What's With Crazy Shipping Prices For Single Sets Of Stamps On Ebay And HipStamp?

Normally I never buy on ebay or hipstamp and stick to shows but recently I've been trying to buy a few ultramodern sets and I've been astounded with shipping prices. I'm willing to pay $4-5 for this one particular set, but no dealer even in the US has a shipping cost lower than $3-4! For some European sellers the cost is as high as $10... In my review section on ebay "reasonable shipping cost" is rated at 4.9. I charge a dollar! I don't know how much cheaper it could get without offering free shipping. Free shipping doesn't exist though because the cost just gets factored into the goods themselves and when you buy multiple items you pay multiple shipping costs while if you buy from me I bundle ad infinitum.
Are the sellers with the high shipping costs just hoping you'll bite the bullet? Hoping you'll buy more than one item? Well anyway if anyone has the Luxembourg 2022 Europa myths set that's the one I'm looking for

The high European prices probably flow from use of ebay's Global Shipping Programme. The Royal Mail price for a standard-size international letter <100gms is £2.20 worldwide. If you want tracked/signed, this jumps to £7.20.

You should check the postage conditions.

I notice most Spanish sellers only send stamps by registered mail. Sellers from my own region tend to use registered mail for orders over € 40, or € 50.

ebay has its own Global Shipping Plan that is somewhat more expensive than registered mail. I have noticed that many sellers do not even realise they have this standard setting. Alternatively, international requirements may have become burdensome and led sellers to choose such programmes so the whole customs declaration is done for them.

Since there have been issues with mail sent to the USA getting lost all of the above may apply.

ebay sneakily put its "Global Shipping Program" into seller accounts as default, beginning probably sometimes early last year.
Since then, I hardly see any item without shipping costs in the $25-$35 region. One guy even made it to $87 shipping costs for a $7 item (no sale, obviously) with that GSP. Nowadays I almost always have to contact the seller before I bid (I'm not going to pay $30 shipping for a $3 item...).
In 20+ years, only one item from the US got lost (incidentally at the same day a Canadian shipment was lost, so my hunch was that the thief was somewhere in my country).

I've passed up many opportunities to buy good quality stamps because the shipping was too high. I've messaged sellers to ask for lower shipping and let them know that with the high costs added on that I'd pass on the item. Hopefully, sellers will realize that they're losing sales with unrealistic shipping prices.

ebay charges commission based on the price sold for (not including shipping), therefore, some sellers try to make money on shipping, to lower the amount ebay charges them.

UPU changed the rules (2019) disallowing anything except 'documents' to be sent internationally via inexpensive First-Class mail. So, sending a single stamp or a set of stamps now requires declaring them and a customs form.

Of course many folks ignore this and risk sending them anyway.
Don

The 2019 changes also mandate using parcel class service and not letter service for such merchandise. Parcel service costs more. For USPS, domestic first class parcel service starts at $5 for up to 4 ounces and international first class parcel service starts at $17. High-volume commercial mailers can get discounts. Thus, an ebay seller who sells you a single collectible stamp, as the merchandise associated with their business, is supposed to use a $5 parcel and not a $0.66 stamp. On the upside, first class parcel service includes domestic tracking and international tracking to the border.

Yes, my understanding had been that you were supposed to use padded envelopes or similar. However, I've never had any issues with using my standard reinforced envelopes with the customs declaration attached. Perhaps no-one told post offices.

" ebay charges commission based on the price sold for (not including shipping), therefore, some sellers try to make money on shipping, to lower the amount ebay charges them."

That hasn't been the case for many years as ebay realized this and started charging fees on the total with shipping.

Yes, minimum for sending domestic parcel by USPS (Ground Advantage) is now $5.00

However, ebay does have a special service " ebay Standard Envelope" for certain collectibles including stamps up to $20.00 in value which includes tracking and insurance, and starts at $0.64 for 1 ounce (which is less than a First Class letter!)

I think many stamp sellers on ebay are either not aware of this and/or stuck in their old ways (e.g. still using discount face as postage) but it is very widely used for other categories including sports cards. Stamp buyers should request this service when not offered. It was explicitly designed to solve the issue of high postage costs for low value collectible transactions.

The ebay tracking is abysmal. It does provide a discount and some protection against claims of non-delivery, but the labels may or may not play nicely with your equipment (I used to be able to print directly onto #10 envelopes, though with some extra steps; when I replaced my laptop the printer interface changed and I can no longer do that). Worse, the tracking (which I think piggybacks on the USPS informed delivery service) almost invariably claims delivery hours to days early, leading to a constant stream of customer complaints that go to the seller, not to ebay, because ebay fails to explain how their product works. People also freak out when their item doesn't show up in a couple of days after mailing it (I have had a heavy uptick in people demanding refunds when they haven't received an item after 10-14 days, which is unfortunately not uncommon any more).

ebay tracking system will say delivered (sometimes) even before the postman/woman comes to the mail box.

In many countries, a local mail carrier retains the monopoly on delivery of letters even when parcels can be delivered by anyone. If you send an order in a standard-sized cover with ebay's GPS, then ebay will depend on the tracking system of that carrier.

I have seen PostNL's tracking show a registered letter as delivered to me, when it was returned to sender without an attempt to deliver on several occasions. I also have seen it when it was delivered the next day. I have seen it show an item was not yet delivered when I had received it. I wonder how ebay's GPS will improve upon that.

It is the USPS cheaper tracking (media mail, USPS deal with ebay) that declares something as being delivered on the last scan at your local USPS Distribution Center instead of the last scan at your local PO. This is not just an ebay 'thing'.

For example, my USPS Distribution Center happens to be in another state about 50-60 miles away. It is typical for any of the cheaper USPS 'point-to-point' tracking services (Media Mail, ebay mail contract, Amazon mail contract, etc.) to show as 'Being Out For Delivery' when in fact it might still be 48 hours away from my mailbox.

If people want more accurate USPS tracking, then do not take advantage of the cheapest tracking that USPS offers, instead send it via Priority Mail. But thinking that the USPS is going to offer tracking through every single scan location for the discounted mail stream services is a mis-understanding.
Don

Don, so true - with the added benefit of the priority mail products being discounted through the ebay labeling system.

USPS ground advantage is not too shabby, either - free insurance included and also a good discount from the over-the-counter price when purchased from the ebay system.

From the seller's perspective, a good deal.

I wonder how many sellers charge the over-the-counter shipping price for shipping on shipments that cost them significantly less to actually ship due to the discounts within ebay?!

Before Christmas, I shipped a fairly heavy box from Iowa to California using USPS ground advantage. The estimated shipping was $40-something but the actual shipping price was $20-something when all was said and done (label purchased through the ebay system). Now, to be clear, I did a partial refund of the difference to the buyer after it was shipped but I wonder how many sellers pocket the difference? Ironically, I believe that the buyer dinged me on shipping! (4 stars instead of 5)

The buyer does not see these things and would ordinarily have no clue as to the behind the scenes discounts...

John