When shipping a sold item from eBay what carrier do you use and why ?

You've got UPS, FedEx, USPS, freight...what do you use and why ?

I do First Class for free and just roll the cost into my product cost as when you offer free shipping you automatically get a 5 star for dsr and also you rank higher in searches. buyers like it too.

i also offere Priority as an upgrade. I don't offer express or fedex because when someoen is paying $25 for shipping and orders at 10am they want it going out same day. i can't always hsip same day however i always ship within 24 hours. i felt too much risk for neg feedback if im not able to ship right away.
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i occasionally get people asking for upgraeded shipping. i always decline. its a headache, i have to invoice them outside of ebay which sorta worries me as that's kinda a grey area as far as if its allowed or not, techincally ebay would probably like to take their cut out. the other issue is as a power seller/top rated seller im required to ship within 24 hours. someone waits til 6 hours after buying to tell me they want upgraded. even if i send an invoice right away they wait a day to pay, now im at risk of losing my ebay power seller and top rated seller status so i just tell people whats offered is whats offered. if they want expeditedd shipping they can get off ebay and go to my website, i obviously dont tell them this through ebay

I ship USPS almost entirely because the post office is a block away and UPS 5 miles and Fedex 15 miles (yeah I know you can arrange pick-ups but don't like to deal with that). Also, I love USPS free priority mail boxes. I usually list items with "parcel select" or "standard shipping" and make the decision after it sells. Customers end up getting the item faster then they expect so everyone is happy. Since they got rid of parcel post last year and added parcel select it seems I can ship priority mail just as cheaply. Especially if the buyer is in a neighboring state. Priority mail regional boxes are really inexpensive to ship also. Seems like I use the "A" boxes a lot. Can't pick them up at the post office but if you order them they are still free anyway.  Also it's so easy to just print the labels right from EBAY.  On the rare occasion I sell a large item I go with UPS. Last year I used Fedex for a while which was ok but a pain to drop off the packages. I was always running down a Fedex truck to hand off my packages to avoid the drive to the nearest drop off.

USPS always. Flat rate when possible. First Class for free shipping items. I've been listing a lot of magazine ads whenever there's a free buy it now special. All free shipping first class.

the other issue is as a power seller/top rated seller im required to ship within 24 hours. someone waits til 6 hours after buying to tell me they want upgraded. even if i send an invoice right away they wait a day to pay, now im at risk of losing my ebay power seller and top rated seller status so i just tell people whats offered is whats offered.

You only have to ship by the end of the next business day after receiving cleared payment. You still get your discounts and keep your status if the person waits 3 days to pay. then pays on Thursday morning. As long as tracking is uploaded by 5 on Friday your good.

Sorry, forgot to mention I only use USPS, convenient, fast, and cheap, at least for 99% of the itewms I sell.