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Where exactly is the USPS shipping calculator

 
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moldycollectibles



Posts: 12

PostPosted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 8:05 pm    Post subject: Where exactly is the USPS shipping calculator Reply with quote

I am missing something obvious here. How do I set a listing to use the USPS shipping calculator? When I open a product page to edit, I get options for Free Shipping in the US, Weight Matrix and Flat Rate Shipping.

Also, as aside, how does one find the community pages? I had to go through Google to get the link.
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SammysSupplies



Posts: 1631

PostPosted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 9:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you go to eCraters main page, http://www.ecrater.com/ you can go to your store or the community. I don't use USPS this way, but I think if you put in the shipping weight of an item, that includes box or envelope, any padding in the weight box it should show up with the right postage. But this may be missing some part of it. Most of my things are light and I use the matrix.

Have you look at your listings? They need to be cleaned up. It might be just a few, I know I saw at least two and so many words running together. Here is one description:

WaltDisney’s Duck Tales: The Secret City Under the SeaPaulS Newman, scriptBillLangley & Annie Guenther, illustrationsGoldenBooks, 1992LGB102-64VeryGood. Clean foil. Clean, white pages. Wear in the spine edge creases. Moderate cover wear. Light corner wear. Square.Very tight binding.The imageyou are seeing is the actual book you will be receiving, not a stock photo.Shipped with protective cardboardFreeshipping for First Class MailPriority Mail is $5.75.I alwayscombine shipping to help you save money.I ship within 1 day of receiving your payment.If you have any questions, please contact me. Please, check out my other items available at MoldyCollectibles.Thanks for looking at my listing. <div style="text-align:center"><img src="http://ti2.auctiva.com/sw/java.gif" border="0"><br><table align="center"><tr><td><a style="text-decoration:none" href="http://emporium.auctiva.com/doc-bark" target="_blank"><img src="http://ti2.auctiva.com/sw/browse2.gif" border="0"></a></td><td height="21px" valign="middle" align="center"><font face="arial" size="2"><b><a href="http://emporium.auctiva.com/doc-bark" target="_blank">doc-bark</a> Store</b></font></td></tr></table></div> <img src="http://ti2.auctiva.com/web/aswCredit.gif" border="0"><br><a href="http://www.au
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SheilaDeesPostcards
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Posts: 4614

PostPosted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 1:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

moldycollectibles, Welcome to eCrater and to the Community Forum. I think most of us keep bookmark (favorite) links to the Community, the store admin log-in page for our store and the home page of eCRATER. As Sammy pointed out, you can always find the link on the eCrater Marketplace home page.

When you open a store on eCRATER, the USPS shipping calculator is active. It is a store wide setting and over rides any choice you may make on an individual item listing. In your admin go to Accounts > Options and scroll to the bottom of the page. You'll see "Enable USPS Calculated Shipping" and it should have a check in the box. You will need to select the types of domestic and internation services you want to offer to buyers in your whole store. NOTE: any selection you make will be offered for every item in your store. There is no option for USPS calculated on an individual item level. For example, if you select First Class Parcel it will be offered as an option any time the item weight is listed as under 13 oz., but will not be offered on items that exceeds the weight limit of First Class. If you offer Priority Small Flat-Rate Box, it will be offer for every item even if the item needs a 12x12x12 box. If you offer Media Mail, it will be offered for every item. So, don't select any service that can't be used for every item.

If you use USPS Calculated shipping for your store, you will need to check weight based on the individual item page. You will also need to add the packaged weight of each item in a decimal form. There is a handy chart posted close to the bottom of page 1 in the topic eCRATER.com Forum Index -> FAQs and Solutions -> Solutions to Common Questions - SHIPPING MATRIX & MORE.

