Priority Shipping being offered for free

[LazerGirlz]

TLDR: My Customers are being offered Priority Shipping as a free option even though I have Parcel Select Ground and First Class Mail as options.

Hi all! I'm a long time Etsy seller. My shipping profiles have not changed in years. If it's not broke don't fix it right? At the end of last year(2022) Some of my customers were able to checkout with priority shipping as a free option. This was NEVER how it worked unless Priority was the lowest class of shipping offered for that item's weight and size. I have First Class mail and Parcel Select Ground as options on all of my listings. Therefore, any free shipping should default to one of those depending on the item. At the end of January this year the issue just seemed to disappear and shipping went back to normal. Anyone that chose the Priority Mail paid for the shipping. Just today(9/29/23) I had a customer check out and she was able to choose Priority Mail for free. So for 8 months everything was fine and now the problem is back.

Customer service keeps telling me it's because I have the "Free Shipping" box checked on the shipping profile(Which is what they told me every time I called before). I have that box checked because I do want to offer free shipping, but the free shipping options are supposed to default to Ground or First Class mail not Priority. When I say this on the phone they just tell me I have to switch it to calculated shipping in order for it to calculate for Priority mail. I know this is not the case, but I can't get help.

Anyone else having this issue? Does anyone know how to get it resolved?

Thanks!

[NanaLetha]

There is no more First Class package shipping (since July 9th)!

[BaileysGarden]

I still ship first class... They just call it Ground Advantage now.

[hopeandjoystudios]

Do you have shipping upgrades enabled ? (Dashboard> settings>shipping settings> Upgrades tab.) If that is set even if you offer free shipping they may be able to pick Priority?

[hopeandjoystudios]

One way to end run is set up Parcel (GA) only for free shipping listings..manually or via a profile. I feel profiles sometimes "change themselves" . I just enter all my shipping manually/calculated by size and weight.

[ChikaAndo]

Thank you for this tip! I didn't know there was such a thing!

[BagmakerSupply]

@LazerGirlz: "I had a customer check out and she was able to choose Priority Mail for free." What was the weight of the order? If it was over 15.99 ounces it may have defaulted to Priority Mail rather than that the customer selected an upgrade.

[PartyLockerGames]

I have the same problem. Did you ever figure out how to fix it?

[BagmakerSupply]

@PartyLockerGames: You need to have 'parcel post' enabled as an option in your shipping profile to get Ground Advantage for the over 15.99 ounce packages.

[BaileysGarden]

Same problem!! And my Upgrades tab is disabled. I offer free shipping but still have people choosing Priority for things that I send Ground Advantage (first class). Some things, like live plants, I do sent priority, but it's always specified in the listing. If I unclick Free Shipping where it states 'buyer can choose' then my listing shows up with a shipping price. Grrr. 

[michellepatterns]

Etsy adds that message automatically and it doesn't mean anything. If you look at any open order and start the label you'll see the "buyer requested" and the shipping class. But in 99% of orders the buyer did NOT select the class at all.

Etsy just has the wording for that section set up that way.  I suspect they use that wording for the instances where the buyer does select a class.  

If the buyer had selected Priority you would have had to have shipping upgrades enabled and you would have received the full payment for shipping.  

Free shipping goes the class the seller selects so just ignore the message if you can ship it by a less expensive class.  

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