How is USPS shipping cost actually determined?

[oskay]

I cannot seem to find an accurate answer to this question. I'm trying to use the USPS shipping calculator. I saw an answer posted that USPS "regular" rates were used below 13 oz and priority mail above 13 oz, but this is apparently not the case.



Test case 1: 14.1 oz, large box to Canada: USPS Priority Mail price: $16.15. E-Junkie: $4.76

Test case 2: 23.1 oz, large box to New Zealand: USPS Priority Mail price: $17.48. E-Junkie: $13.05



I want to be able to ship priority mail. It does not make any sense to me (1) what E-junkie is actually doing or (2) that it cannot simply calculate a priority mail rate under easy tests like these.



Can someone please explain what method is actually used, so that i might be able to find a way to work around it?

It really does not make sense to me that E-junkie claims to but cannot calculate USPS postage.

[E-junkie_Guru]

We query the USPS rate API directly and apply whichever rate USPS reports back as cheapest, comparing First Class vs. Priority Mail; in most cases, First Class is cheapest, and in some cases, you get a better deal with the Priority Mail rate. At present, we have no way you can force all-Priority-Mail shipping charges, but you might be able to configure a compromise combining some of the other shipping-related settings, so at least you'd never or rarely wind up behind on that cost; this is the basic formula we apply to calculate shipping:



((cost per oz.) X (product wt. + package wt.)) + (package cost) + (handling cost)



Note that the (cost per oz.) part would be determined either by USPS rates (if you have your zipcode and no custom shipping cost per oz. entered in Seller Admin > Cart Shipping Settings), or otherwise by a flat per-oz. rate you specify for Domestic or for International shipping.

[bayouborne]

"[we] apply whichever rate USPS reports back as cheapest, comparing First Class vs. Priority Mail;"



If E-Junkie does do this, how does the seller know what USPS rate schedule was used? Do we have to just run it both ways at time of shipment to figure that out? If so, that would seem to be frustrating.



+++



I'm totally new to the e-junkie experience and am looking around on this Sunday afternoon trying to figure out how to configure the cart for the following requirements:



We're selling a physical book - just one title.



The book can be bought in quantities up to qty 20 at a time. (1, or 2, or 3, ...20)



We'll be using the United States Postal Service (USPS) exclusively.



We'll only be charging/collecting Tax for the State of Georgia (USA)



We'll only be shipping to the 50 US States and Canada.



We have a Paypal Business account.



I'm lost. I configure a button, but nowhere during the resulting checkout experience does it give you the option of:



- ordering more than one book, or

- calculating a 'live' USPS shipping cost



Are there settings in my Paypal account I have to turn on/off in order to get this to work? Is there an FAQ I might be pointed to that can help me out on this? Thanks very much.

[E-junkie_Guru]

The shipping method applied to the order should be identified in your Sale Notification email. First Class would only be applied for shipments under 13 oz. and should be quite obviously cheaper than you'd expect for Priority. You can also choose to configure your Shipping Rule(s) to use only Priority and/or other USPS services such as Media Mail or Parcel Post, rather than the USPS Cheapest method that only compares First Class vs. Priority. If you set up Rules for more than one method, the buyer would be shown a choice of rates/methods in their Cart before checkout.



Tax, Shipping and item quantity are set in the E-junkie shopping cart before checkout, so make sure you are using the standard E-junkie Cart button codes we provide in your Seller Admin. Buy Now buttons bypass the cart and take buyers directly to instant checkout for just one item at a time, so in that case there is no chance to change quantity or calculate tax/shipping in the cart before checkout. Also, make sure you enable Sales Tax, Shipping/Buyer's Address, and Let Buyer Edit Quantity in the product's settings, and on the product's Shipping Options screen, set Packaging Capacity to 20. You may also want to specify an empty weight for your product's chosen Packaging Type, in Seller Admin > Cart Shipping Settings.



This help page explains our Shipping calculation settings in more detail:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/help.shipping.htm



This help page explains our Sales Tax calculation settings:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/help.tax.htm