Etsy and PirateShip Boast of Lower USPS Rates Today

Etsy and PirateShip marketed their access to lower USPS rates on Monday, Etsy through an announcement post and PirateShip through an email to sellers. Etsy published an announcement this afternoon titled, “Get new, even cheaper USPS Priority Mail rates on Etsy,” where it explained:

When you purchase shipping labels on Etsy, you get a discounted commercial rate that’s less expensive than the post office. We’ve been working with USPS(R) to help you get even cheaper Priority Mail rates on Etsy.

Now when you purchase USPS Priority Mail labels on Etsy, you’ll save on average 5% off Etsy’s already discounted rates.* That’s up to $1.02 off–so you can put that money right back in your business.

These savings will apply to certain weights and zones** for orders that are sent with:

Priority Mail
Priority Mail Flat Rate
Priority Mail Regional Rate

Meanwhile PirateShip sent an email to sellers addressing the holiday surcharge, telling them in part:

USPS is increasing rates for domestic services from October 2nd to January 22nd, but there’s some good news!

On Pirate Ship there will NOT be any holiday increases for most Priority Mail shipments within the lower 48 states, including:

• All Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelopes & Boxes
• Most Priority Mail Regional Rate Boxes up to Zone 6
• Most Priority Mail Cubic & Weight-Based shipments up to Zone 6, 10 lb

For all other shipments, the price increase depends on the service, weight, and zone you’re shipping to.

The USPS holiday surcharge takes effect on October 2nd and runs through January 22, 2023. The Stamps.com blog has additional details, and you can find more information in this EcommerceBytes Newsflash article.

Let us know what your shipping services are telling you about saving when shipping via USPS.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.