How to get eBay UPS discount as of today

December 25, 2021 9:52 AM

Hello! I am shipping some clothes from Boston to San Antonio. I myself wrote this question in 2019, but now, when I go to the PayPal shipping discount link, I find that my only option is super-pricey USPS shipping. What's the current way to get an eBay discount on UPS or FedEx, if it still exists? Printing a label through eBay appears to require a sold item to associate it with. Thank you.
posted by 8603 to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

Best answer: PirateShip has eBay integration (it pulls in your list of sold items and passes back tracking details). It started with USPS and recently added UPS discounted rates. (No FedEx.) I've been using it this year (just this week for an international UPS delivery) and it's worked great for me.
posted by holgate at 10:09 AM on December 25, 2021 [6 favorites]

UPS and Fedex have really cracked down on discount resellers in the last year. There are still some discounts available, but not like the 40%+ you could get in 2019. The only way my employer (a mail order company) can get meaningful discounts is to use a consolidation service, but that means we have to drive the packages to their depot every time we use them.

(this Canadian weeps at the concept of "super-pricey USPS shipping", tho)
posted by scruss at 9:24 AM on December 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

Nthing Pirateship which surprised me recently by having cheaper rates across the country than Priority Mail.
posted by getawaysticks at 11:42 AM on December 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've been using PirateShip since Paypal killed their multi-order shipping service and it has worked well. You can use it to send non-priority USPS packages, which is weirdly impossible with USPS's own website. Good discount on UPS but unfortunately no FedEx.
posted by mmoncur at 3:35 AM on December 27, 2021 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: For those keeping score at home, I used Pirate Ship and paid $0.90 a pound for UPS Ground (compared to $0.67 a pound in 2019). Used only Home Depot heavy duty boxes (regular duty got badly torn up last time I shipped). Gorilla Brand Heavy Duty Packaging Tape sticks a lot better than 3M/Scotch.
posted by 8603 at 4:59 AM on January 8, 2022 [1 favorite]