Amazon Still Offers First Class Label alongside USPS Ground Advantage

A seller shared a screenshot that shows Amazon continues to offer USPS First Class shipping labels, even though it’s been deprecated, alongside the option to print USPS Ground Advantage (GA) shipping labels.

The options showed both FCPS and USPS GA as costing $4.13, but the delivery estimates were very different. Amazon displayed USPS Ground Advantage as taking 7 days compared to 3 days for First Class.

Amazon also displayed a third option: USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope, which was more expensive ($7.60), but displayed the same 3-day delivery time as First Class.

The USPS still allows First Class shipping labels but treats them as Ground Advantage during an extended grace period through the end of October. Since that’s the case, sellers should be wary of the promised 3-day delivery for “First Class” labels displayed on Amazon.

The seller said Amazon displayed the three options for mailing a 4-ounce poly mailer – and said the First Class option “does print a label.”

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.