At What Point Would You Expect Free Shipping?

Just bouncing around on the bay and I have been noticing quite a number of items with starting prices over $100, sometimes well above. And then I notice that the seller has added a shipping charge. Sometimes it is only $1 but many times it is much more.

As my stamp resources generally don't allow me to bid on these higher priced items I find myself somewhat amused when I see an item listed for $500 with $12.95 shipping. I think to myself "Really? You can't afford $12.95 if you get $500?"

For those of you that can afford these types of items does it bother you that you also need to pay shipping on top of your winning bid?

Just curious.

I'd like to see $15 air mail on a single stamp costing around a $1 to post to the UK banned from ebay.

Terry

It doesn't bother me in the least; it never has. Whether a seller "charges" shipping is immaterial, because you're paying for it either way; how it is displayed to the buyer is just semantics.

Whether it is the shipping cost on ebay or other venue, the buyer premium at major auction, or even shipping costs at Amazon or other retailers, I always treat things the same way: Add item cost + shipping + additional costs = amount that I am actually comparing or evaluating.

That equals the playing field when buying from one venue or vendor versus another.

Now, from an ebay seller perspective, I list everything as "free shipping" domestically, but do you really think the shipping is free? Of course not. Someone has to pay for it, whether it's incorporated into the item base price or is added on.

Where things really get hairy and you almost HAVE to add shipping costs as an additional charge, is on international shipping. I sell a lot of CDs and DVDs on ebay, and in January of this year, the USPS raised the rates astronomically on small light-weight international parcels. What used to cost me $3-5 to ship overseas now costs me $8-15. The CD I sell for $8 and include shipping on domestically, would cost me more to ship than the sale price internationally, not even considering ebay and PayPal fees.

Anyway, I digress... bottom line: the buyer is paying for shipping regardless of how it is displayed on the screen. I wouldn't worry about it and just compare net overall cost.

I agree with revenue collector. And I don't mind paying the shipping as long as it is a fair amount. I know the USPS international shipping costs to the UK are high, but some sellers do price their shipping to make money from it.

Terry

I always factor shipping into what I'm willing to pay for a collection/lot vs catalog value or whatever benchmark used. That is, its the sum total that matters.

I take the view that if a seller will rip me off on the shipping what else will he cheat me on?. So I buy elsewhere.

Terry

Edit for spelling.

I don't mind $1 or $1.50 for shipping a letter, it's an expected part of the business of collecting, especially on stamps where there's barely any margin. I also have no problem paying $10 shipping for a $500 stamp knowing that it's trackable and insured. Try and charge me $10 on a .99 stamp purchase though? Not going to happen...

So for a $400 set of stamps mailed out of Australia I am going to give you free mailing. Yeah Right! $120 of free mailing! Don't think so!

If you are a buyer and your are not able to bring up all the stamp listings concerning that stamp or set of stamps your after and can not figure out which seller is the cheapest buy, including mailing costs or not then you are............

Hi KGV.

Sorry, but I have to ask, and this is not intended as a criticism. Does it really cost $120 to airmail a small packet (I am assuming it is small) of a set of stamps worth $500 from Australia to Canada? I thought it would be about $15 to $20.

Terry

Edit for omission. TC.

Large envelop with the best way to prove delivery $93.25

Small Box I would prefer for stamp safety with the best way to prove delivery $158.65 and also the cost that total stops international buyers.

But I am forced by ebay to offer mailing outside Australia and I do not want to sell expensive anything outside Australia because of no insurance problems. Germany cost me over $2,000 alone in the 1st 6 months of this year. Which is the reason for the " I am not going to get ripped off again mailing costs."

I sell low-cost items and offer shipping discounts ($.25 each additional item) as well as free shipping if combined purchases total more than $10.

As a buyer, I'm more inclined to make multiple purchases from sellers of reasonably priced items that offer shipping discounts.




How can/does ebay dictate to whom and where you will sell?

I list on ebay.com and am able to exclude countries that I don't want to sell/ship to.

Granted, it took me awhile to learn that just saying I didn't ship outside the U.S. didn't preclude non-US buyers from bidding/buying my items.

A call to ebay made me aware that I had to make specific country/regional exclusions during the listing process.

Is the ebay.com system and requirements completely different from U.S. ebay? As a seller on U.S. ebay, I can pick and choose which countries to ship to, and block bidders residing in countries I don't ship to.

If I wanted to, I could choose to ship only domestically. However, I do enough international sales that I don't do that. However, I do have my default excluded countries list set to those that are not covered by my 3rd-party insurance company.

When it comes to high-priced items though (anything above about $200), I only ship domestically, and for those listings I just change the international shipping settings so that the item is only available to U.S. bidders.

Follow-up: Further reading on ebay Australia's website tells me that you are NOT forced to sell internationally if you do not want to:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/intl-ov.html

Jesus... this board automatically converts all ebay links to U.S. ebay, presumably to get affiliate revenue, which screws things up for this discussion. Take the above link and add a .au after the .com and you'll get to the page I'm referring to.

Because I choose to sell to countries outside Australia ebay forces me to give buyers free mailing or not.

Not rocket science it is simple. What part do you not understand!

Hi KGV Collector,

I understand your reluctance to risk losses by shipping abroad. I feel the same and current listings I am putting together will, after some difficulties navigating the labyrinth that is the bay, be limited to the UK, the USA, Canada and France. Not sure now about Germany after reading your post above. Still, the Australian Post charges are eye watering and make Royal Mail appear reasonable (did I really write that?}

Terry

Whoah, hold your horses there. No need to get confrontational when people are simply trying to help you.

You are claiming different things in different posts.

From the post I replied to:




From your most recent post:




As far as I can tell, you are claiming multiple different things. First, as I quoted in my previous post, you are claiming that ebay is FORCING you to sell internationally, which as far as I can determine, is NOT true. Now, you are saying that ebay is forcing you to give free shipping, which again as far as I can tell, is NOT true.

I don't know if the problem is with your writing skills or your understanding of ebay's policies, but ebay does not mandate either of the things you are claiming.

Both the decision to sell to specific countries and the shipping amount to charge the buyers in those countries is left to the discretion of the SELLER, unless there is some eBay-Australia-specific restriction that those of us selling outside of Australia don't ever encounter.

Lastly, you might try not being antagonistic to those who are simply trying to provide information and/or aid in helping you optimize ebay's seller excperience. Some of us have been selling internationally on ebay for over 15 years and don't mind helping... that is except when the recipient decides to get hostile.

Color me suspicious, but except for the fact that I know he doesn't sell on ebay, by your attitude I'd swear it's Glen Stephens I'm replying to... he treats others the same way you do.

If I exclude world in a listing it effects the position of my listings in other countries eBays.

I try very hard to get the best position on all eBays.

I have spent many long hours trying to figure out the ways of the ebay computer.

It is very easy to loose page position of listing if you are not in the groove.