July 2025 USPS Rate Changes

[Bosoxfan5990]

Posted yesterday with a 7/13/25 Effective Date.

Changes to ESE, Priority, and USPS GA rates, plus a fee for "non-standard packages."

The United States Postal Service has announced rate changes effective July 13, 2025.



The updated rates for First Class Mail and eBay Standard Envelope will be:
1 oz $0.74
2 oz $1.03
3 oz $1.32

Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express and Ground Advantage will now assess a $4.00 fee for Nonstandard Characteristics. This fee will apply to packages with these criteria:

Cylindrical tubes or rolls
A can, or wooden or metal box
A parcel containing more than 24 oz of liquid in glass containers, or 1 gallon or more of liquid in metal or plastic containers
Other (e.g. parcels prepared under DMM sections 601.3.0 and DMM 601.4.0 with contents that may cause the parcel to roll or not maintain the integrity of the packaging during processing)
USPS also announced rate changes for Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage, Media Mail, Signature Confirmation and Domestic Insurance. The eBay shipping calculator will be updated July 13 so you can evaluate how these rate changes may impact your shipments on eBay Labels.



Also on July 13, you will be able to indicate if you are shipping an irregular package in both the listing and label purchase flows on eBay. If your package meets the criteria for USPS Nonstandard Characteristics, your displayed rate will include the appropriate fee.



As always, thank you for selling on eBay.
The eBay Shipping Team

[Cactuspies]

I love how all these changes come down, and they reference different sections for what qualifies as what.

my SIL works for the USPS at the counter, and she doesn't even know how cheap GA has been compared to Priority. She sends super light things to us across the country for $17-$20 while I can send like 8lbs for under $15 across the country.

Too many tweaks and no one can keep up. I think they are told to try and push the flat rate since most will think it's the best deal, when in fact there is no more guarantee on delivery and you are probably paying way more (plus the box sizes keep shrinking)

[RandAlThor]

So does this mean when I ship out posters using the cardboard tubes I will be charged an extra $4?

[Bosoxfan5990]

Originally Posted by RandAlThor

So does this mean when I ship out posters using the cardboard tubes I will be charged an extra $4?

I would interpret that to be the case.

[boxbuster7]

at what point is shipping not going to be worth it anymore?

[Cracktoast]

Originally Posted by boxbuster7

at what point is shipping not going to be worth it anymore?

It's already not for low end singles. Nobody is paying $.99 + shipping when shipping is almost double the price of the card.

For me for ESE to be worth it anymore it has to be a megastar like Judge or Ohtani or a really low #'d ( /25 or less) of a PC guy. Everything else is trash or set up at a local flea market/show with $.05-$.10 boxes.

[jamcas997]

Originally Posted by Cracktoast

It's already not for low end singles. Nobody is paying $.99 + shipping when shipping is almost double the price of the card.

For me for ESE to be worth it anymore it has to be a megastar like Judge or Ohtani or a really low #'d ( /25 or less) of a PC guy. Everything else is trash or set up at a local flea market/show with $.05-$.10 boxes.

The idea is that buyers buy 2 to 4 items at $1-$1.50 each to move cheap stuff. Had it not been for ESE I would have been ran out of business by January 2023 when I went from doing $4200 a month on ebay to about $1000 a month. ESE is about 95% of my sales now. Yes I have Btchd , whined and complained about USPS pricing us out on ESE every time they run a hike on us. Best I can say is move bulk and do if fast so you can get out.

[hairysasquatch]

Seems like every 3 mos. now.

[auctionjmm]

Originally Posted by Cracktoast

It's already not for low end singles. Nobody is paying $.99 + shipping when shipping is almost double the price of the card.

For me for ESE to be worth it anymore it has to be a megastar like Judge or Ohtani or a really low #'d ( /25 or less) of a PC guy. Everything else is trash or set up at a local flea market/show with $.05-$.10 boxes.

DoorDash isn't "worth it" either. But I'll still pay double for breakfast if I can stay in a bathrobe. Plenty of people are paying .99 + shipping to get the exact card they want sent to their doorstep as opposed to venturing out to a show or flea market to look and maybe strike out. I've charged $1.99 from day one and have absorbed the hikes so far, so I don't anticipate anything will change on my end in terms of buyer volume.

