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I’m in the process of adding dimensions to my listings. I currently have almost 900 as of these postings. I don’t do free shipping on most of my items. I’m only looking at the items that have priority calculated shipping at this time which is about 150 items. And I figure I would worry about the larger items first. Of course, I waited until the last minute to get this done and I’m a one-woman show.
My question is what are your thoughts on items that have no dimensional measurements within the listing. How will eBay calculate and communicate those to the buyer? Will it show a crazy high rate based on some estimate eBay has running in the background for those items with black measurements?
I’m just wondering should I take those items down that are large until I can get the correct estimated measurements or let them ride and take my chances. Of course, I will continue to keep working on them.
Your Thoughts
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That is a good idea So Cal Joe. I did take a look at some of the changes I made, but I was sure if the change has been fully rolled out yet. If not I won’t be able to tell. Thank goodness most of my items are small then the 12 x 12 x 12.
My brain was just wondering, what happens if you don’t have your measurements in at all. How will eBay calculate postage for the customer? That is the big question. I never thought about it before. I’ve never added the measurements in before. So I’m thinking eBay has been calculating postage at a higher rate. I don’t now.
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Here is eBay’s shipping calculator:
https://www.ebay.com/shp/Calculator
Maybe you can try putting in a weight without dimensions and see if it will spit something out.
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Good question. I just deleted my response because you can list using calculated shipping using no dim data.
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That’s not entirely true Raoul. I have never entered the measurements, only the weights. I also used, at one time, only calculated shipping on all my items. I will say that I’ve been selling on eBay for over 1 year. YAY, for me.
I also have never used eBay labels. (Technically they didn’t work out for me when it came to printing) I print my labels using Shipstation. You are not required to enter dimensions in that system to ship. I usually make sure the weight is on the money and print my label UNLESS it is an oversized item. If it is an oversized item I will enter the measurements when I create the listing so I will not lose out on shipping funds. I hope that makes sense.
I do understand now that it would be beneficial for me to make sure I know include the measurements. Which I think will be a bit of a pain, but what can we do.
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I realized I was wrong after publishing my post.
Thanks for bringing this up. This will be a real problem for people with large stores. If you haven’t included dims in your listing, I fear ebay will charge the buyer under the assumption the package is < 12 x 12 x 12 inches. When you buy a label, you will be forced to enter dims & will be charged a different price.
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It’s all good Raoul. I agree with you on the fact that eBay may charge the maximum size which could be problematic for the buyer and a deterrent at the same time. I’m thinking buyers will see a crazy high shipping price for items that do not have the measurements within the listing. That sucks.
I know I have a lot of work to do. Yikes!
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I don’t think ebay will do that. My guess is they will use the weight you entered & assume the dims are < 12″ x 12″ x 12″. That is what will be displayed to buyers. However, when you go to print a label & enter dims > 12″ x 12″ x 12″ you will be charged quite a bit more. I am going to post about this in another forum & maybe somebody with anchor service can get us a quick response from ebay.
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Here’s an idea.
Look at one of your listings on a a computer. Hit the shipping tab/link. Enter any zip code, but it’s better for a far away one.
After getting the price, go to USPS.com and enter the same zip code and weight with a dimension smaller than 12 X 12 X 12 and see if it’s the same price.
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Jay, I only entered the dimensions when I knew the items were oversized. Otherwise, I left the measurements blank. Then once someone purchased the items I would verify the weight only and print the label. As I said I use Shipstation and I’ve never been required to put in the dimensions. BUT I always made sure that the measurements were in for oversized items only so there would not be any discrepancies once it was shipped. I have been doing this since I started on eBay.
My concern is that now I will need to make sure even the smaller items that I’ve put calculated shipping on and that will not be a flat rate, will be charged a higher rate unless I put the measurements on the listing. I understand I have to do what is required. It’s just going to take me some time to get through the listing. Of course, I really should have started months ago.
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My concern is that now I will need to make sure even the smaller items that I’ve put calculated shipping on and that will not be a flat rate, will be charged a higher rate unless I put the measurements on the listing.
What makes you have this concern? Is something changing?
