Korm Kormsen said:
if i send a parcel under 2 pounds of weight to the states, it costs me 1.50 $us. from paraguay! about 8000 miles away.
Korm,
I can receive an item under 2kgs from Great Britain (half way around the world) for less cost than to ship the same item to my next suburb only one kilometre away. To return the item back whence it came would cost me $80.00, nearly four times the original postage cost.
Tim Brien said:
Korm Kormsen said:
if i send a parcel under 2 pounds of weight to the states, it costs me 1.50 $us. from paraguay! about 8000 miles away.
Korm,
I can receive an item under 2kgs from Great Britain (half way around the world) for less cost than to ship the same item to my next suburb only one kilometre away. To return the item back whence it came would cost me $80.00, nearly four times the original postage cost.
it’s a crazy world
An FYI here.
I just shipped a LGB car from PGH. PA to a city in California using my UPS account. Shipped UPS Ground.
I charged $14.50 on an Ebay listing for shipping and the actual cost to ship that car just now was $17.79 A loss to me of $3.29 that I will have to eat.
Moral of the store: The cost of shipping is going through the roof !!!
So is the cost of air postage from Australia for the stuff I make.
What once cost me A$12.70 (up to 250 grams) to ship air packet/parcel to the UK is now A$17.20 (up to 500 grams). The USA is A$13.70.
This forced me to redesign the system so that it is thinner. I can now send at a letter rate for A$6.20 for 250 grams Worldwide. I can actually fit 2-3 systems in a packet and still be under 250 grams and fit through the maximum packet thickness test.
With the rising cost of gas expect it to go higher. People who do not sell and ship do not understand the cost involved. I still say if you feel the shipping is to high on ebay or elsewhere then it is your option not to bid.
Mike
I recently sold a Bachmann Shay on eBay. The buyer paid me $25 shipping – but my mail lady called and said it was still at the post office even though I had $40 postage on it. Cost me an extra $10 because it was oversize… $25 more than the buyer paid! My fault, though, for not accurately figuring the cost in advance.
I never have a problem in the rare times I sell something, I just tell the person that I will charge them what it costs to ship, get the info (usually USPS) online and let them decide.
You never know when the prices will go up.
Greg
Rik Beeson said:
I recently sold a Bachmann Shay on eBay. The buyer paid me $25 shipping – but my mail lady called and said it was still at the post office even though I had $40 postage on it. Cost me an extra $10 because it was oversize… $25 more than the buyer paid! My fault, though, for not accurately figuring the cost in advance.
Didja ever notice that if you OVER estimate the shipping by more than about $2 folks get real pissy, but when stiff like this happens only about 1 person in 200 will offer to pay the difference?
Mik said:
“While you might think if an item is 99c with $45 shipping that you’re getting taken advantage of… but if it was $46 with free shipping for the same item and you’d be happy, then you really ain’t. The only party getting “screwed” in the first case is feebay, and I think they’ll survive.”
Mik, feebay and their subsidiary the “loved” paypal don’t ever get screwed. Never. They closed off the 99-cent item price and $45 shipping cost loophole (sellers were using this to save themselves selling costs) a long time ago. As I understand it, they get their fees based on the total of the selling price and shipping and anything else they can get their hands on. Yeah, they’ll survive somehow.
Personally, I have a tough time stomaching spending $18 on a single boxcar and $15 on shipping so I don’t usually buy that car.* I’ll survive and so will my railroad.
*Unless it’s a car I just “have” to have to survive (ha ha ha) and want to spend $33…it doesn’t matter to me how the $33 is divied up, frankly, once I’ve decided to spend the $33.
One other thing I’ve noticed. Guys who will buck over $20 shipping charges will pay $75 in gas. $100 for a motel room, and $20 to get into a show to buy the very same car - often at the same sale price - and then think they “saved money”.
It’s a funny world, but whatever gets you through the night.
Mik said:
One other thing I’ve noticed. Guys who will buck over $20 shipping charges will pay $75 in gas. $100 for a motel room, and $20 to get into a show to buy the very same car - often at the same sale price - and then think they “saved money”.
It’s a funny world, but whatever gets you through the night.
You can get a hotel room for $100.00?
I hear ya…I used to go to shows because that was the only place to see before you buy. It was also the only place to get a deal. Now with ebay I rarely attend shows of any type.
Though there is one thing ebay cannot replace…the friends you meet.
Mik said:
One other thing I’ve noticed. Guys who will buck over $20 shipping charges will pay $75 in gas. $100 for a motel room, and $20 to get into a show to buy the very same car - often at the same sale price - and then think they “saved money”.
It’s a funny world, but whatever gets you through the night.
Different budgets, Mik. One comes out of the Train budget, the other comes from the Vacation budget. No need to justify the Vacation budget, just “Honey, let’s take a weekend and get out of town.”
Whatver the cost of shipping, it is cheaper than what it would cost you to travel to pick up the package and return home. Once I accepted that fact of life, shipping charges are ‘cheap!’
Bob
Bob DeForge said:
Whatver the cost of shipping, it is cheaper than what it would cost you to travel to pick up the package and return home. Once I accepted that fact of life, shipping charges are ‘cheap!’
Bob
Bob, I Soooo agree with this! There is a hobby store accross town (about 80 miles round trip). It is cheaper for me to have UPS burn their gas than I burn mine!
Mark V said:
Bob DeForge said:
Whatver the cost of shipping, it is cheaper than what it would cost you to travel to pick up the package and return home. Once I accepted that fact of life, shipping charges are ‘cheap!’
Bob
Bob, I Soooo agree with this! There is a hobby store accross town (about 80 miles round trip). It is cheaper for me to have UPS burn their gas than I burn mine!
Both are very good arguments for paying the asking price for shipping. However, I still go back to my original gripe. Fifteen to twenty dollars to ship one Bachmann passenger or freight car is alot to factor in when figuring the total cost of one car. Yet I see shipping costs for one Bachmann side tipper car at less than four dollars.
For the East coast show, holiday inn show rate is $89, and even with tax added it is less than $100.
I look at goiung to this show as a mini vacation, so cost is not a factor when buying trains. Wife goes shopping and spends as much as I do at stores around York!!
Dan Pierce said:
For the East coast show, holiday inn show rate is $89, and even with tax added it is less than $100.
I look at goiung to this show as a mini vacation, so cost is not a factor when buying trains. Wife goes shopping and spends as much as I do at stores around York!!
Traded the “old steed” on a new, smaller model. The extra room from the shopping extravaganza has been lost. But the leaner, more efficient mini vacation is still on schedule.
Ric,
Does your new steed still have room for the Timesaver?
I’d miss it at the East Coast show.
Oh yes, and even Jane and Andy. Its the shopping spree that may be shackled.
Ric Golding said:
Oh yes, and even Jane and Andy. Its the shopping spree that may be shackled.
Shopping spree shackled??? ohhh, the shame…