selling collections VS individual

[mh_716]

Hello everyone, I have a question.  if you have a collection of items (Star Trek books) that I am having trouble selling as people keeping asking for combined shipping.  while I feel this is a completely reasonable request, I have not been able to get the combined shipping settings to work in a way that does not cost me money.  so I am wondering if it is generally better to sell this type of items as a collection or individually?  If it is better to sell them individually, do you find it works better to list each item as its own add?

[12345jamesstamps]

I just sold some Star Trek stuff to see what the market is like. I have so much stuff that is Star Trek related.

In my own opinion, I go by what is currently selling. I would maybe do at least 5 books as a lot...not individually.

The market for Star Trek stuff is weak. You have a lot of books. Maybe do an auction to see if you get some traffic of views and watchers. You want to have repeat buyers also since you have a lot of books. I decided to do some free shipping on some stuff to ease the emails I get for combine shipping and such. There can be that language problem with International Buyers plus the exchange money conversion also if  you sell Internationally. The shipping rate is a big factor for some buyers as well. At least you got "Media Mail" in place. I strongly suggest you tell the buyer  by an email that Media Mail can be slow. The buyer likes that extra touch by an email. I go one step further and take a photo of my package of my Iphone and also send it to the buyer. But also telling the buyer that is why the shipping is cheaper. Sometimes I don't make what I want in money but at least I don't have to dust the stuff anymore since it is gone. 

[mh_716]

Thank you all of that is very useful

[stainlessenginecovers · Accepted solution]

For the listing where you 'choose' the title; the 'combined works fine. 1 ships for $3.19 and 5 ship for $4.50. I would leave the listing as you have them.

If someone asks about 'combined- you simply tell them it is already set up. If it's costing you money, go back into the listing and you can 'fix' the 'each additional ships for $xxx. 

[mh_716]

Thanks @stainlessenginecovers   just to confirm did you do a test for the combined shipping rate?

[coolections]

IMO your titles are misleading to buyers. You show 2 books at $1.50 each. You show 14 books $2.00 each. People are going to assume you are selling what is pictured. Also hidden in your description you say you will not combine shipping. If you expect people to buy more than one (as your listing indicates), you should be combining shipping.

[mh_716]

thank you I did not realize it was miss leading I will fix it asap

[stainlessenginecovers]

Kind of; again, I click the 'shipping' tab, input more than 1 and it gave me a price; so when I input '5' instead of 1, it told me what I would be paying for shipping, so if I went through all the motions of clicking 5 different titles and then inputting into a cart, I don't know what it would say= I didn't go that far.