Buyer pays for First Class but only Ground Advantage label available to purchase. Is this a bug?

[AKMysticMoose]

Has anyone else had this problem? Most of my items are 2 ounces when shipped. When a buyer checks out, the form says First Class mail. When I go to buy the label only Ground Advantage (or Priority) is available.

I went to my shipping settings to see if I could possibly fix it there. In the settings First Class and Priority are checked, there is no option for Ground Advantage there either.

I have had a couple of mildly upset customers because they paid for First Class but the package was sent the slower Ground Advantage which from what I can see really is a few days slower. With First Class packages would arrive usually within 3 days. Now they take about a week which is outside of Etsy's estimated delivery time. I have put a note about shipping on my shop announcements but I really don't think anyone actually reads that stuff. Is there a work around for this issue? Thanks for any insight!

[NanaLetha]

First Class went away on July 9th. Etsy just has not bothered to update. I find Ground Advantage is a few cents cheaper than First Class was and just as fast.

[JDTotesnDolls]

No price change for when First Class Package became Ground Advantage,  The just put the two services, First Class Package and Retail Ground together.

[VintageRescueSquad]

USPS discontinued first class package service, replacing it with Ground Advantage

[EccentricHandbags]

Shipping profiles were not updated automatically to include ground if you want it.  You have to edit your shipping profiles to include it. 

[AKMysticMoose]

Ground Advantage is not an option in the shipping settings. Only First Class which is the problem I am looking for a solution for.

[EccentricHandbags]

I have parcel select ground checked which is for the smaller lighter packages.  It is one of the options.  I just took a look to make sure.

[BagmakerSupply]

@AKMysticMoose: For packages up to 15.99 ounces Ground Advantage and the discontinued First Class Package are essentially the same mail class. https://faq.usps.com/s/article/USPS-Ground-Advantage

[AKMysticMoose]

I guess I didn't make my post clear. I do know that Ground Advantage replaced First Class. My question really is why does the buyer see First Class and on the order page I see buyer paid for First Class when it isn't available? And why is there no option in the shipping settings for Ground Advantage yet First Class is still in the options. A couple of my customers have been a little upset about it because they think they aren't getting what they are paying for and in the past they would get their package within 3 days. Ground Advantage really does take a few days longer. I was wondering other than an "Announcement" that no one reads, is there a work around or do I have to run the risk of more upset customers because of something I can't control?

[bradgoodell]

98% of your buyers don't know the difference in shipping classes.  They choose whatever is cheapest.  According the USPS, it's only a name change.

I'm not doubting you on the speed issue, but I haven't found Ground Advantage to be any slower.  I'm in rural Colorado, and use Ground Advantage to ship to the East Coast.  It takes 2-3 days on the average for me.  Which is faster than what Priority took 2020-2022.  I think current speeds depend on your regional sorting center.

Etsy does need to get this fixed on the website, no doubt.  It makes no sense that it's taking this long.

[BagmakerSupply]

@AKMysticMoose: We track (and store the shiped and delivered data) for every package we ship and we have seen no increase of in transit times for Ground Advantage compared to First Class Package.  Fortunately Etsy is still charging buyers Priority Mail for packages over 15.99 ounces because that is where the estimated in transit times increase for Ground Advantage.

[bradgoodell]

Suggestion:  Set up a snippet explaining the USPS change and send it to your buyers when someone chooses First Class.  That is the best you can do right now.

[JDTotesnDolls]

@AKMysticMoose   Have to disagree about speed.  Actually all the items I have bought as a buyer are coming as quickly as Priority does.  That includes items that went first class.

I just don't use Ground because the difference between it and Priority for my items is about 25 cents.

It is Ground advantage only as First Class package service is gone.  Ground does work well.

It might be an issue with where the items are going.  USPS has to reroute if there are natureal disasters or other issues making for problems. 

But really Ground works well.  I do wish Etsy would change the wording but buyers really don't know the difference yet.  They go by price not service really.  

