Shipping Costs

New here and just got back into stamps. I find myself buying a lot off ebay. Is it just me or do others find it totally ridiculous the cost some sellers want to charge to stick a stamp in a envelope and drop it in the mail box . Some are looking at $10 even as high as $20 to mail with USPS to Canada. I don't mind $5 for there time. Do you think some sellers don't care about the price of the stamp but are looking at making there money on shipping?

I find that shipping costs vary considerably among sellers. However, anytime you are getting shipped across country borders, prepare for the worst. The cost is going to be high. Within a country, I do think that the costs should be reasonable.

Oh, forgive me.---Welcome to the forum. Lots of good people here.

Welcome irishjack!

Shipping costs certainly do vary considerably from seller to seller. It is a marketing strategy for some sellers to offer stamps at what looks like an extremely low price, but to then inflate the cost of shipping to offset any financial losses. I know when I first started making purchases on ebay I didn't pay nearly as close attention to the shipping costs as I do now. Nowadays, I often pass some auction items by without even a bid based on what I already now will be too much money paid once shipping is factored in.

Thankfully there are sellers on the other end of the spectrum who ship domestically and even internationally free of charge. Some of my favorite sellers whom I buy from regularly ship for free. The best international example I know of on ebay is "matthijs_philatelie" in Belgium who mails internationally with free shipping/handling regardless of how much the winning bid is. I won an item this past week from him that cost me $1.83, which is less than the shipping costs he'll pay to mail the item to me. What a deal!

So I guess the moral of the story is there are sellers out there with exorbitant shipping fees and there are others out there who are willing to ship for free. Just need to pay close attention before making the bid.

What kills me is receiving my purchase in a 10 cent envelope and a 75 cent stamp on it and pay 10 dollars for shipping. Oh did I forget the cut up cornflake box for protection lol. Oh well one day one of these fools will accidentally use one of there Zepps for postage .

Hi,
For me the cost is simply not just the regular postage cost but due to unscrupulous buyers on ebay you are forced send recorded signed for and have insurance which bumps up the price.
It isn't anywhere close to what some people try to charge though and these high postal charges have to be justified as per the ebay's own policy.
There is no excuse though when you receive as mentioned a 10p envelope and regular 1st or worse, 2nd class postage.

BTW - there is a section of the forum specifically for ebay and online auction related topics.

Welcome IrishJack. I've found the same thing, and like many others was taken early on by not looking at shipping costs. Now if I see a deal, but they want to charge me $15 for shipping (an example, but it has happened) I just move on to the next item. Nothing is worth it. And I think paying those charges just encourages these sellers to keep going.
I sell on ebay, but keep my costs to a minimum, basically to cover postage, ebay/paypal charges. I buy my envelopes at the dollar store. But I do admit to using cut up cornflake boxes. Recycle recycle recycle. I'm not out to make a profit by any means.
I think I've purchase from that Belgian seller a couple of times as well. Good deals are there to be had. Just have to be diligent.

edit- I should also point out that when I sell on ebay (or here on SCF for that matter) I offer combined shipping. If a buyer purchases more than one lot, they pay one shipping price. I think that is fair, why two or three times to ship to the same place? Occasionally that comes back to bite me on the butt because they end up buying so much, it costs me more than the single charge to send it. But I say, good on them! If they get a deal, they're happy (I assume) So that's the other thing I look for when buying myself. Does the dealer offer the deal?

irishjack,

to the forum! It's good to have you here.
Much has already been said about this topic. Recently, I purchased a pair of stamps for $13.00 and was charged $6.00 for postage. In as I wanted the pair I went ahead and bought it anyway. I received it yesterday and it had $5.65 of postage on it to cover insurance.

I don't think $0.35 was too much to pay for his time, envelope and ebay & Paypal fees. A lot of dealers will insure their items or get a delivery confirmation on a item because a lot of buyers will claim they didn't get it. So, who's worse? I'd say the buyer. JMO, if a seller wants to charge me $10.00 for shipping and insures it, then OK, I'll not like the extra cost but at least I'll get it. Just learn who the bad dealers are and stay away from them.

Art

Unfortunately, it is buyer beware land on ebay. I usually will not buy from a person that overcharges for shipping (translates to more profit). If people (1) do not purchase from these overchargers or (2) send a letter to ebay complaining about them, maybe they will see the light! Just my 2 pesos worth.
Bob

welcome aboard and great topic. This is a 2 headed coin subject and as mentioned earlier I think it has become an issue since ebays no question refund policy to buyers. I know first hand there are bad sellers and total scam artist thriving off ebay and a buyer should have some safety but it forces good sellers to register, track and insure items or be liable. I sell alot of fishing tackle and to send a $20 package from Canada to the US averages me $3/20-$6.40 depending on weight. If I had to send the same registered , traceable and insured It then becomes more than the items are worth. I've been fortunate that only a couple of items were claimed not to arrive and it was quickly resolved. The days of buying a single $2-$5 stamp is pretty well done and I've noticed more and more are grouping items to make it a worthwhile deal for both. Also many times I have messaged a seller and they have offered to ship at far less than the automated fees that are generated through ebays system.

