Is shipping through Paypal using UPS really this much cheaper? I need to return a 16 pound purchase from 21093 to 78728. If I go to the shipping counter at UPS it comes up with $40 as my cheapest option. USPS and FedEx are both around $28. If I go to Paypal to produce my label is says USPS is $12.85. This seems so incredibly cheaper that I am afraid I am doing something wrong. Can I really ship my package (actually up to 70 lbs) for this price? Or, as I suspect, am I doing something wrong.
I am not seeing a $12.85 rate between those two cities. But if you can fit your shipment into a “Regional Rate B” box, you can ship up to 20 pounds for $16.15. But you cannot use your own box for this rate, you have to use a specially marked “Regional Rate B” box for this rate.
Incidentally, you can save substantially on FedEx (Ground or Express) by opening a FedEx account and using your account number to pay for the shipment. ANYONE who has a major credit card can open a FedEx account online immediately.
I’m sorry, I do see a $12.85 rate. You can send a Medium Flat box at the Commercial Base Rate for $12.85.
Again, you have to send you shipment in a Medium Flat Rate box obtained from the Post Office. You cannot use your own box. You can ship up to 70 lbs. You must pay postage either through PayPal or at the USPS web site. The rate if you pay at the Post Office is $13.65.
One more reply and I’ll shut up: USPS recently made a change. Postage paid on its web site is no longer eligible for Commercial Base pricing. A flat rate box paid for on the USPS web site is the same price as paid at the Post Office. ($13.65 for a Medium Flat Rate box up to 70 lbs.)
Paypal and other online shipment services are still eligible for Commercial Base pricing.
I swear the USPS must have a thousand people employed to dream up ways to make things more complicated.
The big question is what kind of box is required to hold your package. For example the medium flat rate box is 11-7/8 in x 3-3/8 in x 13-5/8 in. Would your package fit in that?
Paypal rates are only a few percent cheaper than Post Office branch rates.
Well, investigating a little further, the medium rate seems to apply to any box with total dimensions of 84 inches or less. Which this is. It is actually 12 x 12 x 12, Using their method of calculation that box is 36 total inches. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t totally off track, and it appears I am not.
No, that’s not the way it works. You have to use a USPS-provided flat rate medium box. I don’t know where you got that information.