Shipping
A Guide To Shipping eBay Items Through USPS
- Written by Rachael Pilcher
eBay was one of the world’s first ecommerce marketplaces, and today you can set up an account and begin selling in minutes. Whether you’re looking to auction the world’s biggest collection of rubber ducks, start a giant inflatable unicorn store, or share your bad taxidermy creations with the world, selling on eBay is a great option.
As an eBay seller, shipping your orders quickly and safely is essential to your success. You need a good system in place for order fulfillment so you can start gathering those all-important customer reviews.
The eBay marketplace integrates with a range of trusted carriers such as FedEx, UPS, DHL eCommerce and USPS. Due to its lower costs, reliable delivery, and range of shipping solutions, many eBay vendors choose to ship with USPS.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to go about shipping your eBay items via USPS, and how you can use Veeqo’s free shipping software to start saving time and money from your very first eBay shipment.
Table of contents
Benefits of shipping with USPS on eBay
USPS delivery options
4 simple steps to get started with USPS eBay shipping
Advantages of using Veeqo with USPS and eBay
Benefits of shipping with USPS on eBay
The United States Postal Services (USPS) is one of the most economical and popular choices for eBay sellers. It’s a preferred carrier for eBay retailers, and handles over 75% of items shipped from eBay within the US market. Here’s why:
Fully integrated
USPS is natively integrated with eBay. This makes it easy to display all the available options for shipping any item in your store, meaning customers can select the shipping price and speed that suits them.
Using USPS also allows you to print shipping labels and track parcels directly through your eBay seller dashboard.
Lower costs
You can access a range of shipping options with USPS which are often much cheaper than carriers such as FedEx and DHL.
The pricing structures of services like USPS Priority and Media mail can be very cost-effective, especially for small or lightweight packages. You can also buy labels through eBay and get a shipping discount of up to 30% off standard USPS prices.
Additionally, USPS doesn’t charge extra for fuel surcharge, or for Saturday deliveries, which are services that can incur extra fees with other shipping carriers.
Reliable delivery
USPS is well known for its reliability as a carrier, offering tracking and insurance for your (and your customers’) peace of mind.
With an extensive network that covers all US addresses, including PO Boxes, remote locations, and military addresses, you can ship with confidence to pretty much everywhere within the USA. Need global shipping? The USPS international shipping service has you covered, shipping to over 180 countries.
Speedy shipping
Lower costs don’t mean slower sending speeds. USPS stacks up nicely against its competitors in terms of delivery times, with services like Priority Mail Express ensuring overnight delivery if customers request it.
Free packing supplies
To help keep your packaging costs down, USPS provides free shipping supplies for some of its services, including Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, and sticker label rolls.
USPS delivery options
USPS offers a variety of services for eBay users, making it simple and convenient to ship all your items, no matter where in the world they’re headed. You can either mail your package from your nearest post office, or have a USPS carrier pick it up.
Sellers can print shipping labels, pay for postage, and check the tracking status of their shipped items right from their eBay dashboard.
Buyers can see a range of accurate USPS shipping prices when they check out, making it easy for them to choose the shipping method that matches their budget and desired delivery time.
Here are the most popular services used by eBay sellers:
For USPS domestic shipments within the USA
Ground Advantage™ - with individual business shipping solutions, this method is both reliable and affordable. Delivery times are 2-5 business days to all US states, and tracking is included.
First-Class Mail® - Best for small, lightweight parcels. This option is cost-effective and packages typically arrive within 1-3 working days. Tracking and insurance are available with this method.
Priority Mail® - Suitable for light to heavy duty packages, with a 1-3 day delivery time. This method includes tracking and up to $100 insurance.
Priority Mail Express™ - This service is a little more pricey, but for customers who want a next-day to 2–day delivery with a money–back guarantee, this is a great option.
Priority Mail Flat Rate™ - Flat rate boxes and packets let you send a parcel to any state within the US for the same rate, with tracking included and delivery in 1-3 business days.
Media Mail® - A low cost way to ship books, printed materials, DVDs and other lightweight media at a low cost. Delivery times are between 2 to 8 days.
For USPS international services
Priority Mail Express International™ - Send to 180+ countries, with tracking included and delivery in 3-5 business days to most places. This service includes up to $200 insurance for merchandise loss, damage, or missing contents, which makes it a great choice for your overseas eBay customers.
Priority Mail International® - A slightly more affordable international option. Items can be delivered to 180+ countries in 6–10 business days. This service also includes $200 insurance cover.
First-Class Mail International™ - This is the most affordable USPS international service. But it’s also the slowest, taking up to 21 days for delivery. Even though you can ship to the same 180+ countries, First Class Mail is only really useful if you’re sending letters, postcards, or flat items that will fit in a large envelope.
4 simple steps to get started with USPS eBay shipping
As USPS is fully integrated with the eBay marketplace, it’s pretty straightforward to set up the shipping side of things.
1. List an item for sale or auction
Create a new ecommerce listing in your eBay dashboard, enter in all your product details, then select USPS as your shipping carrier.
In the Shipping section of your item listing, choose “Calculated: Cost varies by buyer location”.
