanced notice about it but there wasn't anything that she'd seen. And she's really good too. SO......I agree with the sentiment that they're driving people to more electronic means for posting. Which I'm fine with because I use ebay's shipping API all the time anyway. I'll take any/every discount I can get. The discount is pretty strong on 13-14-15 ounce packages that are close to/over the Priority mandate. Couple bucks in some instances for low weight Priority packages depending on the destination distance. Time to go to $3.50 minimum shipping from $3.00.

[D. Bergin]

I think it was the last USPS fee increase when Ebay started pocketing a larger portion of their commercial discount and passing less of it on to it's sellers.

They even started inflating dimensional weight costs to certain regions that had been adjusted downward by the USPS.

I used to use Ebay shipping for all Priority Mail packages and International and Stamps.com for all 1st Class shipping.

Now I only use it for International (discounts are still better on Ebay) and non-dimensional Priority packages valued between $51-$100 (free insurance through Ebay).

[VintageBen]

You can also use this link to get the postal discount through PayPal.

https://www.paypal.com/signin/?retur...md%3d_ship-now

[philliesfan]

I noticed this increase also. I usually package my sales and go to the Post Office and use the self serve machine to get the cost to ship and bring it home to put on old postage stamps. My bubble mailers were always $2.67 but today were $3.00. I always charged $3.00 but when you take into account the cost of the bubble mailer, ebay fees, and paypal fees, it is more that that. I may think about raising my buy it now prices an additional $4.00 to cover postage and fees and then offer free shipping. Not sure what I will do yet. Any suggestions?
thanks,
Robert