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 Replies: 17 / Views: 3,578 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
Under ebay's new rating system I am NOT a preferred seller. While I still have a 100% rating in terms of positive and negative feedbacks, I have too many 1 and 2 (low) ratings in the Shipping and Handling category. Specifically, 5 out of the last 600 folks I have sold to rated me a 1 or 2 in this category and that's enough to "tarnish" me and not allow me to qualify as a preferred seller. (A quick aside.... My shipping cost to my buyers is $2.00 for the first coin and .50 cents for each additional coin won. I always ship in a #000 bubble mailer with a label I generate from PayPal. I am TRULY paying at least $1.25 for EVERY mailer I send out. I would really LIKE to believe that the folks who have "dinged" me are the folks who are lucky enough to win one of my coins for the minimum starting bid of $0.99. Only at $0.99 should these shipping costs seem oppressive!) Here's the question I would like your opinions on: If there are two identical items that you want on ebay, and both sellers seem reputable, but one has a $2.00 shipping and handling fee and the other does not, would you be willing to bid $2.00 MORE with the seller who has free shipping? My question is aimed at the psychology of the buyer. I want to know whether I'll be hurting myself shipping for free or if I'll make up that $2.00 with higher bids. Thoughts? Edited by weerdsteev
10/03/2009 09:51 am
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
I personally look for "free shipping" and "buy it now' things first. I know that the free shipping is usually factored in the selling price but the words free shipping gets my attention. Don't know if this is what you are looking for or not. John1  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4870 Posts |
Some sellers incorporate their ebay/paypal fees into their shipping costs.
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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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Replies: 17 / Views: 3,578 |
Posted 10/03/2009 11:26 am
