How are some sellers able to sell heavy items at low price and FREE SHIPPING

[dealsagent]

I've seen items that weigh up to 30lb being sold at $35 and free shipping. Where's the profit?

[ersatz_sobriquet]

I've messaged sellers who have listings like that warning them when I've been sure and done the math. Every single time the sellers says oops thanks! Last one said she had made that mistake before--paying someone to take an item off her hands. She would have come out in the negative. 

Might be smartpost too which is much less than USPS. 

[rolenboy01]

Maybe they paid a dollar or 10 cents for the item? does the item fit in a flat rate box? maybe they don't care if they only make 5 dollars on the item since they are trying to get rid of it?

[a*river*runs*through*it]

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@rolenboy01 wrote:

Maybe they paid a dollar or 10 cents for the item? does the item fit in a flat rate box? maybe they don't care if they only make 5 dollars on the item since they are trying to get rid of it?

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Or they're Chinese.

[phcd1]

If you own a "real business" (like B&M), many times you can get substantial shipping discounts. I worked somewhere once that got a 70-90% discount off of retail rates (I worked in shipping some days when they were short handed). I remeber FedEx would come in and talk to us about rates 1 month and then UPS would come in next month. EZPZ to switch! Needless to say, I shipped EVERYTHING from the office back in those days. It was a small business (15 people maybe) so paying the business back was easy. On eBay, you're lucky to get 30% off retail, no matter who you use.

[retrose1]

Or they are planning to rip off the PO by printing a ship label claiming it only weighs 2 pounds.  If so, they are going to get a huge surprise on Aug 1st.

[rolenboy01]

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@a*river*runs*through*it wrote:

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@rolenboy01 wrote:

Maybe they paid a dollar or 10 cents for the item? does the item fit in a flat rate box? maybe they don't care if they only make 5 dollars on the item since they are trying to get rid of it?

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Or they're Chinese.

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Being in a country where the dollar is worth more and your postage is subsidized by the government  certainly would help profit margins.

[luckythewinner]

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@dealsagent wrote:

I've seen items that weigh up to 30lb being sold at $35 and free shipping. Where's the profit?

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1) There is no rule that says eBay sellers must make a profit.

2) I read plenty of messages here form seller who understimate shipping costs.

3) Some sellers  slip packags into the mail at work and pay nothing. 

4) 30 lbs of books can ship by media mail for $15. 

[impalajohnny]

I talked to a guy who shipped me a heavy car part at a loss. He said he said he liquidates thousands of parts at the price they will sell for and its a waste of his time to weed out the small percent that are not profitable.

[yellow-snapdragon]

Ok. I'm out of the loop. What happens August 1?

[berserkerplanet]

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I've seen items that weigh up to 30lb being sold at $35 and free shipping. Where's the profit?

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Without detailed specifics (some of which you don't have) about the items, your question is pretty much unanswerable. As others have pointed out, if the seller only has $1 in the item, there can be profit to be had. Alternatively, if the seller is clueless it is what it is and doesn't have to make sense.

If item is dense and can fit in a USPS Padded Flat Rate Envelope cost is $6.30 or if a bit bigger and can fit in a USPS Medium FR Box cost is $12.05 (both are Comm+ eBay TRS rates and both 70#max wt.)

Some sellers are in the middle of the country where shipping to either coast is at most to a zone 6 destination - except for maybe a few destinations in the corners of the country. FedEx Ground shipping for 30# is about $15-$25 (even for a pkg up to about 20"x20"x12" since the 30# actual weight dominates the dim weight)

They play the averages game - do ok for closer destinations, and take a a bigger hit for shipping to the east or west coast.

I'm on the west coast and Murphy's law says everything heavy seems to want to go to the east coast, so the "can it be done" calculus is different. I'd go with calculated shipping - if someone on the east coast wants it bad enought to pay the shipping then great - otherwise my target audience is west coast zones 1-4 mostly.

[tarpedge]

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@dealsagent wrote:

I've seen items that weigh up to 30lb being sold at $35 and free shipping. Where's the profit?

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It's being shipped by Amazon Prime.

[buytodayshipnextday]

three simple answers"

1. stolen. the % of items stolen & sold on ebay is substantial. stolen as in taken from stores/sales/your grandmother's house...so they don't care as long as they "move," it.

2. mistakes. the volume of seller screw ups are as many as there are items on ebay and when they do they are forced to ship a 3000lb rooster FREE.

3. idiots. there are way too many sellers who don't have a clue, they just don't. they crush the market selling low, very low & knowingly ship a heavy item for less.

[memphiskansasgirl123]

Anything that weighs 10 pounds or more and can not be shipped in a flat rate package via USPS, I ship through FedEx.   With FedEx, an item 30 lbs and sized 12x12x12 or 16x16x16 will cost you approx. $13-$18 and that is using the eBay postage discount.  

[berserkerplanet]

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Might be smartpost too which is much less than USPS. 

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Not so much at the 30 pound weight level.

To Z8 dest a 12x12x12 pkg costs $73 USPS PM and $51 via Smartpost. $34 FedEx Home Delivery.

As the pkg size increases (but still 30#) the math can start to change - dim weight can kick in. If it gets pretty big and dim wt > 30# then USPS PM goes up, FedEx Ground goes up, but Smartpost stays the same - it doesn't care about dim weight, and only cares about non-machinable size limits (at sizes where dim wt becomes an issue for a PM or Ground 30# pkg, Smartpost is sometimes no longer an option having exceeded the NM limits)

Around 5-12 pounds and 1 cu-ft or so (very roughly) or 3-12 pounds and > 2 cu-ft (very roughly) Smartpost is definitely mostly cheaper (for zone 8 - that can all flip-flop for zone 1-4 and PM often ends up less)

There is no one size fits all answer - every combination of size, weight, destination, and value for a pkg has a different optimal solution.

In general:

 under a pound = USPS FCP

 a couple of pounds and small = USPS PM

 a couple of pounds and big = PM if close and SP if far

 heavier and/or bigger = FedEx Ground/Home Delivery, SP, or PM depending on specifics.