@ Sammy, the OP used the eBay import feature to bring their items into eCRATER. The more you have customized your pages on eBay, the more "stuff" shows on the item page in eCRATER.
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moldycollectibles



Posts: 12

PostPosted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 11:59 am    Post subject: messy listings Reply with quote

Unfortuneatly, they are all more or less like that. It imported the Auctiva scrolling gallery as the HTML code you seeing. And only imported the UPC/MPN/Brand for Google on about 3% of the items. I wanted to get the shipping fixed first. This is going to take awhile to make it look nice and get the UPCs up.
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moldycollectibles



Posts: 12

PostPosted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 12:06 pm    Post subject: SheilaDeesPostcards Reply with quote

Thanks for the help. Nothing was turned on in the options. Thank you for pointing out the Media Mail thing. Last thing I need is someone buying a 3 lb not-a-book item and paying for only Media Mail.
I limited the selection to PM, First Class Parcel and Standard Post. When I get to Media Mail items, I will either convert them to free or put in a flat rate.
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SheilaDeesPostcards
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Posts: 4614

PostPosted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 1:08 pm    Post subject: Re: SheilaDeesPostcards Reply with quote

moldycollectibles wrote:
When I get to Media Mail items, I will either convert them to free or put in a flat rate.
The USPS calculated shipping overrides all other choices. If you only have a few "media Mail" items, it's better to include the shipping in the cost of the item. After the first of the year, we're going to be able to use First Class up to 1 lb, so maybe most of your media items can be shipped First Class.
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tigercreekgifts



Posts: 6293

PostPosted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If ecrater would add the option to include a handling fee which is added to the shipping price on the buyer's invoice receipt so they can't see how much was added, I would change to USPS calculated for this store. I like to add handling fees to the shipping because it's more discreet, since many buyers don't understand the reason for a handling fee and they feel like they were cheated because you added a $1 handling fee.
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moldycollectibles



Posts: 12

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 12:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tigercreekgifts Can you add the handling fee into any of your items?

I had forgotten about First Class going up to 1lb next year. As long as the calculator overrides Media I'm fine. As long as I have to clean up all my listings, I can change the wording while I'm at it.
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SheilaDeesPostcards
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Posts: 4614

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 1:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

moldycollectibles wrote:
As long as the calculator overrides Media I'm fine. As long as I have to clean up all my listings, I can change the wording while I'm at it.
The calculator doesn't "override Media". The calculator overides any flat rate you would add on an individual item.

Tiger, I understand what you mean about wishing we had a space where we could add a handling fee. While we could add it into the cost of the item, it makes it seem that our item is more expensive.

One thing to keep in mind with eCrater USPS calculated shipping. They are pulling the rates directly from USPS and the rates the customer is charged are retail prices. When you purchase your shipping online, you are paying at least Commercial Base rate. The rate charged the customer for 13oz. First Class Parcel would be $4.54, but the Commercial Base rate you'll pay will be $3.63. That's 91 cents you can count as your handling fee.
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tigercreekgifts



Posts: 6293

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sheila, that's a good idea. I never thought about that. I try to keep my shipping prices low but charging the regular postal customer rates would allow me enough for a small handling fee because I only charge for envelopes and printer ink so 91 cents extra for a 13 oz. package would be plenty enough to cover those costs and it would seem fair and reasonable to buyers if they check the prices on USPS.com because they allow anyone to check the prices for first class mail on their website and they only display the counter rates for first class. So that would allow me to charge fair rates and reduce customer complaints of being charged extra for handling because if they check my price against the USPS website it will be the same.

That would work okay on ecrater because the fees are so low here that the extra amount would be enough to cover the FVFs and handling in most instances. I was testing out the calculator on ebay and I see now that they do show the customer the counter rate however the difference would end up going to ebay as an FVF because they still charge FVFs on shipping even if you use the USPS calculator but they do have the option to add a handling fee in addition to the calculated rate so I'd still have add an extra amount to make sure they don't take most of the difference in FVFs.

You were right, the price appeal is the reason I don't add handling to the item price. It all rolls back to the psychological pricing thing. You could list an item as $2 with $2.99 shipping or reverse it to place the handling in with the item price $2.95 with $2.04 shipping. Still the same price either way, but customers will see the 2nd option as more expensive because of the way the numbers are arranged because most buyers don't add up both prices and compare rates based on the overall totals, most buyers go thru and pick out about 3 sellers with the lowest displayed price and then they compare the shipping prices for those 3 sellers.

Buyers don't think to check for things that we sellers do. Like one seller's price could be $3.50 and their shipping is only 50 cents. Buyers will skip past that seller and go with the seller whose displayed price is $2.79 even if their shipping is $5.50 because they just assume the seller who was charging $3.50 is probably also charging more shipping than what they wanna pay. Most buyers decide who to buy from based on displayed prices and assumptions only. Sellers however, will add up every price they see and then go from there.
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