I’ve never bought much on e-Bay before, but I have started to purchase a few items recently. My question is WRT shipping and handling: is there any type of guideline as to what’s fair? Let me explain.
I recently purchaced an expansion card for my PDA. I wound up paying $15 for it, which I think was a good deal, but I also had to pay 5 S&H. A PDA expansion card is small, about the size of a postage stamp, and it weighs less than one ounce. It could go in a greeting card envelope and not require more than a first class stamp. Even allowing for a surcharge for a slightly larger padded envelope, I am sure it only cost .70 or so. The buyer had obscured the actual postage cost so I don’t know the exact amount, but he made at least $4.00 on “S&H”. I bid on a DVD which likewise had $5 S&H, I’ve sent DVD through the mail before and it’s only $1.75 or so postage. I am also bidding on a laptop battery which has a $10 S&H charge on it. I know that it’s quite a bit heavier, but I sent a hardback book out by Priority Mail yesterday, it weighs about the same as the battery, and it only ran $4.90.
So, what’s the deal here? Do people regularly inflate S&H to make a few extra bucks, or what? Is it acceptable when an auction is won to call them on it and offer a S&H amount that’s closer to what S&H actually costs, or are you stuck paying whatever?
Shipping is one thing. Handling is completely different and can include wages, fuel, office overhead, cheetos, you name it. You can argue about it with the seller, but it’s likely to do no good, since the operant phrase for ebay is ‘buyer beware’.
If the S&H was stated in the ad, you really have no beef to make. And yes, sellers will inflate the ‘handling’ cost to cover a loss leader item.
When I sell something, I often “guestimate” the shipping, usually high-balling it just a little. I have ended up having to eat the shipping costs in the past because I underestimated, and I’m not doing that again.
However, in my case I usually guestimate less than a buck or two over.
I always state the shipping cost in my auction. I figure that anyone with a brain will calculate the shipping cost when they bid, and figure, “Well, the shipping is $10 and I don’t want to spend more than $40 total for this item, so I’ll maximum bid at $30.”) And so it goes. Sounds perfectly fine to me.
I do take exception, however, with auctions who don’t specify the shipping amount, and then hit me with a super-high shipping charge after the fact. So what I usually do now is email them and ask them for an exact shipping quote, or I simply pass on the auction. Not being able to find out what the shipping is going to cost is often a deal-breaker for me.
After you’ve won the auction, however, I think it’s too late to complain about the shipping price that you saw listed on the auction. You saw what the price of S&H was before you bid; presumably you figured that expense in when you decided on your maximum bid. If you didn’t think the shipping charges were appropriate, no problem. Just don’t bid on that auction.
For instance, would $40 shipping be outrageous to ship a book that is commonly worth $50, if you only paid $10 for the auction? It’s still totalling out at $50 in the end. (Actually, I suspect that some vendors price this way so that eBay doesn’t get as much of a cut of their sales.)
Fixed fee shipping is becoming quite standard, both on and off eBay. Everything I have bought off the net in the last 6+ months has been fixed fee shipping.
So now I do the same on my eBay sales. I think it actually helps people figure out the “Real Cost” of the item.
I weigh it, do a near-worst case scenario UPS calculation and stick it in my ad. Once, something went wrong in the figurin’ and I had a loss, most of the time it’s only a buck or two ahead. One item earlier this week was very close to my worst case distance. We all have bigger things to worry about.
I scrounge my boxes and peanuts for free. Real Businesses don’t. I don’t charge extra for wrapping it up and schlepping it to the shipping store. They do.
I’ve bought $2 plugs for my ears, and gotten charged $3 shipping. They’re light enough that I could send them through the mail with one stamp, but, eh.
All part of shopping on EBay.
I figure they’re still cheaper on EBay than at a store, even with shipping.
You have a legitimate gripe because the bidder can’t post what they find acceptable in handling charges durring the bid. It would require a separate email to the seller. I’ve often wondered what a seller would do if I included a $10 bidding and handling charge. If enough people find fault with the current system then eBay might insist on a fixed handling charge. I’ve paid more in handling than the item sold for. This is something that can easily be included into the opening bid price.
Yes, sellers definitely pad the shipping to add to their profit margin, and some are pretty obnoxious about it.
As a seller, I figure shipping as materials cost + postage, plus an amount usually less than a dollar to cover (in my mind) the time or gas expense. This extra usually rounds the amount to the nearest half-dollar. FWIW, I deal in small, delicate items, and I don’t think I’ve ever charged more than $4 for domestic, standard USPS delivery.
Whether negotiations are acceptable depends on the seller. Some might be receptive to your ideas, especially if you have an exact courier/service in mind and dollar cost cited. Others might be offended. I think as long as you ask before the auction ends it can’t hurt, and if the seller gives you crap for it, then you know what kind of seller he is.
Some general eBay advice: deal only with sellers whose policies are clear and acceptable to you. Shop around, read carefully, check feedback, and don’t hesitate to ask questions.
I have had complaints about the costs of shipping and handling. I remind them that it takes time and money to round up all the boxes, peanuts, bubble wrap, tape, gas to get those items and the time to take the same items to be shipped. Plus the fact they are not paying any local or state taxes on their purchase. I try to be fair, my shipping and handling price is always displayed in my ad and if you don’t want to pay it, don’t bid. Sounds easy enough to me.
