Shipping charges for ebay sales

[cobraman]

This is not another post crabbing about what sellers charge. This one is about shipping charges I charge. Lately I have listed and sold some built models on ebay. I was running out of room for my Cobra collection and something had to go. I charge a flat rate of 8.00 sending it priority with tracking number. The actual cost postage wise seems to be around 7.50 to 7.80 or so. I have had a couple people say I am overcharging. I don't believe so because I think they are missing the bigger picture. Shipping cost is just one part of the expense I have when I ship. I buy rolls of bubble wrap at 5 bucks a roll. I can get 5 cars shipped with one roll. I also buy shipping peanuts at a cost of only maybe 25 cents per shipment. I also figure I spend money for gas driving my F 150 to the PO. I feel the real charge is more than the 8 bucks I charge. If anything I think I give a pretty good value for the 8 bucks. Opinions welcome. Thanks guys !

[bbowser]

The buyer knows ahead of time what the shipping charge is, if they feel it's too much then they shouldn't bid!  I think $8 is quite reasonable.  Some sellers start with a ridiculous low starting price but then want $15-25 for shipping, I will not buy from them on principle alone.  

[Jon Haigwood]

Sounds fair to me , I would pay that 

 

[blunc]

The buyer knows ahead of time what the shipping charge is, if they feel it's too much then they shouldn't bid!  I think $8 is quite reasonable.  Some sellers start with a ridiculous low starting price but then want $15-25 for shipping, I will not buy from them on principle alone.  

x2

[Dragline]

it's a good deal. I just sold an old Bang & Olufsen turntable for parts. It's in good nick with cartridge [which are expensive]. I had 15.00 shipping and got some snide comments. It was won and it cost me 27.89 to send it to Florida. I made a few buck but geez.  I buy and sell comics on eBay and i get all kinds of slack for my shipping charges. I'm an expert at this point [been on eBay since 1999] so i know what the costs are. Some folks are just not seeing the reality of it all.

[unclescott58]

Sounds fair to me , I would pay that 

 

X2

Scott

 

[vintagercr]

I think it sounds fair, especially if it shows right on the box the postage was $7.50-$7.80.

[Ace-Garageguy]

The world is full of cheap idiots who want something for nothing and don't understand the cost or value of anything.

The only one you're screwing is yourself. I honestly think you should charge enough to cover YOUR expenses completely, and ignore the fools who complain.

You could always explain the charges and material and fuel costs in your listings, but in my experience, people rarely read anything (and if they do read they often don't comprehend), so trying to fairly justify your charges in writing is usually pointless anyway.

But...at least if you explain in the listing, then when some bozo leaves you negative feedback or carps, you have a protected position from which to defend yourself.

[Craig Irwin]

The charge is i n line with the actual cost involved, I do not dispute that. But this is why I buy very little on line, the cost of the item and the shipping cost added together exceed what I can buy things for locally

[TooOld]

Very fair price ! I used to charge $8 per kit but raised it to $9 last year . Being in Florida I can ship a kit to the SE for about $8 and to the NE for about $9 , but anything west of the Mississippi goes up to $10-11 . Except for California ,Oregon , and Washington which costs me around $12-14 . It's a BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH shoot depending where the buyer lives and lately I've been losing money so from now on I'm charging $10 per kit , if they don't like it too bad . From what I can tell most sellers are charging at least $12 .

I agree with Bill , you should charge enough to cover your expenses and not worry about the bozo who complains . And you owe no one an explanation why you charge a certain amount .

[GrumpyGrowly]

I'm with Bill and Bob.

My life not easy right now. I work every day to pay my way.

Charge to cover. If they can't afford it,,,life is tough.

 

[Mark]

If the shipping charges are spelled out in the listing, the buyer shouldn't gripe after the fact.  You want free shipping, go to Amazon.  With eBay, I look at the total including shipping.  High shipping charges knock a couple of bucks off of my high bid, low shipping adds a couple of bucks, simple as that.

I buy CDs on eBay a lot.  Most times, I end up buying from the same vendor (they almost always have the lowest price) and that vendor ships free.  Sometimes, I don't know how they're making anything on my stuff.

[niteowl7710]

I just paid $88 to ship over my most recent HLJ order, which sounds outrageous until you realize that breaks down to $6.28/kit. The USPS can't touch that rate, but I also ship in bulk.

Like the old retail ads used to say - How do well sell so low? VOLUUUUUUUME!

[slusher]

Ray compared to other people selling built models your really cheap. You can never please everyone but you should cover your cost of material that you need to ship brother..

[CometMan]

The charge is i n line with the actual cost involved, I do not dispute that. But this is why I buy very little on line, the cost of the item and the shipping cost added together exceed what I can buy things for locally

I totally agree. Also, buying locally, I can inspect the item before I buy it, have it in my hands right then, and not have to worry about it getting lost or damaged in transit, or stolen from my porch if it arrives when I'm not home.

[1930fordpickup]

Ray you are not charging enough if you pack them correctly. 

[THarrison351]

I sold over 100 kits last year on eBay and listed my kits with an average of $12.00 depending on size. I would combine shipping for multi-purchases and then tell the buyer the actual cost or refund the difference through Paypal. Overall, after eBay and Paypal took their fees, I lost money on shipping and handling from all the kits sold. To this day I don't know how sellers advertise low shipping rates of less than $10.00 a kit. 

[cobraman]

Thank you all. You pretty much confirmed what I had thought. I wanted to keep my shipping charges fair but I guess I should bump them up a bit and ignore those who complain.

[Jhedir6]

HAHAHHAHHAHAHA $8 I WISH.....try living north of the border.

I bought a kit from a guy on ebay, here in Canada  a couple weeks ago. He only lives a little over an hour drive away, shipping was $15+ CDN via Canada Post. That's without a tracking number. I know price varies on size and shape but I'd love to be paying $8 for a kit to be shipped to me within my own country. The only reason I bought that kit and paid the shipping was the seller had a ridiculously low buy out of $9 CDN. I think the actual charge to me was $16+$9 for the kit so $25. Even if I go to Micheals and use a 40-50% off coupon with my gas the $25 for a kit shipped was still a small deal. Now had shipping been $8 would of been a really good deal. 

For those that complain about $8 for domestic shipping Ray.....tell 'em to take a long walk off a short pier.

David

[Dennis Lacy]

Anything that I sell on eBay (or anywhere else) I find a box ahead of time, put the item in it along with packing paper / news paper, weigh it, measure the box and punch that info into the postage calculators on eBay or the carriers site and charge the buyer exactly what it costs me. I add a line at the end of the description stating that shipping charges are exact and list the package dimensions and weight. That way people can go double check the cost for themselves and see that I'm not trying to hose them on postage. They can then decide if they want the item bad enough to pay the postage.

There used to be a pretty big margin of cost between the Post Office and carriers like FedEx and UPS. That margin is a lot smaller these days.

 

[espo]

I feeling is that anyone that thinks $8 is to much doesn't have a firm grip of reality. If anything I don't see how you can cover your real expenses at $8.

[gtx6970]

I figure postage costs into my final bid or buy it now price. If it fits in my price range I'll make a  bid/buy it now. If not I look elsewhere or  wait for another one to pop up ,,,, and they usually do within a few days

 

Ive sold a few kits on Facebook pages over the past few weeks and on a few , Ive been burned on postage costs. I figure postage costs at home using usps.com ,,only to find once I get to the post office I cant mail my box at parcel post, it has to go priority mail for some odd reason or another which is almost 50% higher.

[cobraman]

Ya know. I didn't even figure in the ebay fees you get charged every month. I really need to rethink my shipping charges. Thanks guys.