Freight Shipping. How to charge buyer for shipping? (I'm lost lol)

[fastkc]

Long story short. Have a box of heavy castings that need to ship via freight. A prospective buyer located out of the country has a freight forwarding zip in Miami. I went to freight quote and sent him a quote for the skid. He agreed to this price but now I'm totally lost. It is a BIN with a message that says to contact seller regarding shipping. I don't see any options to do like a 'calculated shipping' for various locations. My first time doing freight and close to scrubbing the whole idea because I can't figure out how to do it lol. 

If the buyer hits "Buy It Now" will it then prompt me to enter the shipping cost?

I have nothing listed for shipping cost and am afraid if they do BIN and nothing pops up they think shipping is free.

The prospective buyer says they are good with the price but haven't hit "BIN" yet. I'm lost (did I mention I'm lost?) Are they waiting for me to send an 'offer' of the asking price + the shipping? Is this a scam? Can't see why anyone would want 635' of cast iron castings. Thank you for your help. 

[wastingtime101]

I don't discourage sellers from learning and using freight, but in this case I wouldn't do it. Shipping freight to a FF and you're not even sure what you're doing? Buyer may not even know if the items are beyond the freight forwarder's limits.

Freight can be set up with either a flat cost, or the way you have it which is to choose calculated but the buyer has to get an invoice from you before they can pay.

Below is my standard advice on freight shipments in case you want to go forward.

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This page is a good reference for freight shipping on eBay and links to a list of freight carriers whose tracking integrates with eBay: https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/shipping-on-ebay/freight-shipping

Research your options. You should speak with the carrier to determine if they offer packing services or if you need to handle that yourself, if they have a lift gate for residential delivery, whether the quote covers inside delivery, what their insurance coverage is, do they have online viewable signature confirmation for delivery, what happens if the buyer refuses delivery for some reason, etc. Cover all your bases before diving in.

Keep in mind the risk factor. If a buyer files a claim (whether a true claim or a false claim), you're on the financial hook to deal with that. Some items are best sold with the Local Pickup Only option.

Many sellers use freight shipping quite successfully. If you jump in, do it with your eyes wide open. Learn all the potential outcomes before going that route.

[fastkc]

I would go with Fed EX Freight Economy (which should be trackable correct?) as they were the cheapest and prospective buyer wasn't as concerned about the time frame. Prospective buyer says they have a tow motor as do I so I wouldn't need a lift gate trailer. 

So to proceed I would send the buyer an invoice even before they have made the purchase? This is the main point of my confusion.  Or do I have the buyer hit "BIN" and then the shipping invoice process starts?  Thanks for your help wasting and alerting me to the potential pitfalls of this. 

[stephenmorgan]

Can buyer put item in their Shopping Cart then click on Request Total from Shopping  Cart? Or if buyer uses the Buy It Now but does not pay can you send them a Invoice with the Shipping  included?

[fastkc]

UPDATE: Talked to an Ebay agent via chat (who was very helpful btw) What I learned:

1) Buyer would do "BIN"

2) I will then create a freight shipping invoice to send to buyer based on address

3) Buyer pays (hopefully)

The agent looked at my listing to make sure it was set up correctly. Then I asked if they could look at the prospective buyer to see if there were any red flags. Agent said "no negative practices, good feedback and successful deliveries" FWIW

Will try to proceed with this and will update you guys on how it goes. Thanks

[lakefor94]

You do realize that if anything goes wrong with this transaction, sending to a freight forwarder or not, you are going to be on the hook for the original shipping and the return shipping if you want the item back before doing a refund, correct?

[wastingtime101]

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@fastkc wrote:

So to proceed I would send the buyer an invoice even before they have made the purchase? This is the main point of my confusion.  Or do I have the buyer hit "BIN" and then the shipping invoice process starts?  Thanks for your help wasting and alerting me to the potential pitfalls of this. 

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No, you can't send an invoice before the buyer commits to purchase. Buyer has to purchase first, then you