eBay lowered certain postage rates for sellers who purchase shipping through its eBay Labels program. Sellers will see the savings when they ship packages to buyers located closest to them.
eBay said it was now offering lower rates for USPS Priority Mail labels for packages up to 5 pounds in zones 1 – 4.
eBay announced the news on Friday, telling sellers that it had updated the eBay Shipping Calculator and the new pricing displayed in eBay Labels.
“In addition to offering great shipping discounts from all the major carriers, eBay Labels is a simple and convenient way for you to purchase, edit and print your shipping labels, either individually or in bulk,” eBay wrote in its announcement. “Plus, with tracking information automatically uploaded and always included, eBay Labels makes it easy to ship what you sell on eBay.”
One seller based in California pointed out that eBay charges a commission on shipping costs and wondered if that impacted how it displays search results to shoppers: “The further away I have to send a package, the more money eBay makes. Which has always made me wonder if eBay Search shows my items to California buyers very often.”
Other sellers compared the rates for purchasing a label on eBay to using a third-party shipping service.
And one seller said the savings would be short-lived given that the US Postal Service would be raising rates in January for both Competitive services like Priority Mail and for Market Dominant services.
Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but with eBay, almost all of my heavier packages cross the country, which makes no sense unless those are the places eBay is showing my items. Not many sales in zones 1 thru 4 from the East Coast. With eBay, higher shipping costs has always been more money in their pocket. Let’s see if anything changes for the better. Time will tell.
Just had a 2.5lb package sold on eBay traveling about 100 miles, so same zone. Price for Priority on eBay $7.97, price on Stamps, $7.97. So where is the discount, or is Stamps offering the same?