I could get discounted shipping on a 5x5x5 box that was less than 2# and total price under $25.
@NSFE1 - One update - you can not get the discount when buying postage in bulk. I have three sales yesterday - 2 of them when buying individually had a cheaper rate for UPS, one did not. When I went to buy shipping for all three at the same time, the discounts were not available. Just FYI.
I just had a Sponsored Discount for a 13 oz package.
Both AZ, Bay had the same USPS rate of $5.96
However, AZ UPS Sponsored Rate was $6.14 Ground and Bay UPS Discounted Rate was $8.54 Ground.
Well, that’s interesting. Amazon Sponsored Discount on a Priority Mail. I thought it was only happening with UPS shipments.
Seems this is only available if you do “one at a time” shipping, instead of “bulk” - ie multiple checkboxes ticked, and the “Buy Shipping” button on the Manage Orders page.
Looks like good discounts, but when you are pushing out 50+ orders daily, one at a time shipping is VERY time consuming.
you can not get the discount when buying postage in bulk.
I still haven’t seen the discount on any of my orders. I don’t ship in bulk, but see that several others have confirmed your observations. That’s… interesting, don’t you think? Apparently, someone forgot to change the code for the calculate bulk shipping function.
It will be interesting to see if this thread attracts more input from the sellers that apparently only read the ‘announcements’ section of the forums.
If enough of us share our observations, I hope we can figure out how Amazon ‘selects’ the discounts it offers.
We saw it for the first time today on all of our orders. Shipping from NC. We ship some First Class but mostly Priority Mail using either flat rate envelopes or Regional A boxes.
One 6 lb order to CA was $.97 less using UPS with an arrival one day later than by USPS.
A 15.9 oz package to MA was $.04 less by UPS with an arrival one day sooner than by USPS.
A 2 lb package to FL was $1.10 less by UPS with an arrival one day sooner than Priority Mail
Thanks for posting the details. You raise an interesting point.
One 6 lb order to CA was $.97 less using UPS with an arrival one day later than by USPS.
So this is an arrival date one day later than Buy Shipping SAYS it would arrive, correct?
Because the estimated delivery dates Buy Shipping shows for USPS services are almost always wrong.
The estimated date Buy Shipping shows for priority mail is always one day longer than PM should actually take. You can’t rely on the dates Buy Shipping shows you for USPS services.
Here’s an example from one of my orders (from Portland, OR) going to a buyer in New Jersey, shipping tomorrow:
Buy Shipping says First-Class mail is estimated to arrive on Saturday. They arrive at that date by treating FC mail as a 4-transit day service, regardless of destination. Ship on Tuesday, arrive on Saturday. Always. Doesn’t matter if it’s going across the country or across the street.
The priority mail estimates are based on what USPS says + 1 day. If I were to check the USPS site to see when this same package would arrive if shipped tomorrow by priority mail, the date would be Thursday. Buy Shipping uses USPS’s data and adds a day.
I believe (but rarely ship by UPS so have never checked) that Amazon pulls delivery estimates directly from UPS and doesn’t pad them. Buy Shipping is estimating that UPS Ground would deliver this package next Monday, which seems accurate.
So if Buy Shipping is giving you an accurate estimate for UPS Ground, but the estimate for PM is one day longer than reality, then your package to CA would save you 97 cents but arrive 2 days (not one day) later.
People also have to factor in the cost of packaging, because if you ship by UPS, you need to pay for your own box, while priority mail (if the right size) lets you use their free shipping boxes.
Thinking out loud here…
I wonder if the ‘selective’ discounts Amazon offers us are based on our past shipping history?
That is, frequent UPS shippers get frequent UPS discounts?
I ship 99% by first-class mail, and have yet to see any promotional discounts offered to me. Would anyone else care to share their estimate of services used (percent of UPS Ground/Priority Mail/First-class mail) and the types of discounts they’re seeing?
@TNValleyProducts, you mentioned not seeing any discounts yet either. Do you also ship mainly by first class?
I ship by First Class, Priority Mail and UPS Ground. Most of mine are Priority Mail unless they are under a pound when they are usually First Class. I wonder if Amazon is offering the discounts to persuade you to use a more reliable service in areas where there are some issues with some services? I don’t have many shipping issues in my area, so maybe that’s why I’m not getting the discounts? I would say I’m at about 85% Priority Mail, 10% First Class, 5% UPS Ground.
All it looks like to me is the Amazon UPS contract was up and AZ negotiated better UPS rates.
My supplier just switched from UPS to FedX. They’ve been switching between the two for years now.
I wonder if Amazon is offering the discounts to persuade you to use a more reliable service in areas where there are some issues with some services?
That’s an interesting theory. I’m not having any USPS issues, rarely do, not sure why my area is so lucky, but I’m very happy about it. Where do you ship from?
Everything I’ve seen from Amazon over the years suggests they would have no clue where carriers are struggling (or anything else related to carriers in real time). Could it be related to a specific seller’s on-time delivery performance do you think? The number that none of us know because Amazon says everyone is at 100%? 
All it looks like to me is the Amazon UPS contract was up and AZ negotiated better UPS rates
That seems possible at first glance, but Amazon is also discounting some priority mail rates. Maybe just to throw us a curveball?
That could be another contract negotiation or maybe Amazon is just offering the discounts on their own.
Just had another one.
or maybe Amazon is just offering the discounts on their own.
Which leads us back to the million dollar queston of… why?
Hard to say but I don’t think its because of USPS problems in certain areas as I’m offered the discount and like you do not have any USPS issues.
Although it does say Amazon Sponsored Discount.
but I don’t think its because of USPS problems in certain areas as I’m offered the discount and like you do not have any USPS issues.
Are you sure? Not necessarily doubting you, but lots of sellers claim their on-time delivery is perfect because Amazon is showing us all 100% on our metrics screens. You have to follow it yourself to know whether you’re actually having a problem or not.
I’m not sure of anything anymore. You don’t happen to have that link handy to where Amazon displayed the delivery times?
Gizmo
You also need to factory in that you can’t use that flat rate USPS box , you’ll need to buy another box… to use UPS…
