Excessive postage!

[JJcards]

On the other site if given too many low ratings for shipping can result in a loss of discounts to powersellers thus making them up their overall price on items to recoup what they had discount wise

On another note I wonder how the buyer would feel if someone were to do or question them about the same thing,do they feel their shipping fees are above and beyond reproach,are they selling items at 1$ and shipping them for free or is it ONLY their shipping that is reasonable.I am sure some buyers have looked over and moved on by thinking perhaps the shipping fees were too high but not stop purchase an item than complain about postage

last thing if 2 seperate selelrs had the exact same item for sale 1 seller with perfect feedback the other iffy,the perfect seller has shipping at 5$ the iffy seller has shipping at 3$ are you going to buy from the iffy seller and cross your fingers or buy from the perfect seller and then complain about how you saw the same item being offered for 2$ less shipping wise,I know who I would go with and happily so

Just my opinion but as a seller it really does hit a nerve hearing this as most good sellers try to offer the best shipping rates they can and as we only know how our own shipping goes cost time etc every seller is different too many variables to consider time location (if they are far away from the post their gas money will factor in) materials etc etc etc so to just assume someone is gouging as it does not reflect a cost your used to seeing or think it should be really is unfair that you would tarnish their selling reputation and this applies to any and all buyers don't like the fee don't buy the item and then ambush em least someone can do is ask why the shipping fee is at x amount,if a reasonable answer is given should be more than enough

And before anyone asks no I am not a seller who has a grudge I actually have 5 stars across the board somewhere so my fees seem to be fine with everyone who has purchased from me

some sellers ship out a few items a week,some much much more they have overhead,employees the fact that they indeed have to pay for the items to be packaged and perhaps are paying someone to do just that does not factor in with the op too many things we do not see as buyers that sellers have to take into effect and if anyone is to blame on a certain site,well blame the site itself for taking a % of the sellers shipping fees now

If total cost to ship an item with packing materials etc is 2.90 and the seller charges 3$ take away the 2% that site takes and you have left the seller with nothing,nothing money wise to locate, package and run off to the post office (gas money not included) and your small profit quickly becomes a debit do that 100 times a week and see if your tune changes slightly

I would understand if charged 10$ for an item that should cost 2$ but who the heck is going to pay that keep in mind that the 25-75 cents extra sellers may charge is what accounts for protecting your items and let's them stay afloat,especially the smaller sellers who barely break even with adding an extra few cents to their shipping

Too many sites running the small seller into the red,too bad a lot of buyers seem to be just as eager to help

You know full well what your getting into when buying an item,it almost seems spiteful to bring down a sellers ratings unless for a darn good reason and I cannot justify going into a sale knowing full well the postage charged reason at all,don't like the fees move on,don't like the fees but agree to buy the item anyway your choice as long as you get what you paid for item wise leave the sellers alone

[BAGHAG999]

On the other side i understand why some bump postage price its to avoid high FVF hopefully this saving is passed on with a lower price for the buyer.
But some buyers dont see it that way, i dont see whats to gain having a low price and 40.00 postage on Ebid as fees are low surely they will lose sales over this.

[TonyBridger]

On the other side i understand why some bump postage price its to avoid high FVF hopefully this saving is passed on with a lower price for the buyer.
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This no longer applies as they now also charge FVF on both item price and postage charges

[moonwitch]

Think Amazon charge 2.70 for postage on books but does the seller get the 2.70 or does Amazon take a cut?

I used to sell books there and I didn't even get enough back to pay postage on more than a thin paperback...lol

[Virtueandpraise]

You know full well what your getting into when buying an item,it almost seems spiteful to bring down a sellers ratings unless for a darn good reason and I cannot justify going into a sale knowing full well the postage charged reason at all,don't like the fees move on,don't like the fees but agree to buy the item anyway your choice as long as you get what you paid for item wise leave the sellers alone

If a buyer, seeing the Shipping costs, goes ahead and purchases my item, I expect him to be happy when I ship it in the manner he paid for. If the buyer decides he is happy with everything else but the shipping charge after he receives the item, and then leaves feedback that is negative on my shipping charge ... I consider that a buyer I do not need to re-experience, and Blackball him.

I have had my S&H rating dinged a few times on feeBay by otherwise happy customers (the feedback never said anything negative), and even though it is possible the customer was confused as to the negative effect of the ratings on the sellers and did not realize his wish for cheap S&H should not equal a negative mark, I just decided to not do any future business with him. It also caused me to take the extra time now to inform my customers exactly what I paid for their postage, insurance, tracking, and (in feeBay's case) the Final Value Fee on shipping. A few times the Shipping has cost less than the Shipping Calculator charged, and I refund the money. Most of the time I have paid more in Shipping costs than the customer paid me ... but they have never refunded me!

It makes no sense to me to complain about the price after you have paid for the goods. Complaints about items not as described, or a seller forgetting for a few weeks to mail it to you, or of such poor packaging that something is broken on arrival, these are legitimate. But why complain about the price you paid, when you are the one who agreed to pay it?

If you don't like the price, don't buy it.

If you buy it from me, then complain through feedback that you don't like the price ...? Well, you won't ever have to worry about "paying too much" for shipping again from me!

[suesjools]

If a buyer, seeing the Shipping costs, goes ahead and purchases my item, I expect him to be happy when I ship it in the manner he paid for. If the buyer decides he is happy with everything else but the shipping charge after he receives the item, and then leaves feedback that is negative on my shipping charge ... I consider that a buyer I do not need to re-experience, and Blackball him.