[hopeandjoystudios]

@BagmakerSupply It depends on if you have Parcel enabled or just Priority and then if you have upgrades enabled. I think it shows the cheapest option as the default?

[CobnutCottage]

We use Ground Advantage a lot and have never seen one package with a slower time than when we sent our items First Class. In fact, our experience is that the switch to Ground Advantage actually sped things up a bit.

[AKMysticMoose]

I find it very frustrating that Etsy hasn't updated this. I sell on Ebay as well and it was updated right away. Between square photos and cut off titles due to punctuation and other silly changes, seems like Etsy should spend less time on silly things and more time making updates that could affect customer satisfaction (and my sales). I do have an Announcement that will have to do for now I guess.

[JDTotesnDolls]

Sorry but your announcement I think would cause more issues not less.

Are buyers really focusing on the language?  I doubt many know of the difference.

Ground Advantage really is fine.  I think you are letting the fact that it has taken a couple of months for USPS to get used to the change making it an issue that really doesn't exist.

I wish Etsy would update and maybe they are doing so but really there is little need to make it an issue with the buyers.  

[LoonMtEmbroidnCrafts]

I'm wondering how is a buyer able to choose their own method of shipping? I've never seen that option.

[JDTotesnDolls]

@LoonMtEmbroidnCrafts    They can't chose unless the seller has set up their shipping for upgrades.  Such as the item goes First Class (Ground Advantage) but the buyer wants Priority.  If the seller has that upgrade the buyer can choose it.

THe language Etsy uses in the labels makes it sound like the buyer chooses which sin't so most of the time.   

[hopeandjoystudios]

The seller had to allow upgrades. In your dashboard go to settings>shipping settings> upgrade tab> then scroll to the upgrade area and click allowed.

[hopeandjoystudios]

It is all just verbiage. FC and Parcel are now GA. If you want GA over a pound you need to add Parcel as it is still called that here (which by this time it should NOT) Who knows..maybe why all the listing pages poofed today ? GA can be cheaper or more by a smidge.. depends on zone.

[SecretLabStudio]

It's not just verbiage because it can lead to cases where the buyer underpays for shipping. This happens when the cost of "Ground Advantage" is higher than "First-Class Mail". The buyer chooses (or is assigned, whatever the case) "First-Class Mail" for, say, $3.50, but as a seller my cheapest shipping label option through Etsy is "Ground Advantage" for, say, $4.20.

To me the essence of the original question is "Why are buyers able to purchase nonexistent shipping classes for a discounted rate?" I would like to know the answer to this question too because the price discrepancy is passed on to the seller (at least in my case).

[BagmakerSupply]

@SecretLabStudio: It sounds like you may be confusing different postal classes. First Class Mail still exists (for envelopes and flats less than 3/4 inch thick and less than 13 ounces) but First Class Package and Parcel Post have been replaced Ground Advantage.

Ground Advantage and First Class Package were identical pricing or Ground Advantage was slightly less.

[SecretLabStudio]

@BagmakerSupply You might be right. Maybe the underlying issue is that I seem to have First-Class Mail enabled as an option in my shipping profile for non-envelope-sized items (this option is selected by default when creating new shipping profiles, it seems).

I'll remove this option and see if that resolves the issue. Thanks for pointing out that First Class Mail is intended for envelopes. I missed that detail.

[CozyCabinCrafting]

I have the same issue. While I realize that the Ground Advantage is replacing First Class, the "estimated shipping time" is slower with Ground Advantage. Even though I have noticed that it doesn't take much longer or noticed any huge delays. The issue I am having is that the buyer is selecting an option that says "First Class" then sees the "Ground Advantage" shipping method and/or package label and may assume the seller went with the "cheaper route" and it also says "slowest" and that it may arrive late, even though I'm literally making and mailing things out same day to try to get these last minute sales to the customer in time. I did try to purchase a label on pirateship.com and it came up with the same alternative but I wish Etsy would fix the verbiage. Also, I did try to manually add it in my shipping profiles and it isn't there.

I'm thinking I will have to update my shop announcements to mention the verbiage if customers are confused by the difference.