Originally Posted by jamcas997

The idea is that buyers buy 2 to 4 items at $1-$1.50 each to move cheap stuff. Had it not been for ESE I would have been ran out of business by January 2023 when I went from doing $4200 a month on ebay to about $1000 a month. ESE is about 95% of my sales now. Yes I have Btchd , whined and complained about USPS pricing us out on ESE every time they run a hike on us. Best I can say is move bulk and do if fast so you can get out.

Same here. A case of bubble mailers lasts me an eternity now. I don't know where I'd be either without ESE.

Originally Posted by hairysasquatch

Seems like every 3 mos. now.

4.5 years has certainly flown by.

[Bosoxfan5990]

They're hiking the price of forever stamps by $0.05 too.

[boxbuster7]

how much is ESE now?

[Wishy2]

Originally Posted by boxbuster7

how much is ESE now?

right now its .69 for 1oz; .97 for 2oz; 1.25 for 3oz

[frenchquarter]

Originally Posted by Wishy2

right now its .69 for 1oz; .97 for 2oz; 1.25 for 3oz

Looks like it is going up to 74 cents - $1.03 - and $1.32

Also, the service standard for letter mail is going to be worse. In my case, here in Southern Wisconsin, A very small portion of WI and Michigan will have 3 day service, letter mail from Wisconsin to roughly 50% of the country will be 4 days, and the remainder will be 5 days.

Ground advantage is supposed to be 3-4 days. I doubt that very few of these new standards will be met and the mail will be slower than ever.

[jamcas997]

Originally Posted by frenchquarter

Looks like it is going up to 74 cents - $1.03 - and $1.32

Also, the service standard for letter mail is going to be worse. In my case, here in Southern Wisconsin, A very small portion of WI and Michigan will have 3 day service, letter mail from Wisconsin to roughly 50% of the country will be 4 days, and the remainder will be 5 days.

Ground advantage is supposed to be 3-4 days. I doubt that very few of these new standards will be met and the mail will be slower than ever.

From what I have heard there are not enough carriers, but a lot of supervisors. Seems like they need to thin the Super Herd and get some more carriers.

[boxbuster7]

nobody actually wants to do the work

[jamcas997]

Prices went up today. Went to print some ESE labels and its 74 cents now and my USPS does not close for another 3 hours. SMH

[uminnesota]

The cost of $6.80 is tough now! I thought it was like 5.25 or something like that before.

[uminnesota]

I was checking today and most stuff from eBay sells around 4.40 to 4.80 now and people now have to pay for 6.80 when it used to be like 5.50 or something. Are you all seeing the new cost for USPS? Do we change it from 6.80 to like 5.00? They are .4 oz for PSA Slabs.

[uminnesota]

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...to-ship-cards/

They talked about it today.

[duwal]

Certainly is a jump. Mailed some individual PSA DNA signed cards in bubble envelopes and they were $7.60 and $7.90 for ground advantage

[Bob Ross]

Fun times!

[Breesus85]

Would highly recommend printing labels on eBay or use pirateship or another 3rd party for sales outside of eBay. You’re costing yourself $2+ per package at the counter. Really adds up quickly.

[Bosoxfan5990]

Originally Posted by Breesus85

Would highly recommend printing labels on eBay or use pirateship or another 3rd party for sales outside of eBay. You’re costing yourself $2+ per package at the counter. Really adds up quickly.

I'd also recommend using a flat-rate charge, especially for your Ground Advantage packages.

I've seen an uptick of folks on social media asking why they're paying more for their label than eBay is charging the buyer because they don't realize the seller pays fees on the shipping charge.

[prospectorgems]

Originally Posted by Breesus85

Would highly recommend printing labels on eBay or use pirateship or another 3rd party for sales outside of eBay. You’re costing yourself $2+ per package at the counter. Really adds up quickly.

Originally Posted by Bosoxfan5990

I'd also recommend using a flat-rate charge, especially for your Ground Advantage packages.

I've seen an uptick of folks on social media asking why they're paying more for their label than eBay is charging the buyer because they don't realize the seller pays fees on the shipping charge.

Agreed. For anyone selling on ebay it would be silly not to utilize either service to save money. I have been seeing a lot of really high shipping rates lately on ebay listings and that deters me from bidding/buying. If really interested will tack on that extra $3 into a lower bid/offer.

Even though the prices went up a little bit on ebay for shipping, a person is only paying like an additional $0.10 (high average) on the seller fees with that increased shipping. No reason to jack up prices exponentially if you had average shipping prices previously.