Large Scale Central

Shipping costs, a rant

General Discussion
#1

I buy and sell on Ebay to help support my hobby. When I sell an item, I charge only what it costs me to send it. Packaging materials are recycled from purchases and from just holding onto packing materials that I come across every day.

However, I must bypass alot of would be purchases, on Ebay, due to, what I consider, higher than necessary shipping fees.

Some sellers jack up the shipping charge in order to increase the profit on an item. Why not just sell the item for what you think its worth and be fair with shipping. Most of us have not just crawled from under a rock! We can spot the plot.

I will grant you that in some cases, the seller is a business with employees to pay, who package these items. However, more often than not, I see small time operations charging higher than fair prices for shipping.

I will end it here, purposefully, as I know I can rant on for a few more paragraphs.

#2

The easy solution is to not do business with those sellers who overcharge for shipping.

I have a problem with eBay buyers who bid an item higher than they should. Wait until the item is shipped and then ask for a refund.
They’ve made their mistake my problem and I’m out the shipping. And there’s no way to avoid them :wink:
Ralph

#3

Ralph - Horror stories like that are why I stopped selling on eBay. I’ve done OK on Craigslist lately, but then I pretty much am only selling local with face-to-face transactions.

#4

Dan - When I was selling on eBay I had no access to free shipping materials. Go price a small box of peanuts or bubble wrap at Staples. Lots of folks also get upset if you use recycled packing material and there is any foreign material in the box. Personally, I’d rather pay a bit more for shipping and receive a well packed and unbroken item. I’ve had a few experiences with sellers who have no idea how to pack fragile items and I end up with a box of broken pieces.

#5

If you’re buying large scale rolling stock, ESPECIALLY with the factory boxes, DO try to remember they are mostly “oversize”

Then there is the simple fact that the ebay automatic shipping calculator is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy off, as in showing about HALF of actual cost a LOT of the time. It also doesn’t include INSURANCE, if you don’t want that, then you really shouldn’t complain about getting a “box of broken pieces”, either.

Some of those guys who “overcharge” on shipping are actually taking it to the guy at the UPS store to pack it so you (hopefully) DON’T get them busted bits (at least until they chuck it over the fence or back the truck over it)…especially with large or weird shaped stuff. Those guys ain’t exactly cheap.

On the plus side (if you’re buying) there really are a LOT fewer bad sellers than unreasonable buyers

#6

I’ve been selling and buying on e-bay for over 20 years with no major problems. The bottom line is if you want your item to show up in one piece and not broken it needs to be shipped properly and that costs money. As a seller I’m not going to eat the cost of shipping for the buyer and as a buyer if I think the shipping charges are to “High” then I don’t but the item. Simple as that.

Chuck

#7
Chuck Inlow said:
I've been selling and buying on e-bay for over 20 years with no major problems. The bottom line is if you want your item to show up in one piece and not broken it needs to be shipped properly and that costs money. As a seller I'm not going to eat the cost of shipping for the buyer and as a buyer if I think the shipping charges are to "High" then I don't [b]but[/b] the item. Simple as that.

Chuck

edit to highlight


OK, Chuck, you don’t but the item, but do you buy it? :lol: :smiley: :stuck_out_tongue:

#8

I agree with all the above. Shipping charges to Canada from the USA have scuppered many a deal before it even got started. I didn’t realize that some American buyers feel much of this pain as well.

Don is quite right: some shippers charge outrageous shipping fees. Some of these guys seem to be franchise operations; I see some company names with locations clearly in different states.

I make it a practice to send these sellers a query about their rates. I make a point of telling them what the listing says, because after all the E-Bay calculator has often been the root of the problem - at least I give them that way out, even if I know their high rates are actually the store’s policy, then after they’ve tried to explain, I let them know straight up that I can’t bid because of the shipping charge.

Better they should know than not know.

Jon is right, though, a small bag of peanuts or bubble wrap costs 'way more than you’d think! It’s worth saving the stuff and recycling it. As a buyer I’d never complain… I’ve handed garbage bags full of these materials on to folks who gratefully reuse 'em.

By the way, the best way to get large scale stuff without shipping charges is to join your local club or Garden Ry Association. Lots of opportunity to buy, sell, and swap there - face to face! :D:cool:

#9
Ralph Berg said:
The easy solution is to not do business with those sellers who overcharge for shipping.

I have a problem with eBay buyers who bid an item higher than they should. Wait until the item is shipped and then ask for a refund.
They’ve made their mistake my problem and I’m out the shipping. And there’s no way to avoid them :wink:
Ralph


I wouldn’t refund the original shipping cost and I also ask the buyer to pay for return shipping.

#10
Jon Radder said:
Dan - When I was selling on eBay I had no access to free shipping materials. Go price a small box of peanuts or bubble wrap at Staples. Lots of folks also get upset if you use recycled packing material and there is any foreign material in the box. Personally, I'd rather pay a bit more for shipping and receive a well packed and unbroken item. I've had a few experiences with sellers who have no idea how to pack fragile items and I end up with a box of broken pieces.
I cannot argue with you there Jon.
#11

I guess the bottom line is that I don’t like to pay for shipping. I do avoid items where I think the shipping is too high. And at times I weigh the cost of the item and shipping together. If the overall price is reasonable I’ll go for it. I have been buying and selling on Ebay for ten years without any major problems. Any issues that did come up I was able to resolve with the seller/buyer. One incident I remember was mixing up the shipping on two buyers. Each got the others package. I asked them to ship the item to the correct buyer in order to save time. I would pay for the shipping. One guy was agreeable while the other thought it was the end of the world and would not hear of it. So I ended up paying for return shipping on both items then paying for shipping out again.

#12

To the best of my knowledge (based on many years of shipping all kinds of LARGE items), shipping cost is exactly that SHIPPING.

