Dear Ina,

I thought perhaps you may be reporting on UPS's newly announced rate hikes for 2017, so I wanted to share with you some information concerning "eBay's special pricing program for UPS" that you may not be aware of.





One would expect that this "special pricing" is some sort of exclusive discount for eBay sellers. Well, unfortunately, it is not what it seems.





Yes, it is a discount off the standard base pricing, however the discount is less than the discounts UPS offers their lowest tier customers - those who ship between $.01 and $49.99 average per week, and has signed a service agreement.





Here's an example: a package weighing between 6-10lbs, shipping ground residential to any of the lower 48 states; UPS discount on transportation charges: 14% eBay special pricing discount: 10%.





If this same package was going to a commercial address; UPS discount: 16%, eBay discount; 10%.





The more you spend on average per week, the wider the disparity. The numbers I used here are the lowest tier discounts.





What this boils down to is this. eBay's special pricing program is not a bargain at all. On the contrary, those of us who have been relying on this program have been paying a premium on shipping costs.





I didn't realize this until, a shipping issue caused me to contact UPS customer service. I was then referred to a sales rep. who compared numbers with me. To say the least, I was shocked. I would have thought that eBay would carry enough clout in the shipping world to be able to negotiate something better than this.





My suggestion, if any of your readers are signed up for the so called UPS/eBay discounts, contact UPS today to see if you can do better. I am a very low volume UPS shipper, as most of my shipments go USPS. So, if I can do better than the eBay discounts, anybody can.





Thank you!

D.