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I have been using these guys https://www.pirateship.com to ship non-eBay stuff.
A really nice user interface tooAlso if you ship a lot of small stuff – you may be interested on Cubic rate pricing, I do n’t thing eBay offers it but https://www.pirateship.com does.
HOW DO I DETERMINE IF I’M ELIGIBLE FOR USPS CUBIC PRICING?
First, you’ll need to measure your boxes to see if the dimensions qualify. Cubic pricing is measured by this calculation: length x width x height / 1,728 = cubic feet.Here’s the step-by-step process for measuring cubic feet:
Measure the length, width, and height, in inches, rounded down to the nearest 1/4 (or 0.25) inch (example: 6.375” or 6 3/8” rounds down to 6.25” or 6 1/4”).
Multiply the length by the width and by the height, and divide that number by 1,728.
If your cubic feet value is less than 0.50, your package is eligible for one of the five cubic tier rates.The Endicia web site talks about Cubic rates here too
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And the last sentence of the Endica web site in qualifying is yes, 20 lbs or less AND MAKESURE YOU SHIP AT LEAT 50,000 OF THESE PACKAGES A YEAR! That’s 916 items per week. unless that is a typo on their site.
If that is not an error, I think I am about 49, 500 packages a year or about 951 pkgs. per week short! LOL 🙂
mike at MDC Galleries
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How did Pirateship work out for you? It seems promising, I currently use Shipstation and Pirateship seems like a good replacement, especially if it is for free. I am just concerned about them having access to my eBay account – this is not very well known software and don’t want to expose my account in any way by signing up with them and allowing them access to my account, thanks.
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Joe: Couple of Questions on Pirateship
1) Are the rates cheaper than eBay? So, are Priority Padded Flat Rate Envelopes cheaper than $6.90?
2) Doe Pirateship send your tracking number back to eBay?
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I think you are referring to the OP, however, I think I can answer these questions.
1.) The rates are the same as eBay Top Rated Plus, so you will get $6.9 for Padded Env, $6.35 for regular flat rate envelope, etc.. Where Pirateship excels is in providing Priority Cubic, which eBay does not. It could save cents or even dollars per package, which will add up over time. I use Stamps.com through Shipstation and they do offer Cubic rates, however, they mark it up quite a few percentage and in comparing Pirateship and Shipstation, Pirateship is way cheaper.
2) Yes, Pirateship sends the tracking number back to eBay, everything is automated. The good thing about using Pirateship, Shipstation, or other third party shipping software is that you can use your Credit Card to purchase shipping. If you are responsible with CC and pay off the balance every month, you can get nice reward points (cash) every month. I currently get $200 (free, essentially) every month in rewards just by paying the shipping with CC. No brainer, really.0-
Are the Priority Cubic Prices cheaper than FedEx SmartPost?
Can you print a SCAN sheet for USPS?
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PirateShip is honestly a lifesaver when it comes to shipping on Ebay. Sure most of the rates are the same, but they also have the Cubic priority rates.
But the real lifesaver to PirateShip, is you can link multiple Ebay accounts (and some other platforms) to 1 shipping platform, and do all your shipping from 1 login. You can even do an end of day Scan form with them so the post office can scan all your packages with 1 barcode. They also don’t unleash drastic changes and glitches to their interface without any warning… lol.
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We checked out PirateShip and it is really a nice program. We are going to stay with ShipRush at this point, since it is a little faster for us to ship at this point, but I’m going to keep my eye on it.
Does PirateShip do well with GSP shipments? I read somewhere that when shipments go through GSP, that PirateShip has problems with that and you have to manually enter the address in Kentucky.
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Pirate Ship is the best for cubic! I save money daily sending bulkies (esp soft bulkies like coats) to the coasts.
For International – you need to chat/ email them and ask to have First Class Export added to your account. it’ super easy. And then you get really great rates under 4lbs. I sent a dish to france $14.99.
It is via USPS only, not Fed Ex. Syncs into ebay for tracking. It’s free to use, works w/ Dymo.
it does NOT take PayPal so you need to pay w/ another card.0 -
Hey for you Pirate Ship users out there, do you have any problems with your local post office due to the cubic pricing?
I was in line yesterday at my local PO behind a customer who was dropping off a load of small boxes and padded envelopes (not flat rate) with Pirate Ship labels and the clerk was unable to process them. Her scanner was telling her that there was not enough postage on them. She refused to take the packages but was then talked into phoning a supervisor. She was on the phone for 10 minutes and after she hung up she grudgingly took the packages, but did not scan them. They just went in the bin.
Are you able to get a scan at your local PO without trouble? Admittedly, mine is a very small satellite office with a clerk who finds her duties quite challenging (which is why I wait in line for a scan for my packages), but I was wondering.
In fact I am packing and shipping right now and I plugged in one of my packages to the Pirate Ship calculator and found I could have saved about $1 on it. (A #4 Priority box at 1.5 lbs going across country.) So I’m definitely intrigued.
I’ve read the previous comments and it seems you all like it. Are you finding any problems with it that a new user should know about?
