Cheapest way to ship small lightweight items
I've been a seller for 26 years and a lot of what I sell is small items like jewelry in a padded envelope. Usually 2-5 ounces. I always use eBay shipping but lately Ground Advantage is extremely expensive IMO for the size and weight of the item. I do know about the Ground Advantage rate changes making heavier items cheaper (!).
Anyway, today I started listing a pair of wired EarPods. I'm shipping them in a small box for safe shipping. 4 ounces. Ebay's calculator said $13! WTF? EDIT: Just put them in a padded envelope and got them down to barely 3 ounces. Cost would be $7.90-9.45. I was gonna have free shipping but it wouldn't be worth my while, even with eBay's discount.
My question: what do other people use to ship small items? Other than the EarPods I'm selling a few pieces of jewelry (I'm a casual seller - just stuff from my house. I don't have an eBay store or anything like that.) I don't see any option on the eBay calculator for 1st Class anymore, just in certain categories like cards and stickers or decals. Is there a way to get 1st Class through the calculator? I've read that some people use Pirate Ship but I have no idea how that works or if it would even be cheaper (for me AND the buyer).
Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.