Hmm my preferred carrier is still USPS, so I think Amazon is just broken putting this UPS nonsense on top.
There is a difference between Preferred Carrier and Preferred Shipping Services.
Preferred Carrier should put USPS on top but it is not limited to USPS being shown. Amazon will still show the lowest cost Carrier on top (first). Notice that we only have one Preferred Carrier (you could have USPS & UPS or FedEx or any combination of carriers).
When Preferred Shipping Service is set (with just ONE preferred shipping service like we have in the image), then Amazon will show that Preferred Shipping Service on top (first). Amazon will also use this as the shipping service to set the estimated deliver by date for the customer.
I have USPS and Priority for Standard shipping, but there is no way to change the service for Free Shipping, which is the main issue.
Ok ā¦ the issue is with the SSA template set up. Remove Priority shipping as part of Standard Shipping.
Set you template for Standard Shipping like this ā¦
Note:
If you donāt want to do Puerto Rico, then use the āeditā on Region Preferences
When you come to the Premium Shipping, leave it blank ā¦
When you come to the Review of what you set up, it should look like this ā¦
Now you would ācreate the templateā and get to this ā¦ make sure Prime Delivery and Same Day are NOT checked.
We do not charge for our Standard Shipping so we UNCHECK the Free Economy.
In the Standard Shipping, set your pricing if you charge. Be sure to check as Amazon prefills pricing in on Alaska / Hawaii. We set ours to zero. If you want to add the military APO, FPO, AE, then use the Add New Region under the Standard Shipping (and remember to set your pricing).
The next image shows Expedited and Two Day Delivery. We do not offer them so ours is not selected. We have highlighted and marked the areas that may need changing should you use these two services. We suggest that you UNCHECK both services as neither is covered by OTDR protection.
This final image shows the remaining shipping options ā¦ One Day and International Shipping. Most of us will leave these UNCHECKED and those that do use these might want to set up a separate template as not all of your item may require these shipping settings.
Remember to click the SAVE button at the bottom.
Make sure the items that you want to use this SSA template are assigned to the template.
You still have the ability to use UPS, FedEx and all of the other USPS shipping services with these settings. What this does is make sure that USPS Ground Advantage is the first and prioritized shipping service offered by Amazon Buy Shipping AND that you will have Claim Protection and OTDR Protection for your USPS Ground Advantage labels.
These settings work as we always have USPS Ground Advantage available AND always have both Claims Protection and OTDR Protection.
thanks for your help. gonna go thru this slowly and carefully this evening!
Yesterday when I noticed UPS lable was the first choice Amazon was offering, I was able to check to see what I set up as my carriers choices (No prioritizing, just who you want to show in your label list). I think there is a link/tab in āBuying labelā page to do add or delete carriers (I donāt have any FBM order right now to ship, so canāt check that page to be sure). I do want to be able to see the UPS choices, so yesterday I didnāt try to delete the UPS from my list of carriers.
If UPS label is going to be 1 cents less than USPS label, the UPS label is going to be the first chocie in Buy shipoing from now on. Guess I just need to pay more attention to what Amazon is showing as label choices from now on, and not automatically click the first one.
BTW, I didnāt have AHT and SSA set up.
Amazon buy shipping Ground saver showing 1 cent cheaper for most of my shipments today but I would never use it because:
- Claims would be impossible.
- Likely to have bogus adjustments with no accountability.
- My USP options for drop off have to be before 10am for my area and would likely not get the arrival scan until next day.
- Require a separate drop off from USPS
Not to mention the upcoming forced DD+7 transition and how UPS Ground Saver will work with that. Would the savings be worth waiting the extra time for payment due to the slow delivery?
New warning on PirateShip:
Warning: Only hand UPS Ground Saver packages to UPS or they may not be delivered.
I mean I knew that, but now there is a popup warning and a warning above the print label window
Hereās a reason to avoid UPS ground saver since Amazon does not do a good job verifying addresses.
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/451e08ad-0214-4ebe-ac71-5f33f2c60f46?ref=forums_sc_homepage_ml_451e08ad-0214-4ebe-ac71-5f33f2c60f46&communicationDeliveryId=b95579e6-b605-477e-8f07-01219562eeb0
Reading this made me feel better about just chosen to pay $2 more for a USPS GA label than use the UPS Ground Saver that was Amazonās first choice of label.
Another reason for not using UPS Ground Saver was it doesnāt include delivery comformation.
I have not checked lately but last I checked it was only pennies over the cost of GA. But if not deliverable, UPS charges regular ground rates to return.
Today for a under 3lb package to Zone 7, UPS Ground Saver was 10 dollar something, USPS GA was just under $12.
One thing I was surprised and wondering why this USPS GA label was only $11.95 when USPS posted Commercial rate for the same package would be $14.36. I just hope itās because Amazon negotiated a better rate, not because they forgot to adjust the rate for the cost change happened on April 26. Hate to get one of those āOtherā charge later for Amazonās mistake.
Negotiated rate ā¦
USPS GA Commercial Zone 5 for 4oz is $5.83
Amazon USPS Ga Zone 5 for 4oz is $5.48
USPS GA Zone 5 (USPS.com with our login) for 4oz is $5.43
We would note that we did not negotiate any rate with USPS but given this rate as a business from USPS with our account. We are currently working on making sure we have everything set up correctly so we can connect our account to Amazon and get our USPS pricing with Amazon Buy Shipping.
Amazon did the rate change on April 26, 2026 on time this time.
Weāre kind of surprised that there hasnāt been any complaints on the price increases.
Zone 5 GA 4oz now is $5.48
Zone 5 GA 4oz prior to this hike was $5.07
Zone 5 GA 4oz last July 13, 2025 was $4.41
So in 9 months, USPS Zone 5 GA 4oz has increased $1.07 through Amazon Buy Shipping.
As a side note, we would suggest keeping a Professional account as long as you are doing 30 orders a month. At 40 orders a month, a Professional account is a wash when you compare the $39.99 monthly fee to the individual $0.99 per order fee. Any volume over 40 orders a month, you are saving money with the $39.99 monthly fee over the individual $0.99 order fee. Having the Professional account to keep control of your shipping templates and shipping costs is worth the monthly $39.99 fee to have the Professional account.
For your example, Amazonās label is only $0.38 cheaper.
For the label I purchased today,
Amazonās USPS GA for Zone 7, 2lb 11oz, was $11.95,
USPS GA Commercial posted on their website, Zone 7, under 3 lb is $14.36
The Amazon label was $2.41 cheaper. Didnāt that seems to be too much?
Thanks for looking into that. Good to know I donāt have to wait for the āOtherā shoe to drop.
I just confirmed on one of my UPS GS shipments that it does include delivery confirmation. When I check the detailed tracking, though, it says āUPS will be in your area and will deliver your package a day early.ā It may be that when UPS handles the GS package end-to-end that delivery confirmation is available. One trick Iāve used for determining if UPS will handle end-to-end or hand off to USPS for delivery is the estimated delivery date Amazon provides: If date is the same as UPS Ground, then typically UPS handles end-to-end whereas if the GS date is later, then USPS is likely doing the delivery. I try to stay away from those that might involve USPS due to their horrendous track record.