Buyers consistently paying too much for shipping

[jimichrome]

For about the last half dozen sales, buyers are paying me 50-100% more for shipping than is required. In the end I inform Buyer of a better rate, switch ship service & issue Buyer's account a refund. Of course they're thankful.  While I want to offer the best rates, It's more work for me the seller to make these adjustments.  

When prepping an item to sell, would it not be better to have seller and buyer be working off the same shipping chart and I mean the one where either party "Compares All Services" and choose rather than specifying 2-4 random prior to posting. What am I missing?  I could sell more stuff if buyers knew in advance about lower shipping cost.

[nobody*s_perfect]

You can check on prices using eBay's shipping calculator, then choose 1 or 2 services which offer the best value for your buyers. If you're using USPS, then Ground Advantage will almost always be the cheapest option for items which aren't eligible for Media Mail.  Sometimes Priority Mail is cheaper for lower weights and closer Zones, due to eBay's online discount, so you might offer both.

http://www.ebay.com/shp/Calculator

By default, the shipping calculator in eBay listings will show the retail ("in store") rate. In your site preferences, you can change this to show the eBay label rates. ( Media Mail is always at retail.) It's under "Shipping discount settings."

But many sellers prefer to leave it at retail so the difference can be used as a built-in handling fee to cover expenses like packaging materials and eBay fees.  If you charge buyers the same amount as you pay for postage, you're losing about 13% every time.

https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf

[richard1rst]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

You can check on prices using eBay's shipping calculator, then choose 1 or 2 services which offer the best value for your buyers. If you're using USPS, then Ground Advantage will almost always be the cheapest option for items which aren't eligible for Media Mail.  Sometimes Priority Mail is cheaper for lower weights and closer Zones, due to eBay's online discount, so you might offer both.

http://www.ebay.com/shp/Calculator

By default, the shipping calculator in eBay listings will show the retail ("in store") rate. In your site preferences, you can change this to show the eBay label rates. ( Media Mail is always at retail.) It's under "Shipping discount settings."

But many sellers prefer to leave it at retail so the difference can be used as a built-in handling fee to cover expenses like packaging materials and eBay fees.  If you charge buyers the same amount as you pay for postage, you're losing about 13% every time.

https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf

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I have seen this comment many times and I have to wonder. Are you talking about the retail price quoted to the buyer or the actual discounted cost that the seller pays? The later is more important to me as all my listings are free domestic shipping so for me the retail is irrelevant.

I ask because I use Pirateship which automatically shows me my cheapest cost. I gave never seen PM be cheaper than GA. Although in all fairness eBay might be different.

In fact just to double check I quoted a 1, 2 and 4 pound package going to a nearby NV zip, and then the same going to CA (I'm in NV). In every case GA was cheaper. Usually by a minimum of $1, sometimes more.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@richard1rst wrote: ... .  Sometimes Priority Mail is cheaper for lower weights and closer Zones, due to eBay's online discount ....

...

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I have seen this comment many times and I have to wonder. Are you talking about the retail price quoted to the buyer or the actual discounted cost that the seller pays? The later is more important to me ...

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As I stated, that's a comparison using eBay's discounted rates and I even provided a link to eBay's shipping calculator.  Perhaps eBay's rates are sometimes lower than Pirateship's. Here's an example of a 4-pound package going to Zone 4. An eBay label for Ground Advantage costs $8.56 (ie., the published Commercial Rate) and a label for Priority is only $7.25.

[evry1nositswindy]

Buyers cannot choose an option that is not there.  You have to offer choices in your listing if you want them to choose.  You also cannot change the shipping method that you stated in the listing.  If you stat  priority but ground advantage is cheaper, you would be downgrading service, which is not allowed.

[richard1rst]

Well, I am not trying to beat this death - only to understand.

This is what I get from Pirateship (matching your zone 4). They are a few cents more on PM but significantly less on GA with standard sized packages. But they beat eBay on Cubic Pricing

[deserdog]

You are quoting a price for a 12x12x12 4 lbs. to zone 4, it would not qualify for a .1 cubic price for either GA or priority.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Alternative dimensions were used for the cubic-rate package:

[deserdog]

Ok, I did not notice that.

[mr_lincoln]

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@jimichrome wrote:

For about the last half dozen sales, buyers are paying me 50-100% more for shipping than is required. In the end I inform Buyer of a better rate, switch ship service & issue Buyer's account a refund. Of course they're thankful.  While I want to offer the best rates, It's more work for me the seller to make these adjustments.  

When prepping an item to sell, would it not be better to have seller and buyer be working off the same shipping chart and I mean the one where either party "Compares All Services" and choose rather than specifying 2-4 random prior to posting. What am I missing?  I could sell more stuff if buyers knew in advance about lower shipping cost.