I did a purchase on ebay a few years back it wasn't a stamp but a CD. Here is the funny part I purchased it for $1 and I was rather new to the whole ebay thing as a newbie I didn't realise shipping was $9 to Canada from the USA. Well I really didn't care about the cost of shipping till the package arrived in a brown unprotected envelope and a collection of stamps totalling $1.25. I wasn't happy about this and felt that he was only making profit on the shipping and not on the item, so I complained to him stating he over charged for shipping I can understand a extra buck or two to cover the time to stick something into a envelope and licking it close but to make $7.75 from the shipping. Well this is what his reply was " I live out in the country and sometimes I have to drive into town about 15 miles to the post office to mail the item so with the cost of gas and wear and tear of my vehicle I feel this is a reasonable cost of shipping". Total bull if you ask me but it is a valid reason also a good reply to tell ebay if someone complains about you over charging on shipping.

Yep, gotta watch them. Some dealers (and yes, Virginia, there are a bunch of dealers on ebay) sell high, shipping is high, and they love it that people buy the stuff.
This is getting off topic (my whinning) so will just agree to agree with IrishJack.
Bob

Shipping costs depend on what it is that is being shipped.

Value of item = $50.00 to $100.00 plus warrants expensive tracked, proof of delivery provided (signature available online), insured shipping as this is what ebay and PayPal require for seller protection.

Or that is what you charge to cover anticipated loss. Or that is what a buyer wants to cover himself against anticipated loss.

The seller may have put the price higher for international shipping points because of something that PayPal has changed in their rules (I am guessing but they always change things) or perhaps because of discussions on ebay's forums in the US (just guessing again). Maybe the sellers are not protected when shipping outside the USA and feel they need to protect themselves somehow. Natural feeling.

Regular shipping can be and is, at times, used to cover:

= PayPal 2.9% fee on the amount charged (including shipping) (add 1% extra for overseas sales)
= PayPal per transaction fee of 30c
= ebay 9% final value fee on amount charged including shipping
= paper invoice or note = 1c - 2c a sheet
= printer ink (draft mode) is 10c black and white (plus tax) or 25c colour per page
= envelope for 5c or so
= shipper's time (sorting, scanning, editing, listing, dealing with happy and unhappy customers
= postage
= tax on items bought at store including postage (up to 15% extra)
= pickle jar insurance 5c to 10c
= cardboard cereal box used as a stiffener to help against folding, bending, spindling and mutilating
= glassine envelope (5c to 10c) or plastic envelope (2c to 5c) to protect the stamps from overly eager dirty fingers and moisture not caused by anything the postal services do at all
= packing tape at times = 5c to 20c
= Scotch tape (clear tape) = 2c - 3c
= the PayPal 2.9% on the extra you added to the shipping to cover the above stuff
= ebay 9% on the extra you added to the shipping to cover the above stuff

Some sellers cut costs by not including some of the above or including the costs in their stamp cost.

Some sellers misunderstand why the shipping is so high and abuse it and abuse their customers and thus find it harder and harder to sell. Some buyers do not understand (and don't really want to take the time to understand or really should have to) why the costs are higher.

And really, to have a happy customer (notice I didn't say a correct or right customer) you must under promise and over deliver, (or make it like it seems that you are doing so) and act like a friend, be appreciative, try to anticipate and look after customer concerns before they happen, and lots of other stuff, and not bother customers (you and me) with all of these concerns (if you know them). I just want my nice stamps (I have already sold myself on the idea that they are nice) at a reasonable (some people just aren't reasonable!) price.

If you just want to sell your extra stamps you don't want to have to bother with all that extra Work and Thinking and Effort and such. Of course not. No one does really.

Easy. Figure that whatever you sell on ebay or another site will cost you the seller, about 75% of your selling cost in fees to list and sell and collect money and such. Sell something for 99c, multiply by 0.75 and you get 74c. Easy.

Not wanting to lose much more money, you take the cost of your postage needed to ship the item (including tax) and add on about a dollar. This covers all your costs involved (or should) and lets you not worry about even small loses or mistakes made and all.

So now you are happy and ready set go to sell your stamps and it's up to you to learn how to sell, what sells, how much it sells for, how to present it and title it and describe it so it does sell, etc.

Companies selling stamps have to make money or they won't be here tomorrow. Simple. They have to charge a bit more. No other way it works unless they are getting their stamps for free or something.

Ordinary folks like you and me who are having fun selling and chatting to fellow collectors and don't need to worry about making a lot or any money can afford to take a loss now and then perhaps and it's the friendliness more than the money-making that attracts us. Our time is donated to the betterment of the hobby and general friendship.

And it's ebay and other online auction sites that allows all of us to be there at the same time, big, small and in between.

It's all good, you just have to understand it and fir yourself in where you fit.

I've found the majority of experienced/long-term Seller/Dealers are honest with P&H.

One Auction experience this year - a $20.50 box of Envelopes (with Albinos) cost $49.50 P&H to Australia. After recovering from shock I emailed the Seller, he (fberg) understood my dilemma and said he would re-list the item for Auction again.

Now because it WAS my fault for NOT checking delivery rates for the weight , I end up sending the full amount asked for.

The Seller was in no-way at fault.

Extra shipping costs of $1 should be given
$2 of bonus stamps that cost the seller 50c.

Puzzler-- Pickle Jar insurance