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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
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However, if it comes to me and it clearly cost you far less than you charged me and you didn't have a handling charge in the listing, you are getting dinged. I will absolutely look up PO desk/retail costs and anything you added like insurance or DC to make sure I'm not wrong. After that, if there is a discrepancy greater than say $.50-1.00, you are getting dinged. That is just a shady way to make profit extra, Im sorry but thats being pretty demanding. First of all you have to charge that extra just to break even with fees and thats not even getting into the cost of bubble wrap/mailers/driving to the post office ect. Youre basically saying youre going to ding someone for using the ebay pre set prices which have the fees built in so the seller isn't out of pocket for the cost of the label. More importantly though wheres the personal responsibility for agreeing to the prices listed. You know exactly what the charges are up front. APMEX charges you 16 bucks to ship a single coin from their website all the other coin sellers charge stiff shipping costs as well. You demand the sellers take a hit on shipping when theyre already offering a price you clearly like. I stopped shipping anyway but priority mail because of things like that. At least with priority I can get free mailers from USPS and keep the cost down. That still didnt stop some buyer who feels everyone owes him something from giving me a 1 for shipping cost when I use the preset ebay settings to price it. Only bad rating I've ever gotten and it cost me the discount for a while. The fact ebay even allows buyers to do that is a joke. They might as well add a 5 star rating for the price of the item so they can start dinging that too when auctions get to high. Its the exact same as letting them ding for people who are just charging for the label and nothing else. I'm not going to keep buying from someone who just throws things with a stamp on it because I'm not playing the game of wondering when it will show with no tracking, but at the same time as long as they had first class mail selected they fulfilled their end |
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Pillar of the Community
 United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
I think that if you are going to charge £2.50 for postage in the UK, you need to send it well packaged. £1 for the first class stamp, padded envelopes are what, 20p each? I dont see why I should be recieving a beaten up envelope with the coin rattling around inside sent by second class post. Even a letter helps -I try to always write the person a letter to go with the coin. But even with postage fees from ebay of 50%, I could still expect first class service. Also, reuse padded envelopes. I've received parcels which were reused envelopes and sent them on their way. the best I've had was 3 uses before I got to it. Every little helps. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
567 Posts |
I agree with the above. I generally add the cost for postage to the cost of the mailer and tack on a little to recover the fees ebay takes out. I basically have no overhead since I work out of an office in my basement and have no employees so I can keep my costs low. At my site I'm switching to a flat $4 for everything domestic US via standard shipping. On the buying side I've waited over two months for some items to get here, the longest was about 9 weeks from Uzbekistan. I generally view 2 weeks as reasonable to be at my door for domestic items, especially if it is a small seller. I once had a buyer in France complain when his coin did not get there from the US in 3 days. He registered a complaint with ebay and everything without even contacting me first. Needless to say it got there within the 7-10 business days it takes for standard airmail (which was stated in the description) but still left a bad taste in my mouth. Didn't help that this was my first complaint since 2003 when an item sent unregistered to Portugal went missing (big surprise there). The only time I've really had trouble getting things out promptly was when I had pneumonia earlier this year and was stuck in bed for a week straight. I was able to send notifications to the purchasers and everyone seemed understanding. |
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New Member
United States
47 Posts |
I'm not arguing that there aren't buyers who take advantage of the system, I've had it happen to me. What you are both describing above about "add-ons" should be in the handling portion of the listing, period. You are putting yourself at risk adding to the shipping cost yourself because the 5 star system specifically scores that because ebay has a lot of sellers gouging people for shipping (ever see a $200 item listed as a $0.99 item with $200 shipping? Used to happen a lot more before they started 5 star ratings.) To say you "saw and liked my price" is too simplistic, it could be the only one available or won at auction on bidding, etc etc. If you want to be paid x amount on "buy it now" then put it in the price, the rest is just tricks. As for the "I have to allow for fees" excuse, that goes with the territory for selling on ebay. It's an open market where people can charge what they want or leave it up to the buyers to decide. It is built into your