Next, go to Services, select “Calculate shipping” and go to “Package details” in the shipping calculator.
Punch in the item’s type, dimensions, and weight. If your item is a weird shape that’s difficult to measure (for example, a taxidermy squirrel holding up an umbrella), just take your best guess by measuring the size of a box that it would comfortably fit into.
In the “Your details” section, enter your ZIP code, plus any handling fees that you want to charge for packaging etc.
Select “Calculate shipping”.
Choose the shipping services that you want to offer your customers, and whether you want to offer international shipping. If you do want to offer shipping to customers outside the US, you’ll need to make sure your item meets USPS international shipping policies, and print out a customs form before you ship the item.
Select “Offer shipping services”.
Publish your new listing!
2. Sell it
Congratulations! You’ve made a sale! When your customer checks out and purchases your product, they will enter their ZIP code and see all the USPS shipping options that are available to them.
Based on their budget and desired delivery time, they will select the shipping method that best suits them, and then pay for this as part of the total sale price.
3. Pack it
In your order dashboard, you’ll be able to see which method the buyer has chosen for shipping.
Print your eBay-generated label which will show the parcel weight, delivery zone, and any extra services the buyer has paid for. You’ll pay the appropriate postage amount for printing each label from your PayPal account. Remember, you’ve already collected this amount from the buyer.
Make sure your item is packaged for shipping according to USPS guidelines, and that it displays a return address. Stick your shipping label to the top of your package. That’s it!
4. Ship it!
Your eBay package is all ready to go. Simply take it to your nearest Post Office, or arrange for your friendly USPS driver to pick it up.
Advantages of using Veeqo with USPS and eBay
Shipping with USPS is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to fulfill your eBay orders. But if you want to get even more benefits as an eBay seller, we suggest you give Veeqo a try! Unlike other shipping and inventory management tools out there, Veeqo is completely free to use. You can easily integrate your eBay store (and all your other sales channels) and manage your shipping, multi-channel inventory, and fulfillment from one central place. There’s a few other perks too…
Ship at lightning speed
Veeqo’s enterprise-grade ecommerce tools include plenty of time-saving features like:
The Veeqo scanner
Mobile picking and packing
Bulk shipping for up to 100 orders at once
Automated shipping rules
The ability to quickly update stock and prices across all sales channels
Automated rate shopping
With the rate shopping features, you’ll be able to see at a glance what the cheapest USPS labels are for each parcel. You can even create filtered order views for things like “Ship with USPS” so you can fulfill your eBay orders even faster.
You can also set up and automate parameters for your USPS shipments, including “order value”, “order weight”, and “delivery promise” if the cheapest rate isn’t the best option for your customer.
Inventory management
Import orders from eBay and multiple other sales channels into Veeqo, so you can manage everything in one place.
If you’re shipping high volumes on eBay (or plan to), Veeqo’s powerful order management tools let you easily:
Keep inventory updated in real time across all your sales channels
Create customizable workflows
Prevent stockouts
Transfer and track stock across warehouse locations
Boost fulfillment speeds
Buy discounted USPS shipping labels
Veeqo lets you access the lowest possible USPS shipping rates for eBay, as well as your Etsy and Shopify orders. Simply print your labels and start saving from your very first shipment.
You can even get up to 5% back on each parcel with Veeqo credits! One of Veeqo's sellers, A1 Great Deals, received over $13,000 back in Veeqo Credits in their first seven months.
Integrations
Like eBay itself, Veeqo integrates seamlessly with USPS, as well as other leading carriers, ecommerce marketplaces, apps, and business tools.
If you need special customizations, the Veeqo API is on hand to make things easy for your developers.
Analytics and forecasting
Whether you’re just starting out, or you’re a high-volume eBay seller already, having advanced analytics and reporting features in your toolkit will help you make those important data-driven decisions about products, marketing, profits margins, and sales.
You’ll be able to forecast demand for items, check individual SKU revenue, generate profitability reports, and more — right from your Veeqo dashboard.
Did we mention it’s free?
In case you missed it, Veeqo’s enterprise-grade suite of shipping and inventory software is completely free to use. It’s part of our brand mission to help ecommerce sellers get ahead, and stay ahead. That means no monthly plans, no hidden fees, no charge for connecting your carrier accounts, and no limit to the amount of users you can add, or the number of parcels you can send.
Further reading
Want to sell hand-knitted superhero costumes or 3D-printed gummy bears on eBay? Choosing the right shipping carrier to get these orders safely and speedily to customers is your top priority.
USPS is one of the most popular shipping services for eBay sellers of all kinds. It’s integrated directly into the eBay marketplace, and offers some of the most cost-effective options for sending parcels within the USA and globally. This makes it a no-brainer to use as your primary shipper!
If you’re looking for a way to make your eBay shipping even faster and cheaper — Veeqo can help speed up your end-to-end fulfillment process, as well as giving you discounted USPS rates on every eBay order you send.
With Veeqo and USPS combined, it’s like having ecommerce shipping superpowers. All you need to do is create your free Veeqo account, connect your eBay store, and you’re ready to ship at the lowest available commercial rates.
