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Minimizing Shipping Costs

by tbk125
4 replies
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Hi I am running an eBay store selling plumbing parts. We currently have a ups account to ship items, and give free shipping. Most our items are 1-10 lbs and vary in size. Currently our shipping is costing us around 15-17% of the sale. What are the best ways to minimize shipping costs. Can you please give me any advice on how to set up shipping
#costs #minimizing #shipping
  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    If you have a UPS account in place you should get discounted rates based on the volume. Contact your rep and ask about this. They don't make you wait until you've been shipping with them for a year or more, they use a rolling average to determine what price break you should get.

    I also wouldn't assume UPS is the way to go. Look at FedEx and USPS for similar shipments and see what option is cheapest.
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    • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
      Originally Posted by dave_hermansen View Post

      If you have a UPS account in place you should get discounted rates based on the volume. Contact your rep and ask about this. They don't make you wait until you've been shipping with them for a year or more, they use a rolling average to determine what price break you should get.

      I also wouldn't assume UPS is the way to go. Look at FedEx and USPS for similar shipments and see what option is cheapest.
      Take this even further. Are you using the negotiated eBay/PayPal rates or your own account? Download all your volume and then contact all three and get a quote from all three. Especially if you are consistent in your box sizes you might be able to get a good discount. Then compare that to the eBay negotiated rates and see what works best for you.

      My own experience has been it is still tough to beat USPS on small, light weight items since many of them can go in First Class parcels. The bigger you get the more UPS and Fed Ex make sense. Remember for USPS flat rate, it is still being shipped on Fed Ex airplanes...
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      • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
        Very good advice!
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        • Profile picture of the author Enfusia
          Do you research looking at 5 pounds an under going USPS and over 5 pounds going UPS. USPS will pick up too if you have enough volume.

          To get the discounts that have been eluded to you would need a volume of 70 pieces per day to get a decent break from UPS if I recall.

          They used to have a 4 day week program where they would only come by 4 days per week to help you get their pieces per day up there. I don't know if they still do that or do that in your state?

          Patrick
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