USA domestic shipping increase is now in effect

[Tinman]

A heads up to those selling and buying in the USA. The new domestic shipping rate for small packages is now in effect. The minimum cost for a four or five ounce package is now $2.74 (plus additional charge if you desire tracking).

A reminder for those shipping in jiffy bags (bubble lined envelopes) within the USA. It costs the same to ship in these envelopes and bags as it does to ship in a box.

The small flat rate priority Mail boxes is now $6.80. Sellers shipping with Priority Mail are lazy and wasting your money (there is no other way to put it). That's a $4.05 increase in your shipping fee just so they use the so called "Free box."

Boxes can be purchased for as little as .34 cents each. I purchase a 4x4x6 inch box and have them delivered right to my home. The cost for the boxes, including shipping to my home is thirty seven cents each. Even if I add the cost of the box to my shipping fee ... that's still makes my shipping about $3.70 cents cheaper than anyone using Priority Mail.

First Class packages are handled exactly the same as Priority Mail. Both arrive in the same time frame as they are shipped side by side. For a small package under 13 ounces, it's a total waste of money to use Priority Mail. I personally boycott many sellers who use Priority Mail because of their wasting my money due to them being Lazy.

[numi]

Thanks Tinman for the heads-up. I agree with u totally and have found that these unscrupulous sellers profit from Priority postage over and above their wares yet post them off in ordinary brown boxes via Standard.Seems to be a full time business for some.Mind u,there are a good few well known big toy sellers that are involved with extorting from buyers.The sad thing is that we succumb just because of the want for/of their wares.
numi

[Shane]

Cannuck here (Canadian).
How does Priority make sellers lazy? Just curious, what is the difference between be 1st Class and Priority?
I typically avoid Priority as well simply to keep costs down, but not really sure of the difference.
(And I never buy from sellers who use eBay's Global Shipping Program, that service is simply a crime)

[Tinman]

Cannuck here (Canadian).
How does Priority make sellers lazy? Just curious, what is the difference between be 1st Class and Priority?

The people who ship via Priority Mail are LAZY because their is no difference in the two services except for one exception. That exception is they get a free small box in which to ship your item. Since you and I pay for the shipping cost, that so called free box just cost us $4.00. That means you and I are paying these Lazy Jerks just over four dollars because they are too %$#@ LAZY to buy some boxes and use First Class package service!

The worst offenders on high cost postage sometimes put little notes in their listing description trying to justify why they charge so much. We've all seen this kind of thing:
"My postage charges are based on the fact that I have to buy boxes and packing materials, drive to the Post Office and take time out of my day to do this."

What the above tells me is that the person who claims such ... is an idiot. Why? Because you never have to leave your home to ship domestically or international. It's point, click and print for postage and labels. The walk to their mailbox is probably shorter than the walk to get in the car. Or even worse, they think you and I are idiots because we don't know this.

How about this one:
"I am disabled (or enter your choice of excuse here) and have to pay a person to pack and ship all my items or merchandise." "This is why my postage fees are higher than average."

Now that congers up an image of a paralyzed vet sitting in a wheel chair pecking away on a laptop by using a stick held in their teeth! Wait a second, if you're selling enough stuff that you have to hire a part time or full time person to handle the shipping, there is a word for that! It's called a BUSINESS. When I was in school, we learned the price of a product has to included all of the over head.

Every product sold on ebay or via the Internet has to be packaged up for delivery (by whatever means it is shipped). That's part of the over head. So let's go back to that so called "free box that is a perk of Priority Mail (you know, that little "free" box which ends up costing you and me over four dollars). That box is part of the over head and by choosing Priority Mail they are shifting part of their over head costs onto us instead of having it built into their selling price.

I buy my boxes. They are stronger and larger than those awful little "small" flat rate Priority Mail boxes. My boxes are also delivered right to my front door and the purchase price, including shipping to me, is .34 cents per box. The cost of that box is included in the purchase price of each and every item I sell (because it's over head). It takes the same amount of time and energy to buy the boxes as it does to order up a bundle of "free" boxes from the USPS.

So, when you think about it, these people are Lazy and they're extorting another four dollars of hard earned money out of our wallets! I could do a bunch of things with that $4.00. I could mail my box to a domestic seller and still save $1.50. I could use that money to pay for lunch. I could do many things I want to do but the one thing I never want to do is pay a LAZY seller four bucks so they can get a so called free box.

[Shane]

Great to know, thanx.

I thought Priority was a premium service because yes, it has a dedicated box but also tracking and signed for.

[mbox2000]

I'm with Joe on this one, Shane. I buy my boxes in bulk by the 100 per. Cost is pennies on the dollar for "indestructo"boxes, 3x4x6 size are perfect for me. I ship first class and pay a bit extra for tracking and still only pay 4.00 or less per box to ship. Signed for shipping is a pain in the a** for the buyer as they have to be home to benefit, otherwise they get a trip to the post office. If it's worth less than 75 to 100 USD not worth the time. Priority Mail is crap. Overpriced for the buyer by far. I'll give a shout out to Uline Shipping Products but there are many box companies available.

[Tinman]

Great to know, thanx.

I thought Priority was a premium service because yes, it has a dedicated box but also tracking and signed for.

Tracking costs extra and signature costs still more if you ship Priority Mail at the post office. If you ship through ebay, the tracking is free for Parcel Select, First Class and Priority Mail (however signature costs more for all mail methods). Priority mail packages and First Class packages both get exactly the same handling from the Post Office. Both ship at exactly the same speed.

[Tinman]

I'm with Joe on this one, Shane. I buy my boxes in bulk by the 100 per. Cost is pennies on the dollar for "indestructo"boxes, 3x4x6 size are perfect for me. I ship first class and pay a bit extra for tracking and (some text deleted)

As noted above, if you're selling on ebay, you should ship through ebay as they provide the tracking for free. They also give you a small bulk rate discount on the shipping cost (on average, the discount is enough to pay for about half the cost of the box).

[Shane]

As a buyer, I will not buy from sellers using eBay's global shipping program (GSP). I assume GSP uses Priority which I find their rates to be inflated as I never pay that much for 1st Class or even when a seller ships Priority directly. But it makes sense now knowing the postage rate is higher than normal as tracking is included and that does cost more. The GSP also adds duty/custom charges which I never pay when a seller ships directly to me and not using their 3rd party distribution centre. So if Canada Customs is not charging me duty, then where are those GSP duty fees going? Is ebay actually issuing the collected funds to Canada Customs or are they pocketing it????

Here is an actual example. I asked a seller who indicated the use of GSP if they would ship via 1st Class instead. They were ok with it and quoted me about $7 USD via 1st Class. The ebay postage calculator indicated the GSP and listed $15 (this would have included Priority service I assume, as well as tracking and duty fees) but why would I pay $15 when I got it for $7?

I can understand the added cost for Priority (even though it's a rip off) and tracking, but not the unsubstantiated duty fees. And the worst part is, the duty is only estimated as the GSP does not calculate the final duty until the final sale price. As the value increases, so does the duty.

[fixer]

in the UK any customs charges are usually a few pounds nothing to worry about the problem is the post office they charge £8 "handling fee" and then make you collect it from the sorting office ...... so that's £8 not to deliver your package and collect a few qiud for customs seems fair