selling price. Not sure what is meant by " ebay preset". You can either charge a flat rate or have it calculated. If calculated, you will pay exact shipping cost. I think in some cases ebay won't even let the buyer score that one when it happens. The ones I have a problem with is flat cost with "padding". There is no reason for it. If you sold your item for market rates, you have some built in costs associated with selling via the largest internet marketplace. As you said, USPS provides some free boxes, bubble mailers can be bought in bulk (or reused) and you can arrange for the PO to pick up the package from you. Plus, if you ship through Paypal/ebay, most items are less than at the retail desk, giving you some reasonable extra without the aforementioned fluff. The way I see it, when you ship with inflated costs and expect to see a 5 star for it you are just as bad as the buyer who dings you down to 1 star for charging exact shipping. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:What you are both describing above about "add-ons" should be in the handling portion of the listing, period. You are putting yourself at risk adding to the shipping cost yourself because the 5 star system specifically scores that because ebay has a lot of sellers gouging people for shipping (ever see a $200 item listed as a $0.99 item with $200 shipping? Used to happen a lot more before they started 5 star ratings.) That was when people were doing that to avoid the fees which is why ebay started taking fees out of shipping as well. Plus its called shipping and handling, if you separated that out more people would complain and report you for deceptive listings. eBays own preset shipping prices have their fees built in so that after their fee you get the cost of the label. Quote:As for the "I have to allow for fees" excuse, that goes with the territory for selling on ebay. It's an open market where people can charge what they want or leave it up to the buyers to decide. It is built into your selling price. That goes both ways if buyers dont like it they dont have to buy it. No ones forcing them to make the purchase. If the market supports doing so theres no reason not too, again ebay builds them into their prices so you dont lose money printing every label. Quote:
The ones I have a problem with is flat cost with "padding". There is no reason for it. Theres plenty of reason for it actually. For example from time to time I sell baseball bats. I charge 15.99 for shipping them priority. The actual label costs about 12.50 but they have to be put in a protective tube that costs about 3.50. Then ebay takes 1.60 from shipping so even though the price was "padded" I'm still losing money offering a discounted shipping rate for the actual cost of mailing it out. Quote:
To say you "saw and liked my price" is too simplistic, it could be the only one available or won at auction on bidding, etc etc. It really is that simple though. If its the only one and I dont like the price I dont buy it. Your putting all of the responsibility on the seller to bend over backwards and eat all the fees. For a large shop that sells a lot and can afford to do so there is merit to it to create repeat business, for small sellers theres no advantage to do it at all. There are expectations that you wont be lied too such as promising expedited shipping and sending it first class, but if the service level is fulfilled theyve done their part. Buying and selling is a two way street, I dont believe in agreeing to the terms of something and then penalizing them for fulfilling those terms. Now if they say it will have a tracking number and it doesn't yes they would have violated the terms of their agreement and that would warrant a star being taken off, but the shipping fee is what they charge to ship it whether that is only the cost of the label or they have fees built in is up to them EDIT: I should add I dont agree with price gouging on shipping as they should just add it to the listing, but I am saying a buyer does take responsibility and agrees to that fee when they purchase the item Edited by basebal21
05/27/2013 4:49 pm
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New Member
United States
47 Posts |
I don't want to derail this too far, we will just have to agree with disagree. A couple final thoughts: Quote:That was when people were doing that to avoid the fees which is why ebay started taking fees out of shipping as well. Plus its called shipping and handling, if you separated that out more people would complain and report you for deceptive listings. eBays own preset shipping prices have their fees built in so that after their fee you get the cost of the label. ebay clearly allows for handling charges, not sure where you get this reasoning. You can also build shipping into your listing and make it "free" at which point they can't even rate you. Quote: That goes both ways if buyers dont like it they dont have to buy it. No ones forcing them to make the purchase. If the market supports doing so theres no reason not too, again ebay builds them into their prices so you dont lose money printing every label. That's a rather silly argument. If you don't want to deal with ebay T&C and all the risks associated, you don't have to sell there either. The market supports honesty in the shipping costs and has a way to deal with that without marking a negative or going though a dispute. Quote: Theres plenty of reason for it actually. For