ACCCCKk!!! None of my quotes appeared in that!!!
I do something similar to what NoClueBoy does.
I don’t want to take a loss on shipping and handling, but I don’t necessarily want to make a killing either. What I have been doing lately is weight the package (usually it’s books) and estimate the how much it would cost to ship it to the farthest distance in the USA. Then I add on about 50 cents for the packaging (if I’m using a nice box that I bought for shipping). I also tack on a little bit for whatever money is taken out from PayPal (since most of my buyers pay through PayPal).
Usually it doesn’t come out to more than a dollar or two more than the actual shipping cost. I try to keep the shipping cost as low as possible, because people don’t want to pay too much just to have a few paperback books shipped to them. So anything over, say, $3.50 (unless I am selling a lot of books) is too high. (I usually send things through media mail or first class.)
I don’t buy a $10.00 shipping fee and handling on a DVD, for instance. That’s bullshit. I know how much shipping costs, and I personally add on a little extra as a cushion so I don’t take a loss on shipping costs, so I’m not against the practice. But $10 for something that costs maybe $2-3 to mail? Come on.
I generally quote flat rates on all my shipping costs. Sometimes I come out ahead, sometimes I don’t, esp for west coast buyers (I’m in MD), but I generally even out. I have relatively few people argue shipping with me if I’m listing a flat rate, and I don’t have weigh and measure the damn box for every transaction.
If you don’t like my policy, don’t bid.