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just saw this thread about Pirate Ship. I began using it middle of 2018. Saved me a lot of money and I liked being able to use a credit card and get my points there, etc. Anyway, I have not had a problem with my carrier being able to scan these labels and I’ve often dropped off packages as well and they went through the system just fine. What I have noticed, however, is that when the rates went up at end of January 2019, that eBay shipping was less expensive for most priority mail. In other words, it looks like eBay’s negotiated rate is less than PS and/or they are passing along further discounts to sellers. (I am TRS, but not TRS+ as I don’t do free returns at this time). A representative of PS indicated that eBay’s rates are lower than permitted by law. I wrote to eBay for business to ask if this is an anomaly…basically, it seemed like too much of a good thing and I figured it was a mistake on the part of whomever built the rates into the system. They responded that it was OK. Then that rep from PS indicated that eBay could be ‘caught’ and when they are, they will be coming back to all of us and retroactively charging us for all the shortages. I have not gone back to eBay about that, but it seems like something they would not be able to administer. Any other thoughts out there?
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So someone from PirateShip Shipping said that eBay is illegally charging low USPS postage. And that once they’re caught, all sellers will have to repay the proper postage. If I’m understanding your statement, it doesn’t compute.
eBay negotiates with USPS for their rates and has the power because of the incredible shipping volume. Why would they sneak in lower rates? That would be a disaster for the company. Their negotiated rates are public: https://pages.ebay.com/carriers/index.html
I assume PirateShip Shipping couldn’t negotiate better rates because they dont do as much volume. Sounds like sour grapes.
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This has happened to me. The issue is with the classic shipping page. Some of my packages shipping costs were coming in REALLY high, and some were coming in quite low when using classic shipping page. I actually called ebay to let them know of the issue. They were incompetent as always, and told me that I was the only person who had reported it. They told me to that if I am overcharged, to make a list and they would refund me the difference. And if I was undercharged, then that was no problem – I could keep the difference.
Normally this isn’t an issue, but for items I have listed with free shipping strategically, ebay DEFAULTS to the classic shipping page.
Eventually I realized what the problem was – ebay shipping zones are backwards in the classic shipping page! So items shipping to calfornia were charging me east coast rates, and items I was shipping locally here on the East coast were charging me West coast rates. Ebay still has not fixed this issue as they said they would.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago and I started getting emails that USPS adjusted my shipping costs. It was weird because they were worded like I had shorted the weight, but I hadn’t. Their reported weight on label would be 2lb and the actual weight would be 1.89 lbs for an example, and they would charge me a few bucks for underpayment. Turns out these were the items that I was shipping to the West coast using the classic shipping page. Grrr…
So now I just use paypal labels if I get in that situation.
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Jay, totally agree! I’m still using Pirate for first class (rates are the same), but haven’t found a PM package cheaper there since end of January, so using eBay for those.
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Im still confused why people dont just ship through eBay labels. Is PS cheaper or have a better interface?
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I’m not sure how these third party shippers operate – they have to make money somewhere, and assume they are charging on top of what they pay USPS or any other shipping company.
Postage/Shipping rate discounts are clearly noted on any shipper’s website. I use Canada Post, and I clearly get discounts based on my last period’s spending and also know what it takes to get to the next level and what the savings will be then. The rates I get currently are better than any 3rd party website. I also get a lot of benefits through them as a regular customer.
It’s something that everyone should research – if you know your annual spend on shipping, they will have pricing on the website, or you can contact for a rate. Shipping is like car insurance to me – you need to check your rates every once and awhile and make sure you are on the best plan for your current needs.
Also, most carriers have a period where you need to build up a reputation or spend – you can skip that. For example, if you spend $10k a year on FedEx, contact UPS with that number and they will put you in automatically at that savings level if you open an account to get your business.
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yes, Jay, Pirate Ship CAN be cheaper, but unless you have zones/ weights memorized, you may need to toggle b/w ebay labels and PS website. PS website syncs your eBay orders, so it’s super easy.
My true benefit is:
I use Pirate ship for Mercari shipments (USPS not fed ex).
I use Pirate Ship for Depop shipments
I use Pirate Ship for any non-ebay / business related postage or if I need to send a buyer something I forgot to include in their shipment and cannot generate a NEW ebay label.
I use pirate Ship for USPS First Class int’l. There is a bunch of youtube on this, so I won’t repeat.FINALLY – you can use Pirate Ship and pay with your own credit card (and get miles / points) unlike Ebay where you pay via PayPal (for now anyway). So if you are a points hound, I think it’s worth it for that!
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Jay, before 2019 USPS rate increases, PS was cheaper nearly 100% of the time (no toggling back and forth necessary) because of cubic shipping and in cases where they were the same (some flat rates) you at least got credit card points, so discount was 1-2% depending on your card. Now that rates have gone up, this is no longer the case. I have yet to find a case where any Priority package was cheaper with PS – in fact it’s just the opposite – eBay is cheaper. First class rates seem to be the same so I continue to use PS for those. Their platform actually seems a little faster to me and you can use them for GPS and international as well.
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Jay: For us, we don’t use Pirate Ship, we use Shiprush. It is free through our eBay store (I really wish eBay would offload all the shipping to someone like this, so that they can avoid issues like the rate problems they are having again).
We love it because:
1) We can create SCAN sheets for our postal carrier to scan and quickly receive all packages.
2) It also pulls in our Etsy and Bonanza sales, so all shipping is on one platform (except for Poshmark)
3) After we zero out our PayPal, the charges will hit our credit card.0-
Understood. So its a better interface.
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Yep. Plus, if you need to ship something on commercial rates, you can enter the order manually on Shiprush and ship it out. We do that with any Truegether sales.
Better interface…absolutely. eBay needs to get out of this business and let someone else run it, like Adyen is doing for managed payments.
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