#13

“Shipping cost”= packaging material costs + labor to pack it (if done by paid staff) + delivery to pick-up point costs + postage cost + insurance cost. SOMEBODY has to pay for all those things.

In an internet store some of those are generally included in the fixed price. If you’re paying pennies on the dollar at auction, then expecting the seller to eat everything but postage is just a wee bit unreasonable. Expecting a PRIVATE seller to absorb them all is mostly a non-starter too. It’s the price of the medium.

Always, always, ALWAYS figure in the cost of shipping into the total price you’re willing to pay. If you can “get it local, for less” then DO it. If not, decide the TOTAL you’re willing to pay. If it costs more than that DON’T BID… it really IS just THAT simple. You ain’t gonna DIE if you don’t get a new toy today, folks…

As for the high cost of shipping to Canada… Thank the folks who decided to apply Air rates to all parcels. There IS NO more “surface rate” going North. Again, figure those costs in before you bid.

#14

Anyone who has actually sold an item and then posted it to the recipient will know that postage costs are not just what the shipper charges. As Mik has stated, there are packaging and handling costs which it seems the buyer expects the seller to bear. Exactly where does the carton, the bubble wrap, the packing foam peanuts, the printing and the packaging tape come from? Where does the petrol for transport to the post office come from? Where does the valuable seller’s time come from? The buyer thinks that all this is provided free of charge.

If I had charged a few dollars handling fee on the items that I have sold then maybe I would have actually made a profit on items sold on eBay. I have never charged for packaging items or for my personal time in shipping items sold and what really irks me is when a buyer complains that the postage sticker imprint cost is a few cents less than the cost charged to the buyer. People only buy on eBay now when an item is a BARGAIN. On top of that they want first class shipping facilities but complain to no end that someone has the audacity to charge actual cost to ship an item. Maybe these people could for once sell something and then see the other side of the coin. They think that sellers are making mega profits on items sold. The reality is that profits are rare and generally only by the big time high volume sellers.

If you cannot afford the postage then you cannot afford the item.

Edit: further to above, I have stored packaging for years in case it is needed for an item sale. I have been seriously disadvantaged by having empty boxes cluttering my personal work space and yet have never received compensation when the boxes have been utilised. I can assure that few have actually gone out and sourced a supply of suitable boxes or know the actual cost of obtaining these boxes. The boxes are definately not free of charge. Professional packaging/shipping companies are willing to sell boxes, but is the buyer really going to pay to purchase any box used?

#15

I know the comments below are not strictly on this topic but they are related and I thought readers might be interested in what small manufacturers have to cope with.
I ship small packets all over the World and in general I find the postal services very reliable.
There are two postal methods.

  1. The letter rate This is for packages that are no thicker than 20 mm total with a quite generous surface are. Big enough for my purposes. The rates charged are quite low for what I make because they are light.
  2. The small packet rate which is for all other items. Australia Post used to have steps for weight starting at up to 250 grams, then 500 grams and so on.
    Many of my orders would easily fit in the up to 250 gram rate and I would wear the cost if the value of the order was high enough, ie. over A$100.
    Unannounced, Australia post recently abolished the 250 gram size and made the minimum 500 grams which resulted in a 40% increase in the postage cost for what had previously fitted in the up to 250 grams packets. Sure the 500 gram rate has been reduced but that doesn’t help me.
    What it means is that I can no longer subsidise the postage out of my mark up.
    As a result at large cost I am having to redesign my main selling items so that they fit into the letter rate. That is, I have to make them thinner.

That also means a complete re-jigging of the Pay Pal calculation algorithms.

Grrrrrrrr!! The trials and tribulations of being a cottage industry.

#16

Hiya Tony: The Canadian Post Office has pulled a similar set of stunts, reducing our options manyfold and resulting in increased postage costs especially for packages… After all, letterpost went up only 8-9%.

I look at her face on the stamps and figure somebody has to pay for their weddings.

A few decades ago in Winnipeg a chap tried to start his own local post office, delivering stuff cheaper and faster and more frequently. He ended up in jail.

Oh, yes, I forgot - they’re only a figurehead, aren’t they…

#17
Tim Brien said:
Anyone who has actually sold an item and then posted it to the recipient will know that postage costs are not just what the shipper charges. As Mik has stated, there are packaging and handling costs which it seems the buyer expects the seller to bear. Exactly where does the carton, the bubble wrap, the packing foam peanuts, the printing and the packaging tape come from? Where does the petrol for transport to the post office come from? Where does the valuable seller's time come from? The buyer thinks that all this is provided free of charge.

If I had charged a few dollars handling fee on the items that I have sold then maybe I would have actually made a profit on items sold on eBay. I have never charged for packaging items or for my personal time in shipping items sold and what really irks me is when a buyer complains that the postage sticker imprint cost is a few cents less than the cost charged to the buyer. People only buy on eBay now when an item is a BARGAIN. On top of that they want first class shipping facilities but complain to no end that someone has the audacity to charge actual cost to ship an item. Maybe these people could for once sell something and then see the other side of the coin. They think that sellers are making mega profits on items sold. The reality is that profits are rare and generally only by the big time high volume sellers.

If you cannot afford the postage then you cannot afford the item.

Edit: further to above, I have stored packaging for years in case it is needed for an item sale. I have been seriously disadvantaged by having empty boxes cluttering my personal work space and yet have never received compensation when the boxes have been utilised. I can assure that few have actually gone out and sourced a supply of suitable boxes or know the actual cost of obtaining these boxes. The boxes are definately not free of charge. Professional packaging/shipping companies are willing to sell boxes, but is the buyer really going to pay to purchase any box used?


I have done the very same thing Tim. Storing supplies in my shop space that might otherwise be put to good use.