Best Postal Scale For Ebay

I am currently using an inexpensive scale meant for weighing food items to weight light boxes in order to print out a shipping label via ebay. I've noticed that sometimes my scale is accurate and sometimes it can be off (always underweight) by up to 2 ounces vs the scale at the Post Office. It really varies compared to the USPS scale, which is unusual. So far my weights are in the middle range (e.g. 2.4 to 2.7) so if there is a variation I am not over 3lbs for example. What would happen if my home kitchen scale indicates 2.9 pounds, and then I buy and print out en ebay label for that weight, but when I go to the Post Office to drop it off and get an acceptance scan on their scale it weighs 3 pounds and 1 ounce? The label has already been printed and paid for. Will I be able to cancel the label order and start over?

It seems like having a package weight XYZ lbs and 15.4 ounces for example is bad omen because not all scales are the same.

I did some research on postal scales and the consensus is this scale in the link below provides the best value for e-commerce sellers as far as price and accuracy. Do you concur?

https://www.amazon.com/ACCUTECK-W-8...271538?psc=1

Sounds good to me.

The blurb notes the capability for calibration which means to me that it should be calibrated (with 5 lbs. or more), to start, then once in a long while. That means you need to keep a standard like (say) an older Scott catalog volume that has been weighed with its weight recorded.

I use this one which seems to work pretty well.

https://scalewarehouseandmore.com/b...-x-0-002-lb/

Without going into details about what is the most accurate scale; no matter the scale one needs accurate calibration weight(s) to calibrate a scale. Grams are common, oz/lbs a bit harder to find.

There are old balance beam postal scales on ebay which when undamaged do not need calibration weights.

I use both of these styles, one for letters to 1lb, the other to 70 lbs:



I also have and use Toledo postal and parcel post scales. In general, I have one scale of some sort which cover all the parcel post rate changes from 1-1-1913 to the 1950s.

ParcelPostGuy: Great images of old scales! Based on your user name, do you prefer using Parcel Post (now USPS Retail Ground) over other classes of mail? Based on the recent airline traffic delays of last week, do you think sometimes that class of mail is more effective?

If household humidity varies seasonally, so doe the weight of the catalog.

You can also take a piece of scrap or metal of a couple of pounds to the post office, have them weight it and them go home and adjust you scale to match.




Remember, that the label and/or stamps added to a package increases the weight. More than once I would have the PO weigh the item get the weight of XX.95 oz and then I put the stamps or label on which pushes the weight up, but you are not responsible for the added weight after the PO verifies it.

Occasionally our weights don't agree with the PO. We use ebay shipping labels and a few weeks after the mistake ebay takes an adjustment from our managed payment account.

My name is what it is because I have been chasing and specializing in all things Scott Q and JQ with expansion into all things parcel post into the late 1960s when Air Parcel Post became Priority Mail.

Me, I mail what ever is the least expensive plus which ever services are appropriate for the contents such as Certified, Registered, Insured or tracking.

Edit: I began Parcel Post in 1983 after I started Special Handling in 1982 or a bit earlier.

For calibrating smaller weights, the US nickel 5-cent piece works well - it weighs exactly 5 grams, which has not varied since they were first minted in 1866. It probably wouldn't be practical to stack hundreds of them for weights over a few ounces, but 40 of them - a standard roll from the bank - or even a few more - wouldn't be too difficult even on smaller scales. 50 nickels/250g is a just a tad shy of 9 ounces, which would cover most shipments consisting solely of stamps. 200 nickels or 5 rolls would weigh exactly 1 kilogram, if the scale is large enough to hold them.

Wear on the nickels shouldn't be an issue as the amount of metal lost to wear over the years would be negligible, due to the hardness of the metal.

I like the Becknell scale above picture , used it the past 4 years and it has been spot on with the USPS scales,only once did it need a minor adjustment .

I believe the worst case would be that the Post Office clerk asked you to pay for additional postage. Which could be a actual stamp or two but I expect it would be a machine label.

Parcelpostguy and TheArtfulHinger, if you read the ad for the scale in the OP, it says to calibrate with a weight of 5 pounds or more.

It would be bad enough to haul an older Scott catalog (5+ lbs.) to get weighed for a calibration piece, but 5 lbs of dead weight in metal is worse. Try it.

Will humidity make the weight vary more than (say) an ounce? Even if two ounces, then the variance using an older Scott catalog is 1/40 or less of any weight total. This is hardly significant vs. any weight breaks in the rate scale, no?

Obsolete Triner balance scales (to 1 lb.) are only good if they were not abused. Hard to tell that before buying one today online; Some of the .ones in post office lobbies weren't very good. Plus you are going to be charged a fair bit for shipping. It's easy to get free shipping for the electronic scale bought on Amazon. And one single unit also works for items over 1 lb.