Free Shipping On Ebay: Does It Change Purchasing Behavior?

Selling baseball cards without tracking is a huge no-no as well. Funny how many things without tracking just disappear into thin air.

Pretty sad to see it happens with stamps too

If you're looking to have buyers shop and buy multiple items from you free shipping will not get you there. If I find an item I really want and it comes with free shipping, what's my motivation to find more items just to get a break on shipping? It's already free.

Combined shipping is much more compelling for multiple purchases. If I find a coveted item from a seller in Europe but I have to pony up $7 to get it safely shipped to me, you can bet I'm looking to buy more if the seller combines shipping. It becomes a very compelling value proposition.

For domestic transactions, I'd offer free shipping within some model where it's a reward for multiple or higher dollar purchases.

Kevin
If I were in your shoes - running a business selling high-value items - I'd probably send everything signed for as well. As I sell a lot of cheap and cheerful items as a spin-off from my hobby, paying the extra isn't worth the candle for most of my lots. This year, only one out of around 600 lots has gone astray - albeit on GB sales.
Geoff

I am very picky about shipping. I don't mind a little increase for handling, but some of these charges are simply outrageous. I saw a seller yesterday who was charging $7 to send a single stamp. The stamp had 8 bidders and was $21.00. That's 30 percent. No insurance. No tracking. No nothing. That's ridiculous.

Also I will not pay $3 for the privilege of waiting 3 weeks for delivery.

So yes, shipping matters. I'm not asking for free shipping, but I'm never going to let some seller think he got over on me either.

wp62

warriorpoet62....
OK....example.....
you are looking to purchasing a US #c18.....
looking to spend $30 +/- few dollars...
A nice example is going for buy it now for $21 + $8 shipping....
You will not buy it???

When a seller charges $8 shipping I can only
assume he/she thinks they are not paying selling
fees on that charge.

I have recently been selling quite a bit on E-bay (300 completed sales in last 60 days). I offer free domestic shipping (it costs me $2.50 or so to ship a "parcel" of stamps). I will not list anything at less than $4.99 though, since with shipping and fees (e-bay and paypal), this leaves me with less than $1 per sale, if it sells at the minimum. I am finding that most people (even in US) are buying 4 items or more from me at a time, so that helps cut down on postage costs. I used to charge $9 for international shipping, and got a ton of complaints. Last week, I raised my international rates to $12, since not only did USPS rates go up, but e-bay discount disappeared as well. More potential buyers complained, not sure if it will affect sales though since none of those auctions has closed yet. I exclusively use the e-bay shipping with tracking. I do not want to take the risk of items "disappearing". I have had 2 packages get claimed as non-delivered (both to the same person), and even with the tracking, Paypal still sides with the buyer. That buyer has now been blocked.

adcaplan....
I ship ALL items with tracking thru USPS.
Cost is $2.54 for up to 3 oz....
If you can get discount postage for 50%....
cost goes down to $1.27....
cheaper than the ebay discount.

Kevin, does that include international?

Why not offer repeat customers the free shipping over $25.00

adcaplan....
no....us shipments.

I currently offer free tracked First Class Parcel shipping on domestic items and some free shipping to Canada for color slides. International buyers pay $1.25 for items valued at under $100 because first class letter mail can be used. More expensive items up to $400 can be mailed as a First Class Package International. Sending more expensive items is fraught with pitfalls but I do have insurance. For some countries I would use the ebay Global Shipping Program, but I am concerned about keeping it under control because it is not really suitable for light weight items valued under $400. The terms of service are also not acceptable for copyrighted or scarce one of a kind items. I still use first class mail to send bidStart items valued under $100.

I moved to free shipping when I saw the impact on shipping DSRs. Now that shipping DSRs are not treated as they were previously, it is possible to charge for shipping. Rising costs dictate thinking about charging shipping for orders under some amount between $25 and $50. Unfortunately, ebay has only an all or nothing setting above which shipping is free. For some reason, international shipping costs haven't been combined correctly by ebay anytime within the last three years.

For those who print postage, it is possible to use Endicia to print barcode labels without postage. Because it integrates with the SixBit ecommerce solution, it is possible to print labels, capture tracking numbers and send them to ebay without any manual steps. I tried printing postage for couple of months but it was too expensive. Manually printing labels and applying and manually copying tracking numbers back to ebay is too time consuming. Even with the monthly Endicia fee, using stamps is still less expensive and not too time consuming.

Clark

Sending as a first class letter does not get tracking (unless you know a trick?) Tracking is only available on parcels. A 3oz parcel (the minimum weight I have been able to achieve when I include cardboard stiffer to prevent damage to sheets of stamps or covers), sending international costs $13 and change. I guess I could offer free shipping when the total reaches over $100 or so, but I am not sure that would generate more sales to make up for the money out of my pocket (I would pay the shipping that currently the buyer is paying). If it doesn't cause my items to sell for more, or sell items that wouldn't have sold otherwise, why should I reduce my profit? I am not saying I make money off the postage I charge, since I actually charge less ($12) than I have to pay ($13) it is just an expense that the buyer pays rather than me.

Tracked shipping is required to maintain ebay Top Rated Seller status. The current postage rate remains at $2.54 for now. If discount postage was not available, the minimum price for items with free shipping would have to increase from $25 to $50. I have a few less expensive listings left over from bidStart, where they sat without selling for a year or so. Because rates keep rising, charging for shipping below $25 will have to be phased in. A benefit would be the ability to list some less expensive stamps.

I use #000 Kraft bubble wrap envelopes, costing about 15 cents each, with a piece of corrugated cardboard to achieve the necessary minimum thickness. Labels, four to a sheet, are large enough for a barcode and still fit on the envelope without trimming. Standard internet labels, two to a sheet, had to be trimmed. The advantage of using postage stamps is that the barcode labels can be printed in advance and aren't tied to a specific weight. It is possible to print Signature Required or Priority Man labels easily without any complicated setup. International labels are so bad that it is easier to print a separate label and fill out the customs form by hand.

Clark

http://www.ebay.com/itm/35131422938...RK:MEBIDX:IT

Above is the link to the envelopes I use to mail sheets.
They are stay flats....stiff enough for the parcel rate.
For single stamps ...I used the smaller version....from same seller

Then I cut the address from ebay packing slip.....
use USPS label 400 (FREE from USPS)...
apply $2.54 postage....
mail.

The 2.54 for domestic mail isn't the problem, it is the $13.54 for international that people are complaining about. Almost half my sales were to international buyers. Since the rate change last week (and my corresponding increase in charges), I have had a ton of potential bidders asking why I charge so much. I tell them my $12 charge is less than the $13.54 I have to pay. I can't tell if any of those who asked questions ended up bidding or not, but none has won a lot this week (very small sample though).