Question About Ebay Shipping???

I am currently a ebay seller.

I charge $2.00 shipping, additional items can be
added FREE!
I am not a TOP RATED seller based on the fact I
do not have tracking on 90% of my shipped items.

Now....as a buyer, would you rather pay $2.50 for
shipping, additional FREE and have all items
shipped in a stay-flat mailer with tracking thru USPS.

I do understand that the seller is responsible for getting the
sold item to the buyer...

Please dont reply with....add shipping into price.
I start my auctions @99c....


*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***
*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

Hi,
I've bought many hundreds of ebay auctions over the last few years, with the majority being stamps/albums. As a buyer, obviously I prefer free shipping. But of course that means the seller typically raises his prices to cover that.

I think the best way is what a good seller (PJ2000) that I use a lot does. He sells album pages w/stamps, and shipping is $1.50 per auction. However, if you buy more than one he combines shipping (automatically?) and charges a very fair price, plus tracking (this is a must IMO).

For me it would depend on the dollar amount. On a $200 purchase another 50c wouldn't matter. On a $2 purchase it would. On the buy side tracking is not a concern for me. I have never had an incoming shipping not arrive, and nothing I buy is very time sensitive - I don't think I have ever checked an incoming tracking number. Come to think of it, nothing in my life is very time sensitive! After you are retired long enough it tends to get that way...

As a buyer of stamps and covers, I prefer buying from sellers who have one shipping charge for the first item, with little or no additional cost for shipping additional items.

This encourages me to look through the rest of the items that you have to see what else I might be interested in buying, without having to pay the full individual shipping cost that is built into each item with "free shipping".

"I prefer buying from sellers who have one shipping charge for the first item, with little or no additional cost for shipping additional items."

Same here. I always look to see what else a seller has for sale. Most of my purchases are on the small side and the shipping expense ends up being a significant part of the total transaction. If I can add a few more stamps without having to incur additional (or or at least minimal) shipping charges, I'll usually do so.

I have purchased quite a few stamps on ebay. The shipping price is a concern. Not that $2.00 is a huge cost, but for inexpensive stamps $0.49 will cover most of the stamps I have bought. This being the case I do not bid on stamps that have more than $1.00 shipping costs attached to the sale. Often stamps I would purchase I watch close with no bid. I wait, someone else will offer the same stamps later at a shipping cost I am willing to pay. I do not want to sound unpleasant about this but, you asked and I am a buyer. These are my thoughts on this matter

Tracking is overkill on stamps. The buyers are already protected. The only person it protects is the seller, and maybe ebay, if there is a dispute.

Insurance is another matter. Once the transaction reaches a certain $ value insurance is a must. Again not to protect the buyer. ebay and PayPal take care of that. It's protection for the seller.

I have purchased and sold some stamps on ebay. An advantage with our stamp hobby is the cheap shipping because of the weight, unlike model cars and train sets.

I also struggle with this. I'm a small time seller, but have enough volume that I noticed I could be rated "top seller" if I included tracking on most items and have been trying this out lately. In fact I expect I'll get the top seller rating any day. But it makes selling inexpensive stamps almost impossible. And frankly inexpensive stamps have made up a large part of my volume. But no one wants to buy a stamp worth a buck and then have to pay $2.60 for shipping. So the choice for me is either stick to more valuable items or give up the top seller rating. So here is a related question. Does "top seller" carry any weight with buyers?

Rick

Never with me.
I sort ebay on "lowest price including shipping"
so as not to get caught with the ship scam.
Then look at any negative feedback.

I prefer to buy in my own country if possible.

I really don't understand the vast volume of single common stamps at 99c
then shipping $3 and above.
Do these vendors sell at all?
I assume it is to encourage buyers to go to their shop and purchase other items to cut the cost.
A terrible way to buy stamps in my opinion.

Probably explains why I have bought just 1 single stamp of ebay in past 12 months.