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@jimichrome 

The issue is the weight, dimensions and shipping methods Sellers select.  It's just part of creating a listing.  I do it all the time and for a lot of what I sell it is already pre-loaded on a Template (you can have 50 Templates by the way).  It literally takes no time at all.  

At times I can pack something for just a little less weight so the price drops for my label cost, so like you I occasionally Refund a Buyer.  I would rather err on the side of caution then risk not charging enough for the shipping piece.  

[quicksilverdiecast]

The biggest problem is the shopping cart and here is why:

a Buyer comes into your store and want a number of different items lets say for example 2 different items with different(or same) weights, the buyer puts all the items he chose in the cart...The seller still at this point has no clue no notices(see seller hub column) where it states "eligible for combined shipping" where any orders that are should show up, but does not and never has(after 100's of multiple item orders)...remember the seller is still in the dark on this transaction and has no way to help the buyer...once the buyers items are in the cart, as common sense would dictate, he wants to combine or send a request for a new total...much to his surprise it is not possible, as either there is no request button or if one is present it does not work...(seller is still in the dark)...now ebay is clueless when it comes to figuring out shipping of multiple items of multiple weights and instead just adds each item together Ex: 1 decal at 4oz = approx 4.00-5.00 choose another decal at 5oz and it is approx 5.00-5.50 so ebay simply add the 2 decals together and forces the buyer to pay 9.00-10.50! Where in reality it should be approx 5.00-6.00 and overcharges the buyer 3.00-4.00...now this is on only 2 decals and it will continue in the same manner for each additional item added to the cart which reaches a point where shipping cost is outrageous and still while all this is going on the seller is still in the dark and potentially about to lose a sale! THE ONLY WAY A SELLER WILL HAVE ANY IDEA OF A BUYER WANTING TO SPEND MONEY ON MULTIPLE ITEMS IS IF HE GIVES UP TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET COMBINED SHIPPING AND SENDS THE SELLER A MESSAGE! otherwise if he does not sooner or later he gives up and simply goes somewhere else and the seller loses a sale and did not even know or have a chance to salvage the sale...so the seller loses and ebay also loses any and all fees on that failed transaction....now think of it in a collective manner across the platform at the number of lost sales for sellers and a substantial amount of money in ebays case on fees...this has been happening since the cart was put in place and they know it does not work properly and does nothing....Now before everyone jumps on the wagon and says you need to set up shipping charts etc etc etc...I have had the ebay hi level techs go over all the settings at least a dozen times and find no issues on my end and they have written numerous "IT tickets" to fix it....Being on here for 27+ years a seller used to easily combine shipping as the buyers items would show up (unpaid) on your sold items chart and you simply hit anyone of the that particular buyers items and all of his items would pop up on another window and the the seller went down thru and figured out the correct combine shipping to charge the buyer(since the seller knows what he sells and what it weighed) and then sent the combined item order back to the buyer to make payment...once made the seller would ship and the world was at peace! Worked fine was simple and both buyer and seller had no issues and the only time a sale was lost was when the buyer failed to pay.....but someone decided they needed to fix something that was not broke....I have compiled over 100 detailed cases of buyers who were forced into this and some overpaid as much as 30.00(most simply laugh and walk away thinking the seller is crazy and at fault)  excess shipping(of course I had to go back thru and refigure what ebay did and correct it and refund the buyer) Let this sink in as well on a simple order of 2 decals that weigh less than 4oz using the cart system the excess shipping generates approx .50 in ebay fees that otherwise would have not generated if it functioned properly or was not there(cart) altogether.    Follow the money...

[jimichrome]

Thank you, but my issue is with single items purchased by separate buyers. Jim

[jimichrome]

When setting up an item for sale I pick several ship services, a 1 or 2 for delivery speed and a couple more for cheapest possible. Doesn't the buyer at least get to choose among the few I offer?  A buyer just paid me $19.10 for shipping a item. ( I don't know where he got that figure, it did not appear in the "Compare all services list ). I found and changed the shipper to a cost of  $9.30 and refunded buyer the savings.

Thank you for reply, Jim

[jimichrome]

When setting up an item for sale I pick several ship services, a 1 or 2 for delivery speed and a couple more for cheapest possible. Doesn't the buyer at least get to choose among the few I offer?  A buyer just paid me $19.10 for shipping a item. ( I don't know where he got that figure, it did not appear in the "Compare all services list ). I found and changed the shipper to a cost of  $9.30 and refunded buyer the savings.

Thank you for reply, Jim

[buybuy42]

Just for the record - in my shipping experience with USPS -

Ground Advantage is as fast - or faster than Priority Mail.

And it is less expensive. Not so sure about 'Pirate' though.