I have had my S&H rating dinged a few times on feeBay by otherwise happy customers (the feedback never said anything negative), and even though it is possible the customer was confused as to the negative effect of the ratings on the sellers and did not realize his wish for cheap S&H should not equal a negative mark, I just decided to not do any future business with him. It also caused me to take the extra time now to inform my customers exactly what I paid for their postage, insurance, tracking, and (in feeBay's case) the Final Value Fee on shipping. A few times the Shipping has cost less than the Shipping Calculator charged, and I refund the money. Most of the time I have paid more in Shipping costs than the customer paid me ... but they have never refunded me!

It makes no sense to me to complain about the price after you have paid for the goods. Complaints about items not as described, or a seller forgetting for a few weeks to mail it to you, or of such poor packaging that something is broken on arrival, these are legitimate. But why complain about the price you paid, when you are the one who agreed to pay it?

If you don't like the price, don't buy it.

If you buy it from me, then complain through feedback that you don't like the price ...? Well, you won't ever have to worry about "paying too much" for shipping again from me!

Hear, hear!

Best wishes for many sales to all,

[BAGHAG999]

This no longer applies as they now also charge FVF on both item price and postage charges

Im not being charged FVF on postage on there just checked to make sure only on Paypal.

[DZAMBO]

And very soon most of sellers' will be selling own items most of time with shipping price two or three times or even more higher from how much we set selling price for each item…and THAT will be ‘’fun’’…...

Postal Service Announces Shipping Prices from January 22. 2012
New domestic retail pricing for Priority Mail Flat Rate products include:
· Small box — $5.35
· Medium box — $11.35
· Large box — $15.45
· Large APO/FPO/DPO box — $13.45
· Regular envelope — $5.15
· Legal-size and Padded envelope — $5.30
The First Class Mail Stamps price will increase to $0.45 on January 22.2012

Like always Dzambo will keep ''old rates'' for all my items...with ''of course'' NO extra charge for combined shipping Domestic and International...

[tesb1980]

On the other side i understand why some bump postage price its to avoid high FVF hopefully this saving is passed on with a lower price for the buyer.
But some buyers dont see it that way, i dont see whats to gain having a low price and 40.00 postage on Ebid as fees are low surely they will lose sales over this.

Because unfortunately there are calculative sellers who will do anything to save on fees, even if the fees in question are low... I do hope such a situation never comes to pass where so many sellers transfer the cost of the item over to the shipping charge, and eBid is forced to start taking percentage of shipping charge fees. Like what happened on the Bay a couple years back.

[wizeguy101]

I agree with this 100%, sellers can charge what they like, but they should expect to get feedback about how realistic they are in setting charges.

I think that Amazon fee structure which might be £0.01 for a book, and £2.80 for P&P, though postage cost might be £1.10, distorts the market for books because you do not have a realistic price for books.

On Ebid/Ebay, you might get the same, a book starting at £0.01 with £2.80 for P&P. On Ebid/Ebay, unlike Amazon, the seller sets the P&P charge. I do not know before I receive the book what it weighs and how thick it is. £2.80 might be just right, too little or too much. I will rate the seller on how realistically they set their P&P charge.

So where then do you think the cost of doing business should be placed? On the cost of the book, thus distorting its market price? Or in the catch-all services category of Shipping & Handling?

I personally think it should go in S&H, but naiive customers tend to falsley believe that the price in the corner is the cost paid to get the product to them. This can be a frustrating balance to acheive. Either the item price reflects realistic market prices, or the shipping price reflects postage, but you simply can't have both, unless you enjoy giving product away for free. ONE of them MUST bear the cost of bringing that product to market. It's as much of a problem for selling small low value items like trading and sports cards as it is large ones, possibly more so, because the cost to do business can sometimes make up 90% of the total price.

How many of you have looked at your reports at the end of the month or week and discovered that you just sold X amount of products *at a loss*? It happened to me my first or second month over at feebay, when I foolishly tried to sell items at a fair price while charging "actual" shipping costs. Only to discover that the fees for listing, selling, credit card processing and transaction fees, postal supplies and postage due came to more than I made. Talk about learning my lesson.

So now I calculate every cent of my upfront non-labor costs and include them in the S&H price. This *includes* adding the fvf placed on shipping to the price I charge for shipping. Don't think you're paying a fvf on your shipping here at eBid? Think again. Paypal and Google checkout also take their 3-4% cut (domestic vs international) of your S&H charges as well, plus $0.30 for good measure. I sold an item and shipped to Australia using EMS international shipping. I had already discounted the shipping costs to $25 to appeal to buyers (cost from Post Office was $30) but my actual cost after final value fees was $35.29 - over twice the discount I had intended. If I don't include these fees in my shipping -- after all, they ARE a part of my shipping costs whether the buyer sees them on the stamp or not! -- I'm effectively giving my buyer as much as a 15% discount and reducing or even eliminating my profit!

Placing the "cost of doing business" charges in shipping and handling where they belong allows me to set the price of my items based on their actual value - or at least based on what I want to get for them. But it also allows me to negotiate an Offer Made without finding out later that I just accidentally paid to have someone take by stuff from me. Any buyer who feels that a seller should just absorb the cost of bringing their items "from the field to the international market" where they can find it needs to shut up and plant their own garden, so to speak.

As much as I wish it were this simple, I know it isn't. Striking a balance to appeal to buyer's perceptions while maintaining profitability is a real challenge when you're dealing with products in the $0.25-$5.00 range.

General question...
Do you know your true costs associated with selling and shipping your items?
Where do you put your costs so that the customer feels comfortable with the result?