Rafael Zimberoff is ShipRush Product Manager and an all-around guru on the topic of shipping. We invited Rafael to submit a guest column for today's AuctionBytes-Update issue to share his perspective on the latest shipping news online sellers should know.

The Shipping News, by Rafael Zimberoff
The new year approaches. Santa has more than just goodies for the kids this year. There are packages colored purple, brown and blue for the shippers among you.

The traditional holiday fare is on the sideboard: New rates for 2010. FedEx and UPS do this ritual every year, of course. In November they announce that rate changes are coming, and then in December the details are published. You can expect the usual price hikes of a few percentage points, and some "tuning" (er, changes and increases) to the surcharges and fees they charge.

FedEx rates effective January 4, 2010, are found online here.

UPS rates effective January 4, 2010 are found online here.

The majority of eBay shipments move via the Postal Service, and in January, some rate and service changes take effect at the Postal Service. (Are you accustomed to the frequent postal changes yet?) The rates, effective January 4, 2010, are found online here.

Several of the changes affect only "Commercial Plus" customers. We won't go into the Commercial Plus story here, as that is for folks who ship 400 or more domestic Priority Mail pieces a day (you know who you are!).

Of some interest is that the Parcel Select service will become available for non-presort shippers, with no minimum. This service has steeply discounted Delivery Confirmation, and so helps reduce shipping cost. Other services from the postal service are wiggling, but not by much. A Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope goes DOWN a nickel to $4.90, and a Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box continues to be $4.95.

Many other Priority Mail services are going up, an average of 3.3 percent.

An interesting development is the growth of "hybrid" shipping solutions. These use a private company to move the mail from your location to one of the main postal distribution centers. Final delivery is done by the Postal Service. Many of the companies that do this are specialized, but now FedEx and UPS are entering the game.

FedEx recently launched new options for their SmartPost service. The benefit is that there seem to be no minimum volume requirements, and shipments are picked up by your FedEx Ground driver, along with the rest of your FedEx Ground shipping. Sellers tell us the benefit of SmartPost is that it is lower cost than Ground shipping, has no residential and other surcharges, and is trackable from door to door.

So what should you do in 2010 to save on shipping? At the risk of sounding like a broken record (er, corrupt MP3?), the top lessons for shippers continue to be:

• Use First Class parcels to the hilt. (Priority Mail really isn't any better for a 10-oz shipment!).
• Pack smartly and compactly to avoid excess Dimensional Weight.
• Make a worksheet of different shipping costs for different carriers and services. Revise it every January and post it on your wall.
• Use a smart shipping system. You should never copy/paste an address or jump through import/export steps.

Rafael Zimberoff is ShipRush Product Manager at Z-Firm, which has been making parcel shipping software since 1998.