posted on June 6, 2008 09:36:38 AM new
In July, Ebay will make it manditory for a seller to have specified shipping costs in all of their listings.
The problem is that in the US there are shipping zones and packaging variables such as balloon or oversized package charges that are unseen until you know where you are shipping to. This only becomes known after the item sells in some circumstances.
If those sellers like myself who use a third party
listing tool such as Vendio - where the shipping calculator is inbedded in HTML in the template - will this be sufficient in
compying with this new policy. Will the eBay web crawler see the calculator and offer Vendio/eBay listers the same exposure in searches as listing sellers using their own turbo lister or seller form?
posted on June 6, 2008 12:58:07 PM new
If we give the packed shipping weight of a collectible and have built into that a little extra for supplies, will this work?! I always give the packed shipping weight for items other than media mail; for that, I give the exact amount I will charge for shipping, which, again, has a little extra built in for supplies.
If this won't work, I'll have to quit selling on eBay. Period.
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posted on June 6, 2008 01:32:39 PM new
I brought up this question awhile ago about how difficult it is to specify shipping accurately due to zones, measurements, flat rate,etc.
I always specify shipping, but it is not always accurate due to the above mentioned variables. Some heavy items ship more cheaply to nearby zones in regular boxes, farther away require flat rate. It is not as easy as Ebay thinks.
posted on June 6, 2008 01:34:56 PM new
Why dont you forget about zone,how much is the difference from zone to zone?
I just quote a flat rate for shipping USA and another flat rate for shipping overseas,but most of my items are not that big.
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Google does not hire stupid people.
posted on June 6, 2008 01:52:27 PM new
An item weighing just over 2 pounds in zone 1 or 2 cost about $5.00, in zone 5 $9.00, in zone 8 $12.00, ( I am rounding these off), so it is cheaper to use a flat rate box in certain zones, but in other zones it is cheaper to use regular boxes.
posted on June 6, 2008 02:28:51 PM new
Fortunately, most of what I sell either goes media mail, or fits in flat rate boxes. For stuff that doesn't, my policy is to just put in a shipping price for zone 8 - If that is where they are, then I am fine, and if they are closer, it is a bonus for me. I believe variable pricing hurts sales - it is adding a level of confusion for some buyers, and the you get the real idiots who don't understand how it works, and want a zone 1 price even though they live in zone 8.
posted on June 6, 2008 02:36:15 PM new
Merrie - I'm in the same boat as you are. Most of what I sell is large plus I live on the east coast and sell a large number of items to the west coast. Every single thing I sell is a different size and weight.
I've always tried to give my buyers the best shipping rate and I don't want to quote flat rate to Calif for $9.80 if it can be shipped to Georgia for $6.00. Then I have to keep track of it and refund the balance which the buyer never seems to notice.
I think this is one more step that ebay is doing to try to get us all to use free shipping (but higher prices). We all know that's going to increase their bottom line, and after all that all they really care about.
Ebay is just very un-user friendly lately - I think I've about had it!!!!
posted on June 6, 2008 02:45:02 PM new
you may have to forget about zone and come up with a shipping charge which will allow you to break even in most cases.
say take the high and the low and divide by 2 and pad a little.
do you charge handling fee?
I have been selling on internet for 10 years and I always quote one price shipping and have yet to lose money.
I ship USPS and go from priority,first class to parcel post depends on the item,cost,distance and ease of packing.
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No one expects the seller to charge exact postage,if you pad a little ,they dont mind,if you pad a lot,sometimes they dont mind either ,you just dont get 5.0 DSR shipping.
Google does not hire stupid people.
[ edited by hwahwa on Jun 6, 2008 02:46 PM ]
posted on June 6, 2008 02:58:24 PM new
And I'm on the west coast, shipping at least 50% of the time to the eastern seaboard. Since some buyers, perhaps more than we think, look for items nearer home, hoping to get a break on shipping, I just can't charge a California buyer, for example, what I'd charge a New York buyer for a 3# package. That would discourage western buyers.
I guess to some we're sounding whiny, but honestly this just makes no sense.
Uh. Unless eBay wants its big shippers who always charge the same HIGH price to have less competition from us little people.
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posted on June 6, 2008 03:27:37 PM new
I agree ladyjewels, too much aggravation lately. My other thread about a broken item, people taking their sweet time to pay, shipping confusion, star concerns. It is getting to be too much of a hassle. Much angst, little rewards.
posted on June 6, 2008 04:48:38 PM new
Also if you use Vendio and add options for flat rate or calculated the flat rate shows up in the search. So that my Georgia buyer see it and thinks $9.80 is too high for shipping - NEXT.
If you just use calculated and it ends up costing $15.00 to ship to California, don't you think the buyer is going to think that's too much. So you either have the headache of refunds or take a hit on your DSR.
posted on June 6, 2008 04:49:19 PM new
Here is a page taken from AMZN,as you know,AMZN dictates the shipping fee usually it is enough ,but sometimes you have a big coffee table book which would cost more.
This is what AMZN wants us to do-just raise your asking price to cover the extra shipping.
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Google does not hire stupid people.
posted on June 6, 2008 09:18:56 PM new
I've charged a flat rate for years now. It's easier for me and my buyers know what they'll pay. I always add a bit to cover costs. If it turns out the buyer paid more than a couple of dollars, I'll send a refund. I've had to eat some underpayments (my fault as I miscalculated what it would cost) but, overall, it's worked out fine. My shipping DSR is 4.8 which I can live with.