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As Sonia asked, what has changed? Can you link to the eBay page that says you must now do this?
All I see is this:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/USPS-dimensional-weight-changing-in-June/ba-p/29842834What does this mean for you?
Dimensional Weight pricing applies to light weight, large packages. The general idea behind it is that there is a cost to the space these packages take up on a truck, rather than the physical weight of the package. If the calculated Dimensional Weight of your package is higher than the physical weight of a package, you are required to pay the higher of the two.I dont see anything that says we have to go through all our listings and add dimensions EXCEPT if its oversized. Its’s always been this way.
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I guess I’m just reading too much into the change. The reason I asked is purely out of curiosity, but at the same time, I wanted to make sure all my bases were covered. For me, sometimes the requirements are not as straight forward as they seem.
Has something changed? Well, as I said I’ve never put the measurements in for anything but oversized items. Maybe my buyers have been getting charged a high rate because of this for the smaller items that are priority calculated shipping. I never thought of it that way.
You are correct that eBay doesn’t say we need to go through all the listing, but I was thinking that the shipping will show up even higher than before because of the new USPS policy. I could be wrong. And that is higher than the increase from January. I hope that makes sense.
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As always, put in the dimensions of items larger than 12 x 12 x 12 as you’ve always done. Again, if you read eBay’s announcement, I’m not seeing any other need to change how we do things. The change is just a rise in rates for a certain kind of USPS package.
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We hit on this topic a few years back. Anything under 1,728 cubic inches is not going to hit the DIM-WEIGHT pricing, anything over will.
a 12x12x12 box equals = 1,728 cubic in. So, a 96″ long x4x4 inch box is only 1,536 cubic inches and will not hit DIM-WEIGHT prices either. I have shipped long surveying tri-pods, long fly fishing poles, golf clubs, rolled up paintings, etc. and as long as the length x width x depth is under 1,728 I have never had any calculated shipping charges come out any higher than a 12 x 12 x 12 box.
I splice / tape together the USPS Shoe boxes all the time, 2, 3 or 4 and use them to create a longer 5 x 7 x ?? whatever I need as long as all 3 measurements multiplied together comes out less than 1,728 cubic inches.
This is one reason the USPS stopped making thier large “C” boxes that Ryann and I had stock piled a few years back. The 15 x 12 x 12 was over 1,728 cubic inches. But there is also a length plus girth dimension to think about. length plus girth has to be under 108″ and Parcel is 130″.
So my 96″ x 4″ x 4″ example above is looked at like this 96″ + 4+4+4+4 = 112 Length+Girth inches so it won’t ship Priority but it will ship Parcel without the DIM-WEIGHT pricing. But shorten it to 90″ long x 4 wide x 4″ deep and it comes out to 106 ” L+G and it will even ship Priority, thus my 5 to 6 USPS Shoe boxes slide together and taped will go anyway I want to ship it.
Where one has to watch the comparison of costs is when it also comes to weight. A Large box that starts to get “very heavy” for it’s size may be better off going FedEx for cost reasons, but that is due to the fact FedEx is more competitive after a certain weight limit.
A good place and I think the BEST PLACE [I use this site all the time, but have most memorized by now] to figure all of this out is with one of the SL members web sites and that is FlipperTools.com”. It has a section called FitShipper and will tell you which box to use or you can make your own custom box, which we do all the time for both Priority and Parcel.
I Can’t recall the SL members name, but Jay, you have mentioned him before and think you may even have interviewed him but can’t be sure on that. But he has a site that will nail down the box sizes needed, tell you what it will cost to ship to any zip code from your office and will also compare USPS, FedEx, UPS and others I think. He also has an option to buy postage and labels through his site now.
Using his site will just make this whole thing easier and I would even say, a one stop shop to decide on what size to ship to where at what cost. Here at MDCGFA we will have wall and table charts available to us, taped to our work stations but as long as I can make a box under 1,728 cubic inches in any shape, form or fashion by using regular boxes as they are mfg. or me separating them apart, cutting them down, re-sizing or up sizing it doesn’t matter and watch the 108″ and 130″ Length / girth dim.
