For those of you who sell things for $5.99 shipped.

[onefootflippers]

When comping items I constantly see light items listed at $5.99 shipped.

The recent increase in media mail and under 1 pound shipping rate has changed that price point from making a tiny something to probably losing money just sending the item out.

I am going to lay out the numbers for a DVD, but pretty much all light under 1 pound items are going to have similar or WORSE numbers (boxes cost more than bags and if the item hits 13 ounces then the shipping alone is more 5.99)

A 5.99 shipped DVD sold by a regular ebay member results in 25 cents left after shipping and fees. 

34 cents for bubble mailer and thermal label. 4.13 for media mail, $1.27 for ebay fees.

This accounts for absolutely no other overhead, no promoted listings,  and it assumes the seller gets all the DVDs for free. 

Do you have free returns? If one DVD out of 35 gets returned then the net result is zero.

To make McDonald's money with this business model you need to be able to source, list, file, pull and ship 60 DVDs every hour.  And once again, you can never have a return, ever, and someone else is giving you the DVDs for free and covering all the other overhead costs in your business.

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Why you see media constantly listed well under 5.99 shipped is because the big charity media sellers are operating under a completely different ebay fee structure and have different media mail rates.

[soh.maryl]

Uh, earlier today, when I saw a seller who listed DVDs in a similar fashion, $5,99 or $6.99 with free shipping, I asked her how much she made on those transactions.  She replied back, in essence, that she did not care, just wanted to get rid of DVDs and make a little money.  Perhaps she's not the only one who thinks that way.

Personally, I believe my time (listing, etc) is worth more than a few bucks per hour.  

[toomuchstuffagain35]

I've noticed lately that you have to watch your listings as random items will suddenly show FS when you don't use FS. So far the listings affected seem to be those which had FCP (now GA) and for those lower value items it means you're basically paying to 'sell' your item, so best to check occasionally.

I've now had at least a dozen seller friends as well as myself who've been hit with this.

Obviously the sellers of dvds etc who have everything as FS aren't the ones this is happening to.

[onefootflippers]

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@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:

I've noticed lately that you have to watch your listings as random items will suddenly show FS when you don't use FS. So far the listings affected seem to be those which had FCP (now GA) and for those lower value items it means you're basically paying to 'sell' your item, so best to check occasionally.

I've now had at least a dozen seller friends as well as myself who've been hit with this.

Obviously the sellers of dvds etc who have everything as FS aren't the ones this is happening to.

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Use business policies and don't have a free shipping one and this "glitch" can never happen to you.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

I tried their business policies when they first started. Biggest mess I've ever seen. They would need to have improved dramatically for me to consider using them again.

These so called glitches shouldn't happen anyway.

[onefootflippers]

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@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:

I tried their business policies when they first started. Biggest mess I've ever seen. They would need to have improved dramatically for me to consider using them again.

These so called glitches shouldn't happen anyway.

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I am not sure what mess you are speaking of. When I make a listing I choose from a drop down box which one of my 6 shipping policies to use and that is all there is to it.

[reallynicestamps]

What would it cost to ship Letter Rate given the dimensions and weight of a DVD?

How much would tracking add to Letter Rate?

How often do you actually get a Not Received dispute (usually these are late arrivals not lost or scams).

How many scams could you afford given a difference between the cost of untracked Letter Rate and the cost of tracked Media Mail?

[onefootflippers]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

What would it cost to ship Letter Rate given the dimensions and weight of a DVD?

How much would tracking add to Letter Rate?

How often do you actually get a Not Received dispute (usually these are late arrivals not lost or scams).

How many scams could you afford given a difference between the cost of untracked Letter Rate and the cost of tracked Media Mail?

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You can send a disc in a cardboard disc sleeve at letter rate. The cases are too thick to qualify. Some sellers do that. Adding tracking to it costs more than just shipping it first class in the first place.

[mrfindit]

You are making an assumption  that these people who sell a large number of DVD's aren't getting the best rates.  YOU pay $4.13 to ship a DVD by media mail.

But a person whos does this for a business and ships thousands of DVD's pays under $3 per DVD for Commercial Parcel Select; possibly as little as $2.58.

So YOU might break even or lose a little at $5.99.  They may still be making $1+ per DVD.

And depending on how they do it, there are other Parcel rates they might qualify for, for as little $1.85.

Now you have to pay for a permit to get these rates, but if you sell 100 DVD's a week, the permit adds up to less than $.10 per parcel.

No one forces you to buy your postage from E-Bay...

[broto_64]

Without those sellers I wouldn't be in business.

[onefootflippers]

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@mrfindit wrote:

You are making an assumption  that these people who sell a large number of DVD's aren't getting the best rates.  YOU pay $4.13 to ship a DVD by media mail.

But a person whos does this for a business and ships thousands of DVD's pays under $3 per DVD for Commercial Parcel Select; possibly as little as $2.58.

So YOU might break even or lose a little at $5.99.  They may still be making $1+ per DVD.

And depending on how they do it, there are other Parcel rates they might qualify for, for as little $1.85.

Now you have to pay for a permit to get these rates, but if you sell 100 DVD's a week, the permit adds up to less than $.10 per parcel.

No one forces you to buy your postage from E-Bay...

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Anyone doing that obviously doesn't need this information do they. I am well aware of various cheaper presort commercial rates and of charity sellers only paying 2 percent fees. This was not meant to be an insult of dedicated specialists who have those rates. This is for other people. 

There are tens of thousands of sellers who aren't getting those rates selling things at 5.99 shipped and under.  Just like there are an insane number of card sellers selling cards for 99 cents shipped, losing money on every single order.

There are an incredible number of sellers who don't understand the full financing of their business or that they are operating parts of it at a dead loss.

[yuzuha]

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@onefootflippers wrote:

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There are an incredible number of sellers who don't understand the full financing of their business or that they are operating parts of it at a dead loss.

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I see this in some of my categories all the time. I was looking up the Solds for a particular stuffed animal the other day so that I could price the one that I have to sell and saw a few people listing it for $8.99 with free shipping. The plush itself weighs more than a pound, so if they're incredibly lucky and it's only going to Zone 1, they're still going to be paying at least $7-something for shipping alone. Minus the fees and they'd be making pennies at best, and that's assuming that the COGS was zero.