example from time to time I sell baseball bats. I charge 15.99 for shipping them priority. The actual label costs about 12.50 but they have to be put in a protective tube that costs about 3.50. Then ebay takes 1.60 from shipping so even though the price was "padded" I'm still losing money offering a discounted shipping rate for the actual cost of mailing it out. I really think this is just semantics except you are the only one putting yourself at risk by viewing it this way. Instead of viewing everything as the selling price and then all the costs to be paid by someone else, I would suggest you view it as all one amount and deduct your costs after. If you charged actual postage and put the shipping container cost in your listing price you would be less likely to get dinged. (On a personal note, I allow for extra costs when the container is weird sized as a buyer myself) Also, I have seen buyers regularly pay 10-25% (or more) above market prices for a seller they trust who doesn't fiddle around with hiding costs. Quote:
Buying and selling is a two way street, I dont believe in agreeing to the terms of something and then penalizing them for fulfilling those terms. Now if they say it will have a tracking number and it doesn't yes they would have violated the terms of their agreement and that would warrant a star being taken off, but the shipping fee is what they charge to ship it whether that is only the cost of the label or they have fees built in is up to them You're right it is two way - you can either look at it as you doing a favor to the buyer by offering your item at your price or you can look at it as the buyer doing you a favor by giving cash for your item and try to encourage repeat business in the future. I just don't think a seller has a right to complain about DSR's when they try to go around the terms ebay set as part of having a virtual monopoly on this type of marketplace. If someone else takes over eventually, maybe the balance will shift but for now it's a buyers world and I'm going to treat them the way I would want to be treated. It's been fun going back a forth with you in a civil way. Take care. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:
Also, I have seen buyers regularly pay 10-25% (or more) above market prices for a seller they trust who doesn't fiddle around with hiding costs. Thats the thing though you arent hiding a cost when its clearly listed. You mention looking at it as one cost for a seller buyers do the same. I dont personally care if a seller wants to charge .99 cents with a 200 dollar shipping fee if the final total is acceptable to me, I dont see why they would now but if I like the price I like the price. Quote: just don't think a seller has a right to complain about DSR's when they try to go around the terms ebay set as part of having a virtual monopoly on this type of marketplace. They really arent though if everything is listed. Youre only violating terms if you dont ship it in the tier that was listed, dont provide tracking when you say you will, or charge different than what was listed. If you arent doing any of those things youre getting dinged for not violating anything. Quote:
You're right it is two way - you can either look at it as you doing a favor to the buyer by offering your item at your price or you can look at it as the buyer doing you a favor by giving cash for your item and try to encourage repeat business in the future. Its not really anyone doing anyone a favor its just finding two people how have acceptable prices for each other for the item. Fees and costs are always passed onto the customer in everything in life. Quote:
It's been fun going back a forth with you in a civil way. Take care. Agreed, enjoy the holiday |
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Valued Member
United States
292 Posts |
Well, I've ended the postage gouging by only bidding on free shipping items. Currently I'm working on US commemorative silver dollars. There are pages and pages of auctions for most issues, so finding ones with free shipping isn't usually a problem.
I got tired of the postage thing. I didn't mind and agreed with $3.50 for one coin, but say I win 2 coins from a seller and he only drops $1 from the postage, charging $6 to mail two coins. We all know it doesn't cost $6 to mail 2 coins; nor are there more handing costs to do 2 coins vs 1 coin. They both fit into the same envelope as the 1 coin. The trip to the PO is the same for 1 or 2 coins. On and on.
So free shipping all the way. Let them play their postage games on someone else. I know exactly what my final cost will be with free shipping and bid accordingly.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1795 Posts |
A Bad Seller will get a chance to make things right if they don't then I will sting em with bad feedback as far as shipping it is clearly stated and I look for the best coin and lowest shipping; but sometimes that is not the case. So if the coin is shipped promptly I will give a 5 star rating even though I thought the shipping was a little high. No one forced me to buy it.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Well, the coin came, very nicely posted and signed for so he lost on posting by my maths. Nice guy, well presented with a business card and all. Suitably impressive for me to forgive any lateness.
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Replies: 25 / Views: 2,903 |
First Page
Posted 05/27/2013 2:56 pm
