USPS First-Class Package Service weight limit = 13 oz (retail rates) [from shipping profile settings]
USPS Ground Advantage weight limit = 70 pounds [used to create shipping labels]
PROBLEM: This week, I had a customer buy 2 items from me. She is in the Etsy Insider beta program. Due to Etsy's outdated shipping profile settings, 2 labels were generated for the order because the items' combined weight is more than 13 oz, so postage was calculated to cost more than it should have.
ETSY INSIDER did not refund what she actually paid for shipping; they refunded only the Ground Advantage postage cost for shipping everything together in one package. (Shipping price below was calculated based on First Class Package parameters; "free shipping" refund is based on what this order will cost to ship via Ground Advantage.) On the customer receipt, it says:
- Shipping price: $14.65
- FREE SHIPPING -$9.00
- covered by Etsy Insider
The customer was ultimately still charged the remainder of the shipping price ($5.65) for her "free" shipping. That is a problem.
Etsy has not updated its shipping profiles to reflect the USPS change to Ground Advantage in July 2023. (USPS First-Class Package Service, USPS Parcel Select Ground, and USPS Retail Ground are no longer available, Etsy.) I know that customers ARE (usually) charged the Ground Advantage rate for shipping, but not in this instance.
I contacted Etsy via chat to seek help and was told that the solution was to also select Parcel Select (another defunct USPS product) in my shipping profile settings. I have since done that, but that seems like a workaround to a broken system, not an actual solution. It remains to be seen if this will allow my customers to buy more than one item and combine shipping to save money. Any 2 items in my shop will weigh more than 13 oz when shipped together. (This is a new problem for me to solve. I chose to charge customers commercial rates with a small packaging fee until the recent removal of that option. Lots of my customers ordered multiples and were able to combine shipping since the limit was 1 pound for commercial rate packages. This new lower weight limit based on the old First Class retail system is throwing things off more than I knew!)
