Is This Shipping Price Reasonable?

If the total cost of the coin (coin price + shipping charges) is within what I am willing to pay then I will buy the coin. As a buyer, I never look at shipping charges separately. I do the same on Heritage or
Teletrade. My upper limit on a bid includes my bid + buyer's premium + shipping charges.

You can't count ebay fees when you're determining how much to charge for shipping. Selling fees (listing fees, final value fees, PayPal fees) are ONE thing, postage and supplies are another. Either just go after your true shipping costs or admit that you're trying to recoup some of your "cost of doing business" costs in your shipping fees.

You miss understand me. When I say I lose some money on shipping it's true. But I don't figure it into the shipping.

Bubble mailer equals $0.60 each. Postage for a 1st Class package averages $1.41 each. Ninty percent of my first class shipping is $1.99, regardless of whether the postage is at a LOW of $1.24 (plus mailer equals $1.84) or whether my postage is $4.00; in which case I take a bath.

At this point I'm already losing money; albeit only $0.02. Add in the 12 percent that ebay charges for shipping fees and I'm losing $0.26 on each transaction. How in the world is this recouping "cost of doing business"?

Actually that is kinda insulting. How in the world is $1.99 for shipping recouping my cost of doing business?

"Selling fees (listing fees, final value fees, PayPal fees) are ONE thing, postage and supplies are another."

Really? Don't include the cost of doing business in your calculations? Wow. I think I'll tell my brick and morter guy not to count the cost of electricity, heating, banking, wages, insurance and whatnot in the cost of his coins

Lets look at a typical sale of a Morgan.

You the indignant buyer pay an average of $34 for a Morgan. Ok. Now I've already shown that I've lost twenty six cents on shipping. eBay/paypal fees, which I'm supposed to completely disregard are going to be $0.50 plus 12 percent on the $34 for the coin and the $1.99 for shipping. This comes to $5.22 plus $0.26 loss on shipping for a total of $5.46 in fees. Subtract that from the $34 purchase price and the net sale is for $28.54. My cost for Morgans is dependent on the spot price but for the last 90 days has averaged around $26. My profit? $2.54.

I'm going to assume that you were not trying to insult me, that you are instead just very, very ignorant.

At the very least since ebay CHARGES me $0.24 cents for postage, that cost would then be a legitimate cost factor in determining shipping cost. Because absent shipping that cost would not be applied. Note that I don't actually figure that cost in, see first para; but have no problem with someone that does.

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! The minute I hit "send" I knew what I said would be misunderstood. First...I'm sorry...I was NOT trying to insult you. However, you said, "I actually lose a bit of money with the eBay/pay fees, cost of the bubble mailer and postage" and I interpreted that to mean that the $1.99 you were charging did NOT make up all those fees....which could also be construed as you trying to make up some of the fees...and that's what I said..."some". So...are we clear there? You said it oddly, and I took it the wrong way. The truth is that if you were trying to make up all your ebay and PayPal fees you'd have to charge way more than $1.99 - I get that. $1.99 is NOT unreasonable. In fact I'd classify it as at least "fair".

Now...let's talk about your shipping fees. First off, if you're paying .60 cents for a mailer, you're doing something wrong. Did you mean .06 perhaps? Also...if you're using the eBay/PayPal system you should be getting charged $1.69 for any and all first class packages between 1 and 3 ounces, so your true SHIPPING COST of a small 1st class package should be about $1.75 for the postage and the bubble mailer.

I don't think anything you've said constitutes unfair shipping practices, and bidders certainly have the option not to bid on your stuff if they think you are being unfair. I do find myself wondering why the priority small box as opposed to first class with delivery confirmation...and maybe insurance.

Let me ask...who's doing the complaining, the first classers or the priority boxers...?

I have never had a grizzle about shipping costs I charge.
I buy prepaid express or registered shipping supplies from the post office and this works out to be the cheapest option (in Australia) to send with a tracking number.
Overseas postage from Aus however is a bloody nightmare and expensive compaired to other countries

I only charge what I pay at the post office ( No handling fee,stocking fee type BS) and always combine items at the cost of one item (unlike some of the sellers )

Yeah...that's sort of where I was hoping to go with some of my earlier comments...and questions...

If you're serious about selling on ebay, there are things you can do to reduce costs and streamline your overall efforts. I sell enough that it's worth it to me to buy 500 mailers at a time and drive that cost down to about 4 cents per mailer. I use my printer to print postage and avoid spending time in the post office. Printing my postage allows me to get a delivery confirmation on EVERY shipment. Having that delivery confirmation gives me the confidence to ship higher cost items first class instead of in a more expensive flat rate box.

When the things you do to ship efficiently drive your shipping costs down you can offer lower costs to your buyers and perhaps reduce complaints...or perhaps...as I did...just offer free shipping.

People should not be complaining when you charge a reasonable shipping fee but... people are people. I can tell you, however that they NEVER complain when it's completely free.

Each to their own...but I decided not to let them frustrate me with their petty shipping cost complaints. I switched to free shipping and crossed my fingers that they'd be willing to bid higher for the privilege of winning an item that came with no shipping charges...and I believe that's working for me.

I honestly think theres just some people that like to complain. I usually do the priority shipping just because its easier for pricing, I've guessed wrong a few time on weights.

A lot of people seem to enjoy that it arrives faster if they dont mind the extra price. I did have one buyer leave me a 1 for shipping price though when all I did was charge cost. Wish I knew who it was so I could block them.

Im sure it costs me some buyers but I just use ebay for extra money anyway so its not a big deal if things take a little longer to sell or I have to list them a few times.

When I first started out though I would just go get supplies from staples and would get KILLED on the shipping, Amazon has been more than helpful to keep those extra costs down.

Kind of a side question, does USPS let you print registered mail labels yourself or do you have to do that at the PO?