posted on February 24, 2011 09:46:13 AM new
I charge $2.25 for each item which is shipped in a brand new jewelry box and a brand new padded envelope. The postage normally costs between $1.65 and $1.85 if I don't insure. The packing materials are roughly 60 cent per item.
When I re-listed some jewelry last night there was a big RED notice stating that I'm charging too much. This kind of ticks me off as at the very most there is a nickel extra and in many cases, I have to make up the difference.
Is ebay for real? I think I see a future of control shipping rates for jewelry as they have done with DVD and books.
posted on February 24, 2011 11:03:35 AM new
I think this is eBay pushing sellers into offering "free" shipping.
I say, do it. Raise your prices by $3 and offer free shipping. This covers your costs, the buyer thinks they are getting free shipping, and you automatically get a 5.0 on your shipping cost DSR.
posted on February 24, 2011 11:50:26 AM new
Hello,
When you pad the cost of the item to cover shipping, then your paying final value fee's to eBay for this rate increase. You may find it more cost effective to switch to a calculated shipping rate, as you can automatically pad your 60 cents in material costs into the calculated cost and it won't add to your FVF's.
eBay only warms about the shipping costs on fixed shipping setups. If it's $2 more to go calculated than what you had entered as a fixed rate, no warnings or rules about shipping costs come into play.
posted on February 24, 2011 01:16:48 PM new
Seriously??? $2.25 is not too much! A jewelry box and padded envelope cost real money! I ship things in a brand new $.40 cent box and only charge the actual weight plus $.50 cents, I sure hope eBay doesn't think that shipping formula costs too much, because it doesn't.
posted on February 24, 2011 02:16:36 PM new
shagmidmod - most of my jewelry is sold from my store where I take offers. Therefore I don't have total control over what is offered.
Also most of it isn't high price jewelry so there isn't much room for profit.
pmelcher - so you use calculated shipping as Chris suggested? I guess that's my problem - I just try to make my listing as fast as possible.
The funny part is that I have a 5 Star Rating in shipping cost. Seems like if it's good enough for my customers ebay should keep their big fat nose out of my business!!
Thanks for the information Chris - I did not know that. I'll make that change as soon as I can.
posted on February 25, 2011 08:26:36 AM new
No I don't use calculated shipping. I weigh the jewelry in the box I plan to ship it in, figure out the cost from a price list I printed from the Post Office and then add my 50 cents. I list it as flat rate shipping. I haven't had any complaints, I forgot to mention that earlier. I also combine shipping if the buyer buys more than one piece by putting it all in one box, figure the cost by weight from the list and add 50 cents. It saves them a lot of money and saves me a box for another sale. It works out well.
posted on February 25, 2011 09:55:00 AM new
I also sell strictly from my store as fixed price, make an offer. My items aren't typically small items. I would say 15% small, 65% medium, 15% large, 5% extra large. My shipping rates average $20, but I shipped a sofa for $550 a few months back and shipped some pins for $3.
Yes, eBay will charge you fees for the full price... but in your case the amount of fees for $3 extra isn't much and you can bundle that into your overhead on shipping costs.
When you receive offers from buyers, you will see their location as well. This is where I can make adjustments as needed. Example: item costs $30 to ship to NYC, but to Seattle it only costs me $15. I am willing to take $15 less for it from someone closer.
The beauty of it is that people LOVE Free Shipping, even though it isn't free. The best is that eBay automatically gives you a 5 star DSR for shipping costs. This is important because it keeps your ratings up and remove most discussions with buyers over shipping costs.
If I was you, I would give it a try one time. You can easily edit your listings in bulk to add $3-4 to the cost of the items and offer free shipping. I found this actually increased my sales and many people leave feedback stating they love the free shipping.
posted on February 25, 2011 10:43:35 AM new
If you ship in a box,why need padded envelope?
if you ship in padded envelope,why need a box for a small piece of jewelry?
When I ship a small box overseas,I use an unpadded large envelope and put my small box in it,to add bulk without adding weight,it only adds one ounce to the postal scale.
Then for partial tracking ,I also attach a green customs form.
Sometimes I doublefold the envelope to make it look bulkier!
*
There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
posted on February 26, 2011 01:10:18 PM new
I just scheduled a jewelry listing with my usual $3.00 fixed rate shipping and didn't receive any kind of warning notice.
posted on February 28, 2011 02:47:23 AM new
I just re-listed a single piece and didn't get the warning. Maybe it's just when you bulk re-list or revise. Anyway I've edited everything to be calculated now. I'm thinking about doing the free shipping again. I did it for a while and can't remember why I stopped.
