Anyone ever ship using media mail?

Wanting to list some albums on eBay and was wondering how Media Mail works. How much should I charge? Right now I have 2 Eagles albums listed with $4 shipping Media mail. Is it a flat fee? Or let's say I want someone back home to send me 25-35 albums using Media Mail, how much would that cost?

I thought ebay didn't let you put the shipping price at more than $3, unless that changed? I don't think its really more than that anyway especially for one cd. Media Mail is the cheapest. If you want to send 25-35 albums tho you might actually want to use one of those priority boxes. I believe its $10 for as much as you can fit in the box.

I work at the post office, you'd think Id know more hahaha but I haven't mailed anything in a while.

You are bound by weight restrictions on media mail. It's usually about 3 bucks. It does take much longer than other options. I've seen media mail items arrive in as little as 3 days and take as long as 3 weeks.

Looks like eBay limits it to 4 bucks. At least that's what everyone else uses when buying vinyl records. Basically I'm just wanting to make sure $4 is enough to cover for media mail.

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Well, it is added. If I want 10 bucks for something, I just list it for 10 minimum bid and charge 4 for shipping.

In my experience, shipping or receiving anything using media mail seems like an eternity. Like 2 to 3 weeks minimum. Yes, it's cheaper than first class, but takes longer.

Yeah, every time a media mail envelope shows up it's been like a week and a half since it shipped. For barely cheaper than regular first class and an ugly envelope I don't get the point. :p

Media rate mail makes a lot more sense if you're mailing books or music in a HEAVY bulk. The choice between a $6 media rate parcel and paying closer to $30 to go priority (the larger flat rate priority mail boxes def aren't cheap to ship) is kind of a no brainer.

I'll definitely second what everyone is saying about shipping delays. For most music, if you're shipping individual pieces and you package them efficiently, you can still get them under the wire for first class, which isn't much more expensive, ships faster and makes buyers much happier.

Hmm... How about shipping like 40 albums? Would media mail work for those at a cheap rate? The reason I ask this one is because a childhood friend died back in Nov and his wife asked if I wanted his albums. I said I did but I live in Florida and he lived in Tennessee. So instead of driving to get them I was gonna try and get her to ship them to me the cheapest way possible. (and I was asking about it because while I have used ebay for years I have never listed anything there for sale until recently and most of the vinyl records I have bought have been shipped media mail).

Finally used it and it was easy. Sold two items on eBay, one I used First Class, the other I used Media Mail. All I had to do was pay for the shipping (thru ebay) with the US Post Office and print out my own label. Then drop them off at the post office or give them to the carrier (my wife took them to the PO). I tracked the packages this morning and the Media Mail is already in Boston but the First Class is still in Pensacola, FL (I mailed them on Monday). In this case the media mail looks to be much faster. Both are being sent to New England/New York from Florida.

Sorry to hear about the circumstances that led to you coming in to those records, but it was nice of her to offer them to you.

I actually went and pulled up the Media Mail page. I don't know if this was always the way it was run, but it looks like they've changed the "rules" regarding this so that it must be "educational" media.

It also explains why magazines technically can't be shipped that way - the materials can't include ads.

https://www.usps.com/ship/media-mail.htm

It's cool that the media package is moving faster than the first class package, but I wouldn't rely on that. I've seen media packages sit for a week or more simply because it CAN wait that long based on their shipping estimates and ranges.

Runicen wrote:

Sorry to hear about the circumstances that led to you coming in to those records, but it was nice of her to offer them to you.  

I actually went and pulled up the Media Mail page.  I don't know if this was always the way it was run, but it looks like they've changed the "rules" regarding this so that it must be "educational" media.  

It also explains why magazines technically can't be shipped that way - the materials can't include ads.

https://www.usps.com/ship/media-mail.htm

It's cool that the media package is moving faster than the first class package, but I wouldn't rely on that.  I've seen media packages sit for a week or more simply because it CAN wait that long based on their shipping estimates and ranges.

yeah, she offered but I haven't gone to get them yet. Some of them were mine anyway... They came to Florida 2 years ago for vacation and at that time i didn't have a turntable, much less any vinyl. When they visited he said he just bought a table and was getting back into vinyl. So I told him "why dont you go by my parents house and you can have all my vinyl, i'll tell my dad you're coming". So a few weeks after their vacation he went to their house and picked them up. Now that he has passed away I really would like what was mine. And last summer when I got my turntable he offered to send me everything that was mine and I said "no, thats ok, I already gave them to you". But he said if anything ever happened to him he wanted me to have them. I told his wife that but they were seperated at the time he died and she's a little odd at times and a strong willed woman so I don't really like talking with her much. She is the kind of person where I could put the phone down and walk away from 15 minutes, come back and she would have never realized I wasn't even there. She dominates conversations but I really would like to get those albums.......

Back to Media Mail, yeah I saw where the rules applied to education materials but I doubt it is enforced. Since we have no good vinyl sources where I live I buy a lot from e-bay and 90% of it is shipped Media Mail.... I guess if they ever ask I can always say the White Album I just shipped off was "educational in baskmasking" or something stupid.