I'm pretty sure you are not alone. $2.60 is the price you pay for tracking. With the incentive to be "top seller" many sellers feel they need to always include tracking. I agree with the sentiment here that that simply doesn't make sense for many stamps. I had a recent experience with tracking where the post office tracking data showed the item was delivered but the buyer never got the stamp. Three weeks later they found it. I think it was delivered to the wrong person the first time and whoever received it was nice enough to send it on.

In other words tracking doesn't guarantee your package will arrive - so I'm seriously questioning whether to continue this practice.

If it is a really valuable item I suppose signature verification is the way to go. What good is tracking if "delivered" doesn't mean anything? Too bad ebay makes tracking a key measure of seller ratings.

(by the way I suspect this thread probably belongs in the "eCommerce: ebay, StampWants, StampOffers, Paypal, etc." forum.

https://goscf.com/f/27
)

I am closing in on my 1000th purchase of stamps from Nth America.
Never lost a single stamp, had a few scares 68 days delivery on 1 item.
I reckon the world post is just fine, works well in my little world.

I have bought insurance $15 on just 2 packages, not necessarily expensive items,
but items that I had found very hard to source, and felt I needed the incentive
to reach home in Oz.

The only downside is the exchange rate, that really hurts.

If it does, unfortunately it should not. There is a thriving market for the selling of existing ebay accounts. People can simply go out, with no experience or selling history at all, and purchase an existing ebay account with 'Top Seller' rating.

It is just like a local restaurant, it may have a great existing reputation but what happens when it changes hands?

And of course there are a multiple of ways to pump up a seller account to make it appear very reputable when it is not. And the ebay rating system itself has many issues which allow it to be 'gamed'.

So simply checking a feedback score or top rated status does little good; the trick is to know who you are buying from. We are buying stamps 'sight-unseen' other than from images which may of may not accurately depict the item.

It is also quite obvious that ebay has made an effort over the last few years to increase the average listing price; the cost of the transaction is the same for them if the sale is $1 or $1000. (For example, the costs involved with dealing with disputes.) So their policies have evolved to 'discourage' smaller transactions and drive sellers into making larger listings.

The pushing of single, inexpensive stamps outside of ebay's involvement no doubt saves them huge amounts of money. Their stockholders are pleased (which is what matters) but folks who want to buy and sell smaller listings are not.

All of this sucks eggs for those good sellers who play by the rules and work hard to offer good customer service and product.
Don

Personally I am frustrated with ebay shipping charges.

TOO MANY sellers hide other costs such as ebay fees in their shipping fees.

I am tired of paying $2.00 to $5.00 shipping costs only to find a single 49 cent stamp shipped my purchase.

I know a lot of dealers can make up excuses for high shipping fees such as paying for their time to put your item in an envelope, paying for gas to go buy the stamp for your envelope, Paying for their time to walk your envelope to the mail box in front of their house, etc. etc. etc.

I say HORSEFEATHERS! You're just padding your bottom line.

I vote for FREE SHIPPING for stamp purchases on ebay!

When I sell on E-bay, I do free shipping to the US. International costs $12. In order to do this, I list all items starting at $4.99. It costs $2.60 to mail a 4oz rigid envelope in the US with tracking. With paypal and e-bay fees, I net less than $1 if the item sells for the opening bid. I won't pay to list anything, only using the 50 free listings a month they give me.

I once bought some stamps on ebay. They were sent with a tracking number, so I followed them. They got to a postal center 70 miles from here, then disappeared. I called the local post office. They said they'd look. Nothing happened. I sent a message to the seller, a nice old lady who didn't seem too bright. She said she would start an inquiry with the local post office. So I waited some more, and still nothing happened. So I notified ebay. They replied that I had waited too long.. No complaints after 30 days. So I'm out. Not a lot of money, but it's annoying.

I also sell a little on ebay. I charge 75 cents for US mailing. No tracking number. Never had a problem.

Don