eBay

itolduandso · ‎07-09-2025

Did you notice how expensive are shipping rates through Ebay shipping for heavy items (e.g. 25 lbs) for US sellers shipping within the US? EBay may have low cost shipping on light items, mabe 5lbs or 10 lbs but as soon as the weight starts increasing Ebay rates are no different from regular retail UPS or USPS rates. Ebay doesn't even match the wholesale rates for heaavy items. I think Ebay is making good money on shipping for higher weight items. I tested with several US sellers, my shipping was set to an address in a US state with the same distance as the distance between my address and the targer US address. Tested a few listings for the same items with multiple sellers.

Here is example with 25 lbs item:

- US shipping rate 1000 km is about 70-90 USD depending on the seller and location (perhaps rural urban etc)

- my shipping rate 1000 km is 30 USD for the same item

Even if ebay was adding the selling fee on top of the US seller rates, the rates are still more than double what I pay.

But the gap is only for heavy items, the lighter the items get, the less the gap and eventually zero or negative.

So my guess is shipping heavy stuff seems is pretty cheap if you ship Stallion and Chitchats. The only challenge of course is to estimate those rates correctly because I can't calculate shipping if I use Stallion ro Chitchats on Ebay, so I rather include a buffer in my rates to make sure I don't undercharge, so the difference isn't as much when I include the buffer.

flipistics · ‎07-09-2025

@itolduandso The sellers probably aren't passing on the discount from eBay or are using only USPS options (or both). If the box is over 1 cubic foot and a certain weight, I believe the rates can also go WAY up.

Using the eBay Shipping Calculator (which shows you the negotiated rates), rates for a 25 lb 14x12x12 box from California to Michigan, I'm seeing $66 for Ground Advantage and $41 for UPS. If you drop it to a 12x12x12 box at 20lb, Ground Advantage drops to $20 and UPS to $33, which appear to be roughly in line with Stallion going the other direction once you factor in the exchange rate.

It is interesting though, that for all we complain about shipping in Canada, I can send the boxes from Ontario to Vancouver for cheaper. Via ClickShip using either UPS or CanPar, the 25lb box is coming in at $27 CAD including tax.