I sell most of my stuff with free shipping depending on my price points, etc. I discuss this in my shipping article, but being on the East Coast, shipping prices vary greatly as you go west. USPS gets ridiculous where FEDEX stays pretty low. But close, USPS is way better.

 

So I usually put USPS on all my listings. But every once in a while I will ship FEDEX if its either cheaper or faster (I never choose cheaper if it will get there slower).

 

I recently had a buyer get bent out of shape about this even though he got his item the same day he would have anyway.

 

So does anyone know Ebay's policy? Should I offer two free shipping methods so I am covered (if that works) and it will say USPS or FEDEX?  It is already in my description in the listings that I may ship FEDEX.

I'm glad you brought this up.  I always state USPS shipping in my listings, but I also sometimes ship via FedEx.  I'm not sure of the policy, but I think I'll update my listings to reflect either FedEx or USPS as my method of shipment.

This is why:

 

I don't believe eBay cares one way or the other, but as you've noticed a buyer might. You can select a more generic shipping option like "Expedited" or "Standard" or "Economy" (the various options for those generics are in the drop down when you're selecting shipping methods - Priority Mail or FedEx 2 day would be "Expedited", USPS Parcel Select or Media Mail would be "Economy", USPS First Class would be "Standard", etc.)

I have it set as standard, even though most of the time I use Priority. Don't want to "guarantee" I will use X or Y carrier

I usually put USPS Priority as the shipping option, but mention in the description that I will use either USPS Priority or FedEx Ground/Home Delivery.

 

I too almost exclusively list my merchandise with Free Shipping, and one of the reasons is to give me the flexibility to reduce the cost by using a different shipper.

I don't believe eBay cares one way or the other, but as you've noticed a buyer might. You can select a more generic shipping option like "Expedited" or "Standard" or "Economy" (the various options for those generics are in the drop down when you're selecting shipping methods - Priority Mail or FedEx 2 day would be "Expedited", USPS Parcel Select or Media Mail would be "Economy", USPS First Class would be "Standard", etc.)

 

I had thought about doing this. I worried people wouldn't love not seeing how fast the method was. And expedited means different things to different people . lol

I had thought about doing this. I worried people wouldn't love not seeing how fast the method was. And expedited means different things to different people . lol

 

eBay still provides a shipping time estimate when you pick the more generic options, so your buyer would still see a range of delivery dates. Doesn't mean they'll read them, of course, but there's only so much you can do. :-)

Definitely.

 

Oh well its good news. I didn't want to have to mess with it too much, but I couldn't find anything on it in the policies. Wanted to make sure Ebay didn't have a policy against it.

Just to add, you have to set flat rate shipping in order to see the generic methods. They do not show on calculated.