I won’t bid on auctions that don’t state shipping/handling upfront. I have emailed sellers, but many give vague answers. Feh. There is always another auction out there for the same thing, one that will give me a upfront shipping cost. All the shipping companies have online weight calculators, actual shipping and handling isn’t that hard for sellers to figure out. When I calculate my shipping, I pick the zone farthest from where I live and use that as a base cost. Then I estimate insurance and any packaging I have to buy, and arrive at the cost I will charge. If the seller is too lazy to do that extra work and give me a shipping fee upfront, I’d rather deal with someone else.
If the stated shipping seems too high, I will also move on to another auction. Like yosemitebabe I take the shipping costs into account before I place my bid. If the shipping price is listed and you bid, you are bound to the charge listed in the auction, you agreed to pay it when you bid. That is why auctions with no listed shipping charges are so scary - you are bound after bidding to pay whatever the seller wants to charge, and many inflate these charges greatly.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I have been calculating the S&H charge into what I’m willing to bid, but the question came to me when I was holding a PDA card that likely cost $.50 to ship and realizied I’d paid $5.
Using the total cost equation is always a big mistake…you’re forgeting the refund, if there’s a refund, usually doesn’t include shipping.
So sure you’ve paid $50, but $40 of that is a non-refundable shipping charge. So if the seller refunds, you only get $10.00…but you paid $50.00. Being $40.00 bucks in the hole, doesn’t sound so great to me. I would rather pay $45.00 for the book and $5.00 in real shipping.
It’s not unheard of, for sellers to “sell” low cost items, charge crazy shipping and not ship, then refund the items cost, pocketing the shipping.
The buyers can’t complain, because they’ve been refunded for the item cost, even though they are still out a good chunk of change.
Sellers who engage in fee avoidance are not doing their bidders any favors. If he’s willing to stiff eBay, he’s willing to stiff his bidders.
My wife has done a lot of EBay, and her S/H charges are for materials and commercial shipping. What she did was to go to the local Mailboxes Etc. (now The UPS Store), and price out common shipping materials: small boxes, envelopes, filler, etc. She also has a scale,and access to UPS and USPS rate sheets. She doesn’t charge for her time to pack anything.
Most of her items are crossstitch and sewing related: kits, books, leaflets, material swatches, etc. Typical material cost for something other than an envelope shippable item is about $3, plus shipping, which she quotes the buyer.
Sellers also don’t pay eBay fees on S&H so they are also cheating eBay. EBay know this- and S&H which is WAY too high is considered “fee avoidance”, and is against their rules. It seems like you have to get over a 5$ rip-off in oder to excite eBay though. You used to see a lot of CD’s being sold for 1 cent- with $10>$15 S&H fees- those are verboten.
racer- and that’s why I don’t quibble about some “handling”, and I think anyone who whines & bitches about amounts under $1 is crazy. That being said- charging 5 to ship something which mailed for .5- cents is getting pretty close to being a rip-off.
Waht I also hate is being charged an amout that looks like they are shipping Priority mail- and they ship 'slow boat". If they ship if fast and it gets to me safe, i don’t mind paying a bit extra- but I hate being gourged and then getting poor & slow service.
I’ve sold a lot of CDs in my day on ebay, and I generally leave between $1 and $1.25 in cushion. I mark it as a “handling charge” but the reason I do it is to cover for all of the packaging costs, as well as the ebay and paypal fees that get tacked on. That way, I figure I am actually getting what the high bid was. It helps me knowing that this figure is going to be accurate when I set the opening bid for auctions.
But, I’m up front and spell out in the auction that the buyer will be paying $x.xx for _______ method of shipping AND Handling. If they don’t like it, they can go somewhere else to bid. I’ve never had a problem with any buyers, though.
I do flat-fee shipping, and send everything via US Priority Mail with delivery confirmation. I get ENDLESS complaints about this, and it just slays me. I charge $5 to ship whatever the item is, UNLESS it’s heavy dishes or electronic equipment, when I charge $10 per package. I am constantly amazed at how many complaints I get, because a one-pound package costs 3.95 plus .45 for confirmation - hello, that’s 4.40 right there. And I have to tell you, a pound is not very much; a full skirt can weigh up to two pounds, and the post office charges by the ounce after a pound. Thus, the majority of the packages I mail cost ME between 5-8 dollars each. I’m hardly making a profit off shipping costs. I don’t own a postal scale, so I estimate that $5 and I think it’s very fair. If I WERE to buy a postal scale, I would have to weigh every item individually - in its packaging - to quote prices, and quite honestly, that would be ridiculous; I get emails asking me to measure things that aren’t “standard”, requests for details I wouldn’t normally put in a listing, etc. I’d be opening and repackaging things all the time.
For many sellers, eBay is a hobby or a “nest egg” income, and not a full time business. To expect exact shipping quotes, or to expect a seller to eat the shipping costs is ridiculous. And what’s funny is that people who buy from businesses rarely complain about the shipping; they simply take that info in and accept it, or buy the item locally. It’s almost as though eBay buyers think that sellers have some nerve asking to be paid for their trouble.