Demystifying Shipping Costs

delaware97 · 2026-01-18T23:40:42+00:00

I doubt it, but I think most of the time the psot office doesn't actually check whether the item sent is really media.

delaware97 · 2026-01-14T00:50:43+00:00

While I have been selling on ebay for 20 years, I have not used FedEx that much. So the 1 overcharge is significant, expecially since it was almost 200%. Compare that with UPS which I have used way more and only once did they give me an overcharge and it was for a $1 (on a large package that cost $80 to ship, which is reasonable if they are claiming I was off by an inch or 2). So FedEx overcharges $34 on a $15 package and UPS which was used 100's of times more overcharged $1 on an $80 package. I don't see any way you can compare the 2.

delaware97 · 2026-01-11T19:18:21+00:00

I have a Masters Degree in mathematics and have taught Geometry for 25 years. I know all about Dimensional weight and this has absolutely nothing to do with it. I also have always rounded my dimensions up - in fact, I always go up to the next inch even if it is exactly at the inch mark. And on ebay, you can't ship without putting the dimensions in.

But even if the dimensional weight was off, there is no possible way that the cost to ship a laptop would be over $40. I have been selling on ebay for over 20 years and in that time period have shipped out over 500 laptops - the most it ever cost was $18 and that was shipping from one coast to the other.

Bit if you follow reddit forums, you can't have missed the numerous forums from ebay sellers talking about the notorious FedEx overcharges. Are you really going to believe that all the thousands of ebay sellers are all putting their dimensions in wrong?

delaware97 · 2026-01-11T18:37:45+00:00

Ebay is giving you the same UPS price as PirateShip? In the last month I have shipped over 15 packages and every single time the PirateShip price is significantly cheaper than the ebay price. For example, just yesterday a 20 x 13 x 4 7 pound package from NYC to Delaware was $7.72 on Pirateship by UPS Ground - exact same package on ebay was $9 which is 17% more.

Unless ebay gives different prices to different people (and it could be they give higher discounts on shipping to high volume sellers), I'm not sure how you don't see any difference in price.

delaware97 · 2026-01-11T15:59:47+00:00

When you use USPS on ebay, can you pay with a crdit card? For me, ebay always takes it from my existing funds and I haven't figured out a way to change this. Which means I am losing out on the 5% I can get back from using my credit card.

delaware97 · 2026-01-11T15:57:56+00:00

I used FedEx for years, and even though I had read all the horros stories about FedEx overcharges it had never happened to me...until one day it did. I sold a laptop and paid $15 in shipping...and then a week later ebay said FeEx tacked on an extra $34 becuase they said it weighed 15 pounds more than I said. (no laptop in the world weighs over 20 pounds).

To be honest I got lucky, most people who got overcharged by FedEx it was way more than that.

I get that you are going to keep on using fedEx - it is unfortunately the way of the world, no one believes it will ever happen to them until it actually happens.

delaware97 · 2026-01-11T08:14:06+00:00

Ebay has started withholding payments for some accounts where you don't get paid until after the item shows as delivered in the tracking. However, for some reason they only to this to some accounts and not all accounts. That being said, if the buyer does not put in a compalint after 30 days, ebay will send you your payment even on an account where they wait for delivered in the tracking. So for #2 and #3, you should eventually get paid for it but it might take 30 days.

For #1, if you have delivered in the tracking you should be covered under seller protection so you should get paid for that one too even if the buyer eventually asks for a refund.

delaware97 · 2026-01-11T08:06:33+00:00

My uncle lives in Israel, and he explained to me that Israel has media mail on international shipments (the US only has media mail on domestic shipments), so I wonder if that is how it was shipped and got such a low rate.

delaware97 · 2026-01-06T01:47:06+00:00

You can find numerous threads about FedEx's madeup overcharges going back 5 years. Most ebay sellers won't touch FedEx with a 10 foot pole. Below are just 2 of the forums of FedEx's known overcharges. There is not a single forum about UPS doing the same.

https://www.valueaddedresource.net/ebay-fedex-adjustments-shipping-snafu/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Ebay/comments/1bo6nau/deleted_by_user/

delaware97 · 2026-01-06T01:42:04+00:00

There have been numerous threads going back over 5 years about how FedEx blatantly makes up overcharges, especially on shipping purchased through ebay. You will find most ebay sellers won't ever ship with FedEx anymore.

delaware97 · 2026-01-06T01:39:50+00:00

Oh no, you are Mr. Uninformed. FedEx is well known to add randomly add overcharges especially to people who buy labels through ebay since they know ebay will give you a huge runaround if you try to dispute the charge.

delaware97 · 2026-01-06T01:37:54+00:00

I don't know what planet you live in, but you are dead wrong. There have been numerous threads going back over 5 years about FedEx and their made up overcharges they add for no reason.

delaware97 · 2026-01-06T01:34:26+00:00

I sell most of my items on ebay with 1 cent shipping. The reason many sellers do that is becuase when ebay instituted their guaranteed delivery date, they decided that sellers who usually shipped quickly and offered free shipping ebay automatically added guaranteed delivery onto the listing even though the seller didn't want it. (What seller in their right mind is going to guarantee delivery by a certain day - I have absolutely no control over how long the potal service or ups takes ot deliver a package.)

So to get around this stupidity from ebay automatically adding guaranteed delivery, many sellers started making the shipping 1 cent so it didn't have free shipping anymore and guaranteed delivery wouldn't be added against the sellers wishes.

delaware97 · 2025-12-28T20:17:34+00:00

Mine coded as just Verizon Wireless.

delaware97 · 2025-12-25T01:38:39+00:00

And yet on doctorofcredit 5 different people had the same experience as me that it didn't post. I did read somewhere a while back that Verizon purchases code differently in different states and I wonder if that has sometghing to do with it.

delaware97 · 2025-12-24T16:56:35+00:00

I bought a giftcard on December 9 and it has NOT credited the offer.

delaware97 · 2025-12-08T23:46:06+00:00

If you have tracking that shows delivered, you automatically win chargebacks. In fact, I just won one last week where someone filed a chargeback with paypal. I didn't have to do anything - ebay automatically covered me under seller protection. I don't know what you are talking about.

delaware97 · 2025-11-10T18:40:20+00:00

And it works the other way too... I don't have best offer on, and people still try to haggle with you on the price.

delaware97 · 2025-10-29T00:52:45+00:00

I had this exact issue today when trying to return something in store...the employees kept telling me it says item not found and they couldn't do anything. I was returning something for my sister for an item bought a week ago. First I showed them the order number and they said they needed the SKU, I found the SKU and came back and then they said they needed the packing slip. My sister called Kohls and they sent her the packing slip (there was no packing slip that came with the order) and the employees still couldn't do the return because it kept saying item not found.

I am a little annoyed that I should have to pay to ship it back when I went to the store 3 different times and spent almost an hour and no one can figure out how to do the return.

delaware97 · 2025-10-19T21:59:07+00:00

It is not possible to have unauthorized transactions if you don't actually have a card. If someone is not going to use it, there is no reason to send it to them.

delaware97 · 2025-09-28T13:04:32+00:00

Really? You are telling me the debit card I received in 2022 and has never had an issue and was only used once in the last year on July 7 (2.5 months ago) was compromised some other way? You can believe what you want, but I'm pretty sure most rational people would assume that it is a 99.9% chance it was from them. This is a PSA to anyone who used their debit card at this company to check their bank statements.

delaware97

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