USPS Raises Shipping Rates, eBay Follows Suit
The United States Postal Service announced a proposal for rate increases back in October 2017. The proposal was approved, with increases across the board that would go into effect in January 21, 2018. Stamps go up 1 cent, Mailing Services product prices go up approximately 1.9%, and most Shipping Services products go up 3.9% on average.
As expected, eBay followed suit with an announcement on their rates increases. eBay gives its sellers a discount on USPS shipping when you purchase shipping labels through them and since USPS prices will go up for everyone, it makes sense that eBay will increase prices for its buyers as well.
An overview of the changes to eBay’s negotiated discount pricing can be found in the table below and additional savings details are available on ebay.com/usps. Once USPS increases their shipping rates on January 21, 2018, the eBay shipping calculator and discounted eBay labels rates will be updated automatically.
| Class of Service | 2017 Avg USPSRetail Rate | 2018 Avg USPSRetail Rate | 2018 Avg eBaylabel rate (eTRS) | 2018 Avg eBaylabel rate (non-eTRS) |
| First Class Package Service® | $ 3.64 | $ 4.05 | $ 3.12 | $ 3.12 |
| Priority Mail® | $ 10.40 | $ 10.53 | $ 9.06 | $ 9.32 |
| Priority Mail Express® | $ 31.15 | $ 32.34 | $ 27.80 | $ 28.65 |
| First Class Package International Service® | $ 16.60 | $ 17.25 | $ 14.76 | $ 16.39 |
| Priority Mail International® | $ 54.03 | $ 56.13 | $ 46.91 | $ 53.32 |
| Priority Mail Express International™ | $ 67.18 | $ 69.80 | $ 53.05 | $ 66.31 |
Conclusion
This is not a big increase when you look at the numbers and likley will not make a big difference for the occasional seller. But for sellers with a lot of volume, every cent matters so this will cut into profits.
Paying more money for bad service is never fun.
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@robertw. I disagree. We ship tens of thousands of packages per year and we use FedEx mainly but for few occasional outbound to Hawaii Alaska, usps rates are hard to beat. But I find that on time delivery is always questionable and tracking packages are difficult. When packages are lost, the process to claim is quite cumbersome and when’s the last time you got a hold of an actual live agent at USPS for issues.
USPS is very good service not bad service. We ship tens of thousands of packages per year. Much faster than UPS. We ship primarily first class. Minimal lost packages. Most lost packages are customer related. USPS still far cheaper than UPS or others.