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To: sunny bonobo
If you’re shipping a calendar or other printed materials or things like cds, check out USPS media mail. Those rates are often ridiculously cheap imho.

Media mail isn't a bargain any more, Depending on size and weight, it is often more expensive than ground advantage. Plus, any media mail package is subject to postal inspection. I have had that happen to me, a package containing a set of CDs arrived ripped open and retaped so you could see the contents, even though CDs are allowed in media mail. Also, media mail packages can sometimes take much longer than normal for delivery.

14 posted on 09/02/2024 5:38:14 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Fake news, fake election, fake president, real tyranny.)
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To: Fresh Wind; Paul R.

As an eBay buyer or seller, it is educational to use the shipping calculator to compare various shipping methods.

https://www.ebay.com/shp/Calculator

The calculator is not easy to find on the eBay website. It is ALWAYS better to use Google to find important and useful information on the eBay site. The eBay website is a mess, with bugs that are never fixed, and they are constantly changing it and adding new bugs to go with the old ones.

As a buyer, if you have a fairly good idea of the size and weight of the shipment, using the calculator can detect sellers who overcharge you for shipping. This is very common, and also beware of “handling charges”.

Honest sellers will charge the buyer exactly what eBay charges them to ship.

As a seller, you can compare various shipping methods, including the USPS, UPS, and FedEx. It tells you the discount you get on the over the counter price for each service. The caveat with UPS and FedEx is that what you may end up being charged something other than what the calculator tells you. They do check the weight and package size after shipment.

I know of one crooked eBay seller who routinely understated the weight of packages when buying shipping labels to save money. Eventually, the USPS caught up with him and sent him a bill for the difference. If you drop off packages at the counter, they check the weight. But if you drop packages into a bin, the check happens later. Having a package scanned at the counter is better as it puts an entry into the tracking record “USPS in possession of item”.


18 posted on 09/02/2024 6:21:24 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Fake news, fake election, fake president, real tyranny.)
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