eBay Allows Decimal Values in Listing Desktop Form

[jfs]

So previously eBay did not allow decimal values within their listing form.

eBay told sellers to round up decimal values to the nearest inch, which violates USPS rules.

To determines if a package is subject to dimensional rates the dimensions are rounded to the nearest inch. Thus 12.4” is rounded to 12” and 12.5” to 13”.

Since eBay prevented decimal values sellers were forced to round up to 13” in this example.

Below are two examples using eBay’s current listing form which allows decimal values to be entered.

The difference between the USPS rates eBay was improperly forcing sellers to show on their listing and what they should have been charging would mean not many buyers would purchase the item due to the shipping.

The rates below are retail USPS rates as that is what my eBay preferences are set to show.

Now we will assume that the package weighs the same, but is smaller, so it qualifies for Tier 2 Cubic rates.

Since I have my eBay preferences set to charge retail rates for USPS, eBay can’t show the Cubic rates and instead shows rates as if the package does not qualify for Cubic rates. Cubic rates are not available at retail locations.

PirateShip actual commercial rates are:

Switching eBay account preferences to charge USPS commercial rates is not an option as that means computing the shipping rates for many products and increasing the price of the items to cover the FVF on such shipping. Then when rates go up editing all the unsold listings.

Much more efficient to charge retail and pay commercial, with the difference paying for the FVF on shipping. Any large differences can be refunded to the customer. The downside is that higher retail rates may scare away customers - this is especially true for heavier packages where the difference between retail and commercial rates increases.

Of course eBay could easily solve this by displaying a shipping rate to customers that equals the commercial rate plus the FVF % on that shipping rate.

But eBay really wanted to solve the issue they would only charge FVF on shipping for any overage. This would be done by comparing the actual cost of labels from eBay and third party label providers to the what was charged the customers. Third party label costs would be obtained via API in a similar way to these third party providers uploading tracking numbers to eBay for imported orders. This would means customers could pay commercial rates! But of course eBay will not do that because its all a scam to defraud consumers!

So has eBay also updated their guidelines to software developers which forced them to round up decimal values or prevented users from entering them?

There is no technical reason for not previous fixing the decimal value issue, especially considering eBay has billions in cash and thousands of employees. They simply wanted to rip off their users for billions of dollars.

The reason eBay is now changing is:

1. Avoid a lawsuit from state attorney generals for fraud.
2. Avoid jeopardizing their USPS discounted rate contracts.

They should forced to repay all the money they ripped off from consumers.

I feel like I need to take shower after using eBay’s desktop listing form - about 1,000 times slower than GS.

[jfs]

Previously we had USPS First Class Package Service - Retail and its commercial version First Class Package Service. We also had USPS Retail Ground and the commercial version Parcel Select.

eBay offered Parcel Select as a shipping option so that meant you could set your eBay settings to charge the retail rate by default, but override this with Parcel Select on individual listings.

We could also could offer carrier specific discounts - i.e., select retail or commercial rates for each carrier individually

After USPS consolidated all the service above into Ground Advantage Retail and the commercial version Ground Advantage eBay redesigned its shipping preferences page to do away with carrier specific discounts. You had to choose retail or commercial for all the carriers, which makes no since at all since retail can’t be used for UPS because it can be as much as 70% higher then the commercial rate. eBay did not fix the issue with the carrier discounts for over a year.

eBay also did away with the option of overriding individual parcel listings with the commercial rate. The “Ground Advantage” option in GS is entirely controlled by your eBay shipping preference. If your preferences are retail then Ground Advantage then retail rates will be displayed on the listing. If your preferences are commercial then Ground Advantage will display commercial rates.

USPS Ground Advantage specifically refers to the commercial rate while “USPS Ground Advantage - Retail” is used by USPS to refer to the retail version. eBay needs to fix its system to allow the selecting of “USPS Ground Advantage” on individual listings to override the eBay carrier discount preferences page as before.

Perhaps they need to add the two different versions of Ground Advantage to their API, thus

USPS Carrier Preference - Retail:

Select Ground Advantage in GS = overrides eBay preference to display commercial rates.

Select Ground Advantage - Retail in GS = No change to rates displayed by eBay preference.

USPS Carrier Preference (Commercial):

Select Ground Advantage in GS = No change to rates displayed by eBay preference.

Select Ground Advantage - Retail in GS = overrides eBay preference to display retail rates.