Cheap(er) shipping?

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SticKx911

2[H]4U
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Mar 14, 2004
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Holy Christmas, shipping has gotten insane! It cost me nearly $20 to usps a router with basic priority.

What do you guys use to ship? Any alternatives that are more fairly priced?

I like to include shipping in prices to make it easier on buyers, but the last few items were almost cringe worthy at usps.
 
Anything under 16oz goes 1st class unless they want to pay for Priority.. Purchase through Paypal or pirateship.com.

Heavier stuff maybe check Fedex Home delivery rates.
 
With USPS, unless a person is close to you (same coast), you almost have to ship Priority Mail flat rate boxes. If it doesn't fit in one of those, you could get hammered, especially if the dimensions of the box exceed certain sizes. I was quoted $35 to ship something to Idaho, but it ended up being $22 if I got it into a smaller box with the same weight. The same shipment to NJ is about $12.
 
OhSigmaChi said:
I always purchase my shipping labels through ebay and pay via paypal, I find I save anywhere from 5-15% over going directly to the post office (depending on service and buyer's location).
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This. For some stupid reason (likely me not paying attention) I didn't notice that you could do this until this year. I've purchased prepaid labels through them several times since then and have saved a good chunk of money vs. taking my item to the post office and paying at the counter. I don't even want to think about how much this would have saved me over the years had I discovered it sooner.
 
USPS First Class for everything unless over 16oz, then use Priority mail which usually is pretty reasonable. If it fits in the box, it goes no matter the weight. $7-13 for that.
 
Seriously, USPS Priority Mail flat-rate box is the answer. I've had zero issues whatsoever sending or receiving. Typical 2 day delivery, 3 max. With tracking.
 
USPS flat rate boxes, if they fit. Anything bigger or heavier I do UPS. I do everything through Paypal, as mentioned it's 10%+ cheaper than USPS direct or UPS store. And Paypal "ship now" is a nice little backdoor feature I'm happy they haven't closed off yet, I use that all the time.

But yeah I hear ya, it's been tough selling older computers when I have to eat $20-25 shipping and I'm only charging $40-45 for the entire thing. I recently sold a monitor that cost more to ship than what I sold it for. I'm not a fan of CL but we have a bulletin board at work I sometimes put big stuff on just to skip shipping (amplifiers, speakers, TVs etc)

*redacted off topic rant about ebay* :)
 
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First Class Mail is much more expensive now than it was a few months ago; USPS added an additional distance-based fee, so you could be charged a dollar or more depending on where it's going. It's made shipping small stuff much more of a bother; my eBay business depended on cheap 1st Class postage but now, eh.

If you have lots of small boxes, though, Priority Mail Flat Rate Padded Envelopes are the way to go. Just stick what you want to ship in a box and if it fits inside you're done. I used to use the normal flat rate envelopes to ship stuff (sticking items in bubble mailers, then putting those in the flat rate envelopes) but my local post office started refusing them because they made up a rule about how it's meant for "documents only" (hint: they're lying.)

Depending on the distance, Regional Flat Rate A Boxes are also good. Bs can sometimes be more expensive than a Large Flat Rate for longer distances (for example, a Large Flat Rate costs $20 to ship; a Regional B costs $22 to ship from CA to TN) but they're pretty good if you're a couple of states away.

You can sometimes find padded flat rate envelopes at your post office, but regional boxes are rarer and you'll have to order them from their website.
 
Post above me mentions it but don't forget priority mail shipping supplies are free and they deliver them to you. I ordered a box of basically every size including the padded envelopes a few years ago. Still have plenty in my garage. Free.
 
Foxhack said:
First Class Mail is much more expensive now than it was a few months ago; USPS added an additional distance-based fee, so you could be charged a dollar or more depending on where it's going. It's made shipping small stuff much more of a bother; my eBay business depended on cheap 1st Class postage but now, eh.

If you have lots of small boxes, though, Priority Mail Flat Rate Padded Envelopes are the way to go. Just stick what you want to ship in a box and if it fits inside you're done. I used to use the normal flat rate envelopes to ship stuff (sticking items in bubble mailers, then putting those in the flat rate envelopes) but my local post office started refusing them because they made up a rule about how it's meant for "documents only" (hint: they're lying.)

Depending on the distance, Regional Flat Rate A Boxes are also good. Bs can sometimes be more expensive than a Large Flat Rate for longer distances (for example, a Large Flat Rate costs $20 to ship; a Regional B costs $22 to ship from CA to TN) but they're pretty good if you're a couple of states away.

You can sometimes find padded flat rate envelopes at your post office, but regional boxes are rarer and you'll have to order them from their website.
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Yeah I just use usps.com and regional box A or B are great deals. You can have them delivered to your house for free just order them from the website.
 
zuppy said:
Use shipnerd.com. MUCH cheaper then going through UPS/Fedex.
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Nice, never heard of them. Are there any catches? I see that the site says no commitments but I don't ship enough anymore to justify a monthly fee or subscription or minimum required volume of shipments. If I can just sign up and purchase shipping labels at a discount whenever I need to, I'll give it a shot.
 
Lateralus said:
Nice, never heard of them. Are there any catches? I see that the site says no commitments but I don't ship enough anymore to justify a monthly fee or subscription or minimum required volume of shipments. If I can just sign up and purchase shipping labels at a discount whenever I need to, I'll give it a shot.
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Yeah basically make an account which is free, input the destination address, then weight and dimensions of box, Business/Residential location, Insurance and Signature and then they give you a price.

Super simple; I don't ship much but always use them.
 
zuppy said:
Yeah basically make an account which is free, input the destination address, then weight and dimensions of box, Business/Residential location, Insurance and Signature and then they give you a price.

Super simple; I don't ship much but always use them.
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NICE! Thanks. I wondered if a shipping discount service like this existed for normal people, not businesses, who don't ship in volume. I've looked at a couple of other services over the years and there is always a subscription or some sort of shipping requirement. I'll definitely give this a shot next go-round.
 
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Sorry for the late reply but friends at a trading forum used to swear by a site called Pirate Ship. I tried it but they didn't support payments via PayPal directly so I had to use my debit card.

What it did was use a lesser known shipping method called Priority Mail Cubic, which if your item was under a certain size, ends up giving you cheaper postage. Most of my items didn't qualify, but those that did...
 
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