There's got to be more to shipping than this, right?

[enchant1]

The fact that I can't find anyone else complaining about this leads me to believe that there's a solution that I haven't discovered.

I'm a little stunned to find out that paypal only provides five tiers of shipping based on weight. That is, you can set it up something like this:

1-5 lb - $5

6-10 lb - $10

11-15 lb - $14

16-20 lb - $19

21-25 lb - $23

And that's it. This seems mind-bogglingly limited to me. Why not just a simple formula like:

first pound: $5

ea addl pound: $3

The problem with the "only five" method is that at some point, people get free shipping regardless, or you set that last tier to something so astromonically high that no one will order that much.

Is there something I'm missing, or is the paypal shipping truly this braindead?

[DPCreations]

If you are using the PayPal shipping tool you need to select what type of shipping service you want before you get to weights.  PayPal uses Pitney-Bowes/USPS shipping options.

[enchant1]

I click on:

Profile

Profile and settings

My selling tools

Shipping preferences (update)

The only option I see for shippers are UPS and USPS.  It's neither of those.

Is there someplace else?

[DPCreations]

If you are shipping an item that has been paid, go to your transaction detial and select the option to print a label.

If it is not for a transction, then find the tools/shipping option from the main menu and use that.

You an even print Priority labels from USPS.com, but the cost is higher.

[enchant1]

I think you misunderstood my question.  Nothing needs to be printed.

[DPCreations]

Well, then I have no clue what you are asking and what you want to accomplish.

[enchant1]

Sorry, I don't know what I could change from the original post.  Nothing to do with printing labels.  It's all about calculating shipping costs.

[DPCreations]

OK, so where are you trying to calculate label prices, and why?  What is your goal?

[enchant1]

Perhaps I'm unclear on what "label" means. Maybe it has an alternate meaning in ecommerce that I'm unfamiliar with.  I remember when "tweet" was the sound a bird made and "friend" was a noun.

The process I'm referring to is this: 

User goes to website and picks several things to buy.  The price of the items are tabulated and the shipping costs, based upon the total weight of the order, is added to the cost.  The user agrees to the price, enters their credit card info, and the transaction is complete.  The vendor then takes charge of bringing the items to the shipper who sends them to the customer.

How does "label" figure into this process?

[DPCreations]

Label doesn't figure into it at all.  It's just calculated shipping at time of purchase.  The buyer pays the total, which includes any calculated shipping fee added to the price of the item.

At time of shipping, the seller then pays for the shipping label and ships the product.

What you are looking for is calculated shipping for your ecommerce site.

Generally your ecommerce site will include shipping options.  I think PayPal has calculated shipping also, but it wouldn't be integrated into your ecommerce site, generally.

What ecommerce site are you using for your shopping cart?