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 Replies: 17 / Views: 3,579 |
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Valued Member
 United States
306 Posts |
I frequently buy cheap coins on e-bay. Yes, I do pay up to $2 more for a coin that has free shipping. What bothered me about your post is that people gave you a poor rating for shipping after getting a quality shipping package.
I do not bid on coins that have above a three dollar shipping cost unless the coin weight is excessive. There have been too many times I've paid $3.95 to $5.95 for shipping and received a coin in a business envelope with coin taped between cardboard at regular first class postage (40 some cents). Just my opinions.
Terrell
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
I look at total cost of the transaction - so, $2 shipping is the same to me as paying $2 more for the coin. So, in general, I am willing to pay more for the coin if shipping is free. I also am more likely to watch items with free shipping and am almost always turned off by excessive shipping - more than $5 on expensive coins, less on inexpensive coins. I've struggled with this question myself as a occasional seller on ebay. I am a little hesitant to offer free shipping on a item where I start it at $0.99 - I'm afraid of not covering my costs and taking a bath - I'd rather it not sell. But then, I don't care about the Power Seller rating. As a buyer, I don't care if the seller is a power seller (I've heard some refer to it as "power screwer") and so as a seller I don't care either. In fact, I like to buy coins from people who appear as collectors, not dealers. In addition, I have read dealers write on another forum that even when they offerred free shipping and package it well, they sometimes get dinged on the star rating for shipping charges. Go figure. I seem to have the best luck with low shipping. I try to charge a little under my actual cost - which for most coins means a dollar or less. This seems to be a good compromise. Ken |
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Valued Member
United States
106 Posts |
Yes, total cost of the transaction.
However, I don't think that free shipping is a good idea. To me, it's the cost to the buyer of returning the merchandise for a "full refund", which I think is much more important to policy than free shipping.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1291 Posts |
tepritts - Yeah, it's like someone wins the coin for 99 cents and then gets all upset that shipping was twice the cost of the coin. Not much I can do about that.
Brannen: Not sure if I understand what you meant. Are you saying I'm more apt to get dinged if I make the buyer pay return postage? If so, I don't think that's ever happened. The few times that folks were unhappy with a coin I've told them to keep it and sent them a full refund!
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Valued Member
United States
257 Posts |
Psychologically, for me, free shipping is a draw, even though I know that I will pay for it one way or the other. ebay counts on it, as they make their Final Value Fees from the purchase price of the item, but not the shipping. In their perpetually increasing money grab, they would consider any shipping charge excessive, so the seller would have to raise the price of the item being sold. I believe that this is the sole reason that they no longer allow sellers to offer insurance as an option to buyers, even at USPS actual rates. They want the seller to pay for it and add it to the sales price to further bolster Final Value Fees. I imagine this all sounds very cynical, but I believe it is the simple truth. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
408 Posts |
I factor in shipping/handling costs in the bids I make. If I decide that a bid of $20.00 is in order, the total I will bid is for a total of $20.00 including the shipping/handling.
The short answer is "yes", I would bid a extra $2.00 on a coin if the shipping were free.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2797 Posts |
About 10 days ago ebay reformatted their feedback page. The shipping time category asks if you received the item by a certain time (believe 2 or 3 weeks from auction payment) and leaves a block for comment. Don't know where these comments go as there is still the main block for feedback comments. It's no longer a 1-5 rating in the performance categories it appears to be a "Pass/Fail" system now. The standards appear a bit lax from my point of view. This was ebay's response to seller complaints on DSR ratings. This will only promote mediocrity in seller performance measures ... why ship the next day if I have three weeks? Just another reason I don't consider any ebay performance measures in my purchase decisions (Top-Rated seller, MY ^&%#). If the item is substantial, I read as many feedback comments as I can to form an opinion on seller performance and reliability. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
I just gave feedback to two sellers on Saturday for some LWC's I bought and it still used the star system. I gave them both 5 stars all around as both provided excellent service and coins. Perhaps ebay is piloting a new method? |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1082 Posts |
It depends on whether the seller allows for consolidation of lots without extra cost. If he's charging $3 for shipping, and he will ship five or six more coins at that cost, I will bid on his other lots as well, to make sure the shipping is "paying for itself".
It also depends (for you) on whether you're doing this for a living; I realize shipping materials can be expensive, and if you're going through a lot of them, it adds up. However, give yourself the option of sending single coin orders in a regular envelope with cardboard around them for basic letter rate, in which case you can drop the fee amount.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1745 Posts |
I always add shipping cost to what I'm willing to pay for the coin. That way, I can compare different sellers on the same level playing field. With that being said, free shipping (especially for single coins) is an eye catcher.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
508 Posts |
As a buyer, I would set the same total maximum bid whether the shipping was free or not. Like WpgLwr mentioned, if additional coins do not add significantly to the shipping cost, I would be encouraged to bid on multiple lots to reduce the average shipping per coin. It's different as a seller though. ebay wants you to offer free shipping because they don't get fees from shipping charges. If you sell $900 merchandise with $100 shipping, ebay receives less money than if you sold $1000 merchandise with free shipping. The total may look the same to you, but less ends up in your pocket and the difference goes to ebay. ebay encourages this by "prioritizing" listings for free shipping in bidder's search results. -wheatiefan |
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Valued Member
United States
436 Posts |
I hate to sound like a tightwad, but charging a minimum of 2 bucks for shipping that costs you a buck 25 might sound like a ripoff to some people. I suggest the free shipping, it just sounds like a better value (wether it is or not).
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
I cannot see how charging $2 for shipping with actual postage of $1.25 is a rip off  You have the cost of an envelope, a 2x2 or flip, packaging, and time and effort. Obviously, the people that charge $5 and then just drop a 2x2 in a first class envelope with nothing more than a 44 cent stamp are fleecing their customers a bit but that is not the case with a measly 75 cent difference. Free shipping is an abomination solely created by ebay to increase their fees, very very few would offer free shipping if ebay did not incentivize it. Of course, it is just one more step towards fixed price listings as opposed to a true auction format. You can always account for shipping costs in a fixed price listing. |
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Valued Member
United States
436 Posts |
I didn't mean to say that it was a rip off, just that some people may see it that way. If you can get the extra 2 bucks while charging "free shipping" people may think they're getting a better deal. Sorry about the confusion there.  |
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Posted 10/03/2009 5:53 pm
