Shipping on ebay Comment (1 Viewer)

[tdubel]

As a hobby, I sell duplicates, etc. on ebay. Well, one thing that drives me crazy is the complaint on shipping. I try to the best of my ability put in a shipping charge that would cover East to West Domestic Shipping since i am in the East, that way it should always be fair, I also add a very small handling ($1 or 2).

I constantly get someone who pays $7.50 for shipping, they live closer to East, so say actual shipping is $4.95 plus $2 handling equals 6.95, then of course the "scream" about the $2. Now, if they live in CA, costs 7.80 plus $2 handling, so I lose all the way around, yet I dont scream!!!

Just drives me crazy. Now, Ebay's solution is to offer Free shipping and just increase the opening price of your item................hmmmmmmmm......that makes Ebay's fee higher, see where this is going. Ebay actually encourages the buyer to complain and drive all sellers to free shipping, therefore higher Ebay revenue, what a racket. No this is not a new revelation, I just was irritated enough to finally post it!

TD

 

[jac28]

I know a few guys (myself included) who have stopped selling on ebay.. I very much looking forward to the Treefrog auction site!

Jim

 

[maddadicus]

I know a few guys (myself included) who have stopped selling on ebay.. I very much looking forward to the Treefrog auction site!

Jim

I have also held off selling on Ebay lately, waiting for Treefrog. Michael

 

[glossman]

As I have said before, eBay needs to take much better care of the sellers.

The eBay platform seems stacked in favour of the buyers.

For the most part, sellers are left to fend for themselves.

I shall not even mention postage as it gets me all worked up.

Raymond.

*

 

[Toy Soldier Brigade]

There is a simple shipping calculator that you can configure and add to your auctions. Just plug in the weight. The bidder can check the rate for their location by entering their zip code or country.

 

[tdubel]

There is a simple shipping calculator that you can configure and add to your auctions. Just plug in the weight. The bidder can check the rate for their location by entering their zip code or country.

Nah, tried that, doesn't work when you have multiple purchases, it becomes a cluster%### and where do you recover any handling? Being that I am a hobbyist, I am not willing to fully suck up the listing fee, final value fee and paypal fee, jeez how much percent is that? As a business, I would have a gross margin to absorb some of that, as a hobbyist, I just want my cash from the sale and the item to go to a good home!

TD

 

[Toy Soldier Brigade]

Well for multiple purchases you can pack and weight the items. Go to the USPS site. Get the correct shipping rate and plug it into the final invoice. Truthfully if I see an auction with a handling fee I don't even bother bidding on it. eBay should remove that option altogether. As far as eBay fees go, you have to play to pay to sell those items.

 

[Njja]

Tom its tough, but I still list my shipping fees and have not had the complaints I used to have when my shipping was $4.95 in the USA. I believe
"most" buyers understand that shipping charges have gone through the ceiling. Perhaps you have had a few people a little unreasonable.

Reguarding other "auction" sites.....if they don't have the traffic, or the
people all expect "bargins" you will just be wasting your time.

As an example I listed in the classified section a LAH40 recently for $300 this item has brought over $495 numerious times yet I had no interest.....it would seem that unless you are willing to "give" something away your wasting your
time listing it here.

If treefrogs auction site develops the same reputation.......well good luck.

 

[tdubel]

Tom its tough, but I still list my shipping fees and have not had the complaints I used to have when my shipping was $4.95 in the USA. I believe
"most" buyers understand that shipping charges have gone through the ceiling. Perhaps you have had a few people a little unreasonable.

Reguarding other "auction" sites.....if they don't have the traffic, or the
people all expect "bargins" you will just be wasting your time.

As an example I listed in the classified section a LAH40 recently for $300 this item has brought over $495 numerious times yet I had no interest.....it would seem that unless you are willing to "give" something away your wasting your
time listing it here.

If treefrogs auction site develops the same reputation.......well good luck.

Nj,
I agree. Ya know, the greatest thing about selling toy soldiers, is most you deal with are perfect. I agree with you on price. If I have a rare piece, I want what I want for it!

As for TSBrigade, that is your choice regarding handling, each his own. I build mine into my shipping cost as ebay advises me to do, so that is my choice. As a buyer, you have to pay to play too and I do that quite often. I don't look at shipping/handling as a separate charge, when I buy, I look at the total I am going to have to pay, if I stopped to worry about $2 here and there, life would not be too fun. I will not miss a Rare Trophy item or K&C or Figarti just because a seller has a charge on the item. If the total deal works, then who cares, I am not going to shoot my self in the foot per se over the principal of shipping charges.

TD

 

[tdubel]

Well for multiple purchases you can pack and weight the items. Go to the USPS site. Get the correct shipping rate and plug it into the final invoice. Truthfully if I see an auction with a handling fee I don't even bother bidding on it. eBay should remove that option altogether. As far as eBay fees go, you have to play to pay to sell those items.

One other comment I forgot in earlier post. At the rate Ebay is going, you will not have to worry about paying exact shipping from USPS. IT will not be a viable option if they decide not to accept Delivery COnfirmation as proof of delivery and require signatures. It will be a UPS/Fedex world at that point and wait to you see what single shipping charges that starts! You will never know what the real shipping is as UPS is all over the map with discounts, etc.

Pay to play eh?

