Hi Flint, I found the error in PayPal's calculator. It has to do with a special USPS pricing spec that USPS calls balloon pricing. Parcel Post "Balloon Price" Items that weigh less than 20 pounds and measure more than 84 inches but not more than 108 inches in combined length and girth (distance around the thickest part) pay the 20-pound Parcel Post® zoned price. Length is the longest dimension. Girth is the distance around the thickest part. i.e. to calculate girth take the two shorter dimensions, double each then add them together. Your package was shipping at Zone 5 rates. Zones range from 1 to 8, based on the distance the package is being shipped, so zone 5 is for packages shipping mid-range distances. The zone 5 rate for a 4 lb. package is $9.20 and this is what PayPal should have charged. Add 19 cents for delivery confirmation and your total should have been $9.39. You could have "tricked" PayPal into giving you the correct rate simply by not telling PayPal you had a "Large Package". Just because one of the dimensions (length) is over 12" doesn't by itself increase the price from the standard rate. It just (arbitrarily?) triggers the "balloon pricing" calculation after prompting you to enter the dimensions. The balloon pricing check (combined length & girth) for your package should have been: 16 + (15 x 2 + 13 x 2) = 16 + 56 = 72 inches, which is less than the 84 inch threshold, so no balloon pricing. It appears that PayPal may not even be doing the balloon pricing calculation, because I can't see any way that they could get to over 84 inches, even if they used the two biggest dimensions for girth that still is only 75 inches! 13 + (16x2 + 15x2) = 13 + 62 = 75 So I assume that when you tell PayPal you have a "Large" package they always assume that means you have a "Balloon" package! The Zone 5 rate for a 20 pound package is $16.94 - add 0.19 for delivery confirm and your total is $17.13 Thus your package has "ballooned" from four to twenty pounds! PayPal needs to pop some balloons in their shipping calculator! Now the question is whether PayPal passes the entire postage charge on to USPS. If they do, then USPS would be the sole beneficiary of this overcharging. But if PayPal keeps some of the postage charges (as a commission or whatever) then both USPS and PayPal could be beneficiaries of these overpayments. PayPal may have some special contract with USPS because they only charge 19 cents for delivery confirm (vs. the 80 cent retail walkup charge at the post office). If not then PayPal would be eating the 61 cent difference between 19 and 80 cents. I wonder whether any such contract would be public information?
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