CS Not Choosing Flat Rate When It is the Best Option

[GingerandWaldo]

I'm sorry if this has been covered already. I set up CS for almost everything in my shop. During the summer, I only ship Priority because if I don't there is a possibility that my products may melt before they arrive at their destination.

That being said, I don't have bubble mailers as a packaging option from May to October because I put small ice packs in my boxes.

Theoretically, when someone orders a single lip balm, CS should put it in a small flat rate box because that is the cheapest option for domestic US shipping. However, it isn't doing that. It's putting it in a 6x6x6 box (one of my default box sizes). I'd NEVER ship a single half ounce lip balm in that large of a box.

My dimensions are set to pretty close to actual, but I've added a bit of weigh to take into account the ice packs.

Any idea why it is doing this?

Thanks.

[ByGoneYears]

What are the dimensions on your lip balms? Also, do you have the small flat rate box selected in your package preferences?

[CraftSupplyHouse]

I just had this same problem. The calculator chose regional rate A instead of a flat rate bubble mailer. I posted in bugs

(btw, I am also bygoneyears from the previous post).

[Former_Member]

I'm having the same problem of it not choosing the correct size box. I have my weight and dimensions accurate, but it keeps choosing a more expensive priority mail instead of the small flate rate box, even though I have it as an option.

[CkshopperVintage]

Same here and it has been ongoing for weeks now. Support is testing one of my listings to determine why this is happening but have not heard back since last week.

The only way I can force CS to place an item into a Flat Rate Regular Size Envelope is to make the height dimension for my item 3" - anything below 3" won't work for FRE, which is also true of the FR Bubble Mailers. You may try that as a work-around until they get it figured out and corrected.

[custompetandtack]

Kristin, what do you have for your item dimensions?

It would need to be smaller than the box dimension for CS to put it in there.

I know last week, some sellers were having problems with the FRE and items not being put in there even though the dimension on the envelope was bigger than the item.

[Former_Member]

Kristen - do you have a shipping and handling fee on your shipping profile? And then another one on your box preference? It will add both if you have both places - and if you put one in your shipping profile that goes onto each item.

Can you really fit a scarf into a small flat rate box? I am sure it would fit in a padded flat rate envelope, but the small flat rate box is tiny. And like Pat said, if your item dimensions are bigger than 8.6 x 5.3 x 1.6 (small flat rate box) then the calculator won't use it.

[Former_Member]

Has anyone heard anything from Etsy about this FRE problem?

I just helped Virginia, from the other thread, get her shipping to work today by having her eliminate regional box A. When she did that, the calculator started using the FRE.

I did have her use 6 inches as the height of her envelope - and she had 1 inch for the height of her item (a magazine that was much less than one inch - but that was the smallest she could use). And the calculator did put 6 of the magazines into the FRE.

But something is definitely wrong when the calculator picks the more expensive offering.