Shipping Rates Changing to Ground Advantage Commercial

[Carolyn J. Bickford]

Atomic Avenue has been using First Class/Priority Rates for calculating shipping expenses. We will soon be changing that to Commercial rates. The USPS Commercial rates are available to all sellers who use software to create and buy shipping labels.

USPS' Click and Ship software is online (making it platform independent) and free. Altneratives are programs such as Stamps.com, Pitney Bowes, and EasyPost. We encourage all sellers to start using one of these programs in order to get the commercial rate.

[Gregory Hecht]

For USPS First Class or Ground Advantage, is there a commercial rate?  AFAIK the first class and ground advantage are not available on Click n Ship, only the Priority and Priority Express have commercial rates that are an available on Click N Ship. 
 

(I am assuming that First Class and Ground Advantage are still cheaper for some small orders than Priority, even after the recent postal rate hike.)

[Carolyn J. Bickford]

Use the new "Enhanced Click N Ship." The commercial rates are there.

[Gregory Hecht]

3 hours ago, Carolyn J. Bickford said:

Use the new "Enhanced Click N Ship." The commercial rates are there.

Yes, that is what I use.  It only generates Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express labels, it does not generate First Class, Media Mail, or Ground Advantage labels.  

[Carolyn J. Bickford]

Make sure you are going to the Enchanced version site rather than the "Legacy" Click n Ship site. I was able to create a label for Ground Advantage with Enhanced, at commercial rates. But if you've been using the "legacy" Click n Ship, I wouldn't be surprised if USPS keeps you trapped there, even though they are supposedly encouraging people to use the newer version. Here is the link that lets you choose. LMK if your experience varies, please.

[Gregory Hecht]

I have been using Enhanced CnS since it first became available many many months ago, and have been getting the commercial rate for Priority as a result. I will check your link later tonight, but I suspect that my experience will not change. 
 

Do you have an electronic postal scale registered with your USPS account?  Ground Advantage price depends on the weight of the item, so commercial ground advantage, first class, and media mail might only be available on Enhanced CnS for those whose account includes a scale. Priority and Priority Express rates are essentially not dependent on item weight, so everybody should have free access to the commercial rates for those shipping methods on Enhanced CnS. 

[Gregory Hecht]

Ah-ha, I see what the issue is!  I had the Flat Rate shipping button selected on the page. By clicking Choose Your Own Box, suddenly a lot more options are available on the Select Your Service drop-down menu. 

[Joe Self]

following on the comment above - for those of us without a scale, can't really determine an accurate price for non-flat rate packages to print a label. It's also not only weight, but size of the item, including length of a mailer size envelope. If you're not making very frequent sales, it's not beneficial to us. especially as you take a percentage of the shipping amount collected, not just the sales total. I just spent more for postage than collected, and that loss is even higher because it doesn't include the packaging/shipping materials. Not everyone is an actual comic store. Some of us are hobbyists, selling from our personal collections from home.

[Carolyn J. Bickford]

Our calculations include at least $1 over the estimated shipping cost for packaging and materials, and include USPS charges for insurance on orders over $75. By seller requests, we have reviewed the USPS commercial Ground Advantage rate to match the order to make sure it was accurate, and included extra to pay for packaging and materials. Postal scales are typically inexpensive, as well as available free for use at various shipping services, though you still need to print postage online if you wish to get the commercial rate.