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Howdy: we had an interesting discussion this morning with all our helpers based on something I saw when reviewing her drafts prior to posting. It involves her inputting the DIM weight for the few oversize packages vs. just using the actual item+box+packing weight.
The topic was what to enter into the weight field for our over sized shipments.
The largest majority of our items by far, [95% +/-] are all under the 1728 cubic inch status and are not affected by my question and our morning chat. As being under this cubic dimension they are not considered over size, thus DIM Weight is not in question.
For regular under 1728 cubic in. packages we combine the actual weight of the object with that of the box and packing weight and enter that weight into the field. Then Ebay of course calculates the shipping for buyers depending on on their zones and distance away from us.
But in the case of the remaining few percent of our items that are larger, for packages that are over the 1,728 cubic inch size, the cost is automatically calculated by Ebay and shows the buyer the DIM weight shipping costs which is inflated to the increased higher poundage.
An example is an 8 lb. box that is over the 1728 cu. in. such as an 14x18x13 is costed at USPS rate of 20 lbs. and FedEx at 24 lbs. So Ebay shows the buyer the shipping cost of an 8 lb. package at 20 lbs. not 8 lbs.
So I personally have always still entered in the weight field the 8 lbs., not the 20 lb. weight. But I come to find out one of our helpers has been entering in the 20 lb. weight into the weight field.
She hasn’t done too many and it won’t be hard to filter for them and change them, but before I do, they both asked me to ask in the forum whether I am absolutely correct or not.
So to satisfy everybody for tomorrow, what do all of you SL members enter into the weight field when packages are oversize and you know from experience and also by using the USPS calculator or the one on flipperTools.com that the charges shown to the buyer will be the DIM weight higher weights?
On our example above still enter the 8 lbs. or enter the 20 lbs. One helper said if we entered 20 lbs. then maybe Ebay would apply an even higher DIM weight charge. But according to a calculator I use no. Heavier objects are not subject to DIM weight just lighter and larger ones.
But, in any case what say you, enter the actual [real] shipping weights or the DIM Weights into the Ebay shipping field?
Thanks for any feed back.
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
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Is the theory behind entering 20 lbs as the weight so that you don’t have happen what happened to JasonK as he describes here: https://www.scavengerlife.com/forums/topic/fedex-shipping-overcharge/#post-70933 ?
I don’t think the after-the-fact repricing will happen if the package size is entered correctly. If the package is big enough to trigger DIM weight charge, the buyer will see the same price whether you put 1 lb or 20 lbs in the weight.
I always enter the actual weight using an estimate for box and padding. I do not simply enter 20 lbs because that will slow down my packaging process when it sells. I don’t want to have to worry about what box and padding to use so that it stays at 20 lbs or under. If it’s actually 15 lbs I like to enter 15 lbs so I know an extra couple of pounds here or there won’t matter. Obviously this will only be an issue with some items.
Also, what if one of the carriers changes its DIM pricing formula so that the pro forma 20 lbs you entered now screws up the pricing? I think that’s the best reason to enter actual weight.
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Thanks Temudgin for the input. Yeah after this mornings round table discussion we all decided for several reasons to stick with putting the item+box & packing weight into the weight field and as you said, let each site deal with the publication / calculation of DIM weights on their own. Buyers could request either USPS or FedEx and yes, those will be different cost tiers for DIM weight.
We only have a few to go back and change.
Mike at MDCGFA
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