I even buy flat sheets or corrugated card board and keep it around to make my own boxes at times. I can do it fairly quickly using the box resizer to score the crease folds. I use a hot glue gun for the edge seam and tape reinforce. Takes me just a few minutes.
Just some information from the past conversations here on SL. And as I always recommend, just do a search on the SL Blog and Forum both with key words and with over 400 hours on dialogue and possibly over 20,000 to 25,000 posts through the years you are bound to find threads on topics of interest. There is a lot of information about shipping in general to be found.
I wonder how many “words” has been written and or spoken within the ScavengerLife environment. I wonder if there are over a million words or even more?? HHhhmmm.
TTFN ..
The team at MDC Concepts, Inc.
MDC Galleries and Fine Art
Susan, Lisa, Christie, Kim and Michael
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Sorry for adding all the confusion to your thread, Liz.
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We take the object-item, grab a tape measure and extend it about 2″ out from the hight, width and depth and thats what we put in the dimensions. so a 8″ x 5″ x 6″ metal box will get a 12″ x 9″ x 10″ dimension put into the size.
We don’t care what size box we have in stock, at 2″ all around that gives us room for our 6-7 layer “cocoon” packing technique and plenty of room around inside of a box for either dunnage or in case we have to do a box in a box. Easy peezy.
I can tell how large a package is going to be even before we buy something. Pull out my pocket tape and hold it up beside the item then type into my phone 9″x12″4″ [the object plus 4 inches added to the actual object size- 4″ because that will allow 2″ on each side of the box. Anything over 1,728 cubic inches will be oversized.
Now about over size and the cost per pound and the distance. Our take is, .. “wait for it”!! “We don’t care!”.
Shipping is what it is. A cost of doing business, the supplies are an expense and the cost to ship is “calculated shipping” and the customer pays it.
If the USPS decided to go up to $20 per pound on all packages regardless we wouldn’t care. It is what it is and everybody will be paying the same. Think of shipping pounds like gasoline. Gas was $.17 per gallon in my youth, then it has hit over $5.00 per gallon. And it fluctuates whenever anyone sneezes. We still buy it and it is what it is.
We put box sizes and shipping weights into every listing we create. We use SixBit now so we have a field for “Scale Weight” and a field for “Ship Weight”.
We have worked out a method whereby we know the shipping weight based on the scale weight and the cubic inch box size we will use. We pre-figured all of that years ago and have it as part of our taped down table charts.
By the way every one of the standard box sizes on our charts also has a column for the cubic inches per box right beside it. A USPS Shoe Box is 480 cubic inches. The secret was years ago taking every box size we had, both USPS, FedEx, and custom bought and taping them up and filling them up with crumpled dunnage. Then we average all of those boxes out and arrived at a “CUBIC INCH” of weight. So we know that if we take the object scale weight and add it to the box’s cubic inch of dunnage weight and subtract the actual size for the objects, “Space displacement”, that we have the correct “TOTAL WEIGHT” for shipping.
We have not been under on our shiiping wieghts on any package for years since we did this nor have we been much more than a dollar over estimated either. But it did take some time to work out the weight for each “cubic Inch” of negative space, but finally tweaked it down.
It is really part of the “Kaizen – LEAN Mfg. Approach”. Getting “True Costs” on everything in your business. I mean everything, down to the cost of every running inch of tape you use. But easily doable and it is a one time investment of time up front.
Our “Income from over priced shipping last year was around $600 of estimating high, our loss from underestimating was about $200 +/-. So at years end we in the black / plus side of about $400 +/-.
I just did a mini time study of an object sitting on one of our scales. It took 17 seconds to arrive at the box size, get the shipping wieght and type those numbers into a SixBit listing.
Just sharing a side bar with everyone.
mike at MDCGFA
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I must be daft… because the future DIM is sending my art work into space re pricing. Or I have been getting by with sending larger than 12x12x12 things without repercussion for years. I just put in a weight, no package size and mail.
Now adding for example a painting size in is making large art from my zip code to my zip code go from $11 to $74. That will make any of my larger things just not worth buying.
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