What's up with eBay Postage Costs Lately?

Butt Scratcher on 21/10/2021 - 21:07
Last edited 21/10/2021 - 21:09

I haven't sold stuff on ebay since early this year. Today, I've sold a smallish item (18cm x 18cm x 8cm). For something that size, I was expecting <$10 to post it, based on past experience.

To my surprise when I put in the custom dimensions, the options to post it were basically:

  1. Auspost $12.70
  2. Sendle $10.63 (with a special 50% discount!?)

Last I recall, something like this is basically a small parcel, so little over $9 and with sendle usually under cutting auspost slightly at $6.50-8.50.

I then see a bit further down, there is a greyed out option for Australia post standard small parcel for Up to 5 kg. Max. 35.5cm x 22.5cm x 7.4cm at $9.30. Why can't we have this rate with our own packaging!?

Ebay used to offer slightly cheaper negotiated rates for sellers, but it seems to me that atm they're skewing the postage options in favour of Sendle. At best, you are paying the same rates, with the convenience of printing your own labels…

I never expected that taking a stroll to my nearest 7-11 and then posting it off for $11 is actually an attractive option

Am I missing something?

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Comments

  • Ughhh on 21/10/2021 - 21:18

    I recently had a small parcel delivered from Melb, via express post for $10 (item + postage total). No idea how this is possible.

    • Butt Scratcher on 21/10/2021 - 21:28

      I'm not expecting crazy good rates like some of these larger sellers get (wouldn't be surprised if it costs them less than $5 to post it with their business accounts), but ebay basically used to negotiate for us sellers and gave us some decent business rates for auspost and sendle. Feels to me like it is the exact opposite now

  • FireRunner on 21/10/2021 - 21:56
    +1

    Probably a remote location judging from the Sendle price.

  • Bad Wolf on 21/10/2021 - 22:01
    +2

    Previously posting via Ebay was $0.20-$0.30 cheaper then front up to Australia post, now I think it’s the same.

    The $9.30 option is available for your own packing materials so long as the weight is under 500g.

    Price of posting is one reason why Facebook is so popular. And Ebay fees are on the item+postage amounts, so it’s basically an extra $1 in fees just on the postage amount.

  • DASHCAM NOW DUDE on 21/10/2021 - 22:03
    +1

    Was it over 500 grams? That's when the price increases significantly.

    • Butt Scratcher on 21/10/2021 - 22:18

      Yes it is, I think you're right.

      Probably my bad for not paying attention to the weight. In my head I kept thinking they stopped caring about weight when all the satchels were lifted to 5kg.

      I guess I'll just grab a prepaid satchel in that case

    • Windows7forever on 22/10/2021 - 06:00

      If the item is small and under 500g then I use my own packaging. If over, then I use the AP prepaid satchels. Works out cheaper. You can get a business account with AP(don't need an ABN) which will entitle you to occasional discounts and/or new customer promos. I'm not really sending enough parcels to get into the higher bands organically.

  • hm on 21/10/2021 - 22:09

    The cost

  • sparkles on 21/10/2021 - 23:33

    They are pushing everyone onto MyPost Business. It's slightly cheaper, but not much.

    • Windows7forever on 22/10/2021 - 06:01
      +1

      It's been good with the ozbargain promo code which pushed me up into band 3. Now I feel like a professional seller with a substantial postal discount(albeit temporary).

      • sparkles on 23/10/2021 - 18:00

        It sucks when the promo runs out after 3 months. Prices hike quite a bit back to almost post office prices. eBay postage was better. I'm back at Band 1 and now every time I post something the higher cost stings. Yet I'm still not tempted by all the Sendle promos they bombard me with.

  • Windows7forever on 22/10/2021 - 06:07
    +2

    Ebay has become a mess lately. Managed payments + fee hikes + fake gumtree selling promos endorsed by ebay but never honoured + AP price hikes too…I could go on!

    I only use ebay for the cheap junk I want to offload and don't care what I get for it(e.g. old books, DVDs), OR the really premium stuff that people on facebook or gumtree are too cheap to pay for e.g. fine art or rare collectors edition PC games.

    I would avoid ebay as much as possible. It's a bad drug, you know it is killing your body but you have to wean yourself off the addiction before it destroys you.

    Just for the record, I have had many buyers pay with paypal or even bank transfer and then got me to post to them from gumtree and facebook. I guess my reputation precedes me as a seller because with the amount of scammers out there I myself would feel hesitant buying remotely off these platforms.

    • sparkles on 23/10/2021 - 18:04

      When I see the final fees on some items I die inside. It sometimes makes you wonder why you bother. I'm almost at the point of only selling items during $1.00 promos. eBay are slowly killing the experience for small or casual sellers. Probably intentionally.

  • brad1-8tsi on 22/10/2021 - 11:01

    Up to 5 kg. Max. 35.5cm x 22.5cm x 7.4cm

    You put in 8cm which bumps you to the medium package. How simple is that!

    The devil is in the detail.

    Ebay fees and postage costs take up 46% of my ebay sales. It sucks.

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