 

[Deitz]

Shipping and handling charges do not bother me, I just figure that as a cost that is factored into the total price and bid accordingly. However, I will not let a couple of dollars stop me from bidding on an item I really want.

 

[tdubel]

Shipping and handling charges do not bother me, I just figure that as a cost that is factored into the total price and bid accordingly. However, I will not let a couple of dollars stop me from bidding on an item I really want.

Dietz,

Thanks for stating my point in plain concise words, that is exactly how I feel. Life is too short to sweat the small change!

Again, talking about charges I have for shipping, some I come out a buck ahead, some I come out a buck behind, to me not a big deal. I just had a buyer rave about the item, etc, then give me grief over a buck. I encouraged him to return it to me and I would be happy to refund his purchase price due to his dissatisfaction. Funny, never heard back!

TD

 

[wds0855]

tdubel - I agree with you.
I sell as a hobby also.
Sometimes I come out ahead on s&h sometimes behind.
Bottom line is though you cannot make everyone happy all the time.

And did you see now that you CANNOT even charge for insured shipping.
So if you have a delicate, expensive item, that you would recommend or require insured shipping for you cannot mention insured shipping in your ebay ad and you cannot charge the seller for any insured shipping.
You can still insure the item though, but to cover the extra cost you have to increaser your selling price (which means ebay gets a bigger profit and you are charged more) or you have to increase your selling price.

This came out in a newsmagazine that I received in the mail last week from ebay. The ebay magazine had no contact information in it whatsoever though. So if you had questions there was no phone number or email address.

I am convinced ebay is being run by idiots anymore.

 

[Spitfrnd]

.....Reguarding other "auction" sites.....if they don't have the traffic, or the
people all expect "bargins" you will just be wasting your time.

As an example I listed in the classified section a LAH40 recently for $300 this item has brought over $495 numerious times yet I had no interest.....it would seem that unless you are willing to "give" something away your wasting your
time listing it here.
....

That certainly has not been my experience as a buyer here. All the prices I have paid have been fair but not "gifts" in the least. Ebay has a relatively huge audience so demand for specialized items cannot be so easily predicted by comparison.

 

[Toy Soldier Brigade]

And did you see now that you CANNOT even charge for insured shipping./QUOTE]

I just send out a few K&C pieces and had no problem adding insurance to the buyers invoice. Some buyers take and some don't.

 

[tdubel]

And did you see now that you CANNOT even charge for insured shipping./QUOTE]

I just send out a few K&C pieces and had no problem adding insurance to the buyers invoice. Some buyers take and some don't.

That is an upcoming change, they are no longer allowing the addition or option of buyer paid insurance, it is being banned starting September 22. Their solution is for you to add the insurance cost to your shipping charge (but you cannot say it includes insured shipping) or raising your price(minium bid) which therefore raises Ebay's revenue!

Bottom line, if any buyer thinks ebay is protecting you from the big bad sellers, think again! Like I said, when they not longer accept USPS Delivery Confirmation as proof of delivery, it will be interesting, I have heard that is their next target.

TD

 

[Njja]

Heres another Gem to think about....you purchase insurance item arrives damaged....buyer files a Paypal or Ebay claim and is given a full refund. You can't file damaged claim since you didn't receive the item buyer must file it.
If he doesn't want to be bothered you now are out the money and out your item.

I think everyone (or most sellers) should pick a week and buycott ebay like they did in February, the stock market took note and that wasn't good for them. Sooner but probably later they are going to wise up!

 

[Gideon]

eBay is actually doing away with insurance all together.

I am canceling my UPS account and going all USPS.

I use worldship (ups' shipping application). It does not factor in the residential charge nor fuel surcharge nor any other surcharge.

I was twice billed $6 because the UPS driver called the recipient of the package to tell them to come out front to accept it. I got billed $12 for this. I argued and it was refunded but I don't have time to chase after $2, 4 and 6 buck charge. If the package is in a rural area - outside of normal delivery, that could be an extra $5 to $10.

I never truly know what I've paid for a package to go out until I get my weekly invoice and that's billed automatically. It is hard to dispute a charge when the company has already taken my money.

I do not understand eBays logic in messing with how people ship products and making sure the item is protected in case of damage.

When I recently spoke with PayPal about a "not as described" claim, they told me I had to initiate the claim process. I went online to cite the UPS guidelines on insurance claims and told the paypal rep that the recipient must. He said "no, the buyer has to". I rose my voice level and he issued me a refund for the money I had just lost on the bogus claim.

eBay is rigging their own system to fail. Good on them.

To the point of other auction sites - some of my items get many hundreds of page views from unique ip addresses. The traffic drives the bids. I have yet to see a niche auction site lock themselves into a niche successfully except for etsy.com and audiogon.com .

 

[gk5717]

For me Ebay is a love hate relationship. Where else can I unload unwanted toy soldiers? I can't take them to a bank and cash them in. I just sold an item for over $700 but the buyer took a week to pay and all the time I'm stewing! Elation over the final bid, then aggrevation waiting to see if I get paid.
Unless I change my collecting habits I have nothing left to sell on ebay.
I'm with Tom on postage, it's listed, if the bidder don't like it don't bid.
Gary

 

[Toy Soldier Brigade]

Thanks for the info. I was not aware that the insurance option would go away this month. This kind of eBay crap is exactly why I moved my business 100% away from eBay and into my own website seven years ago. I have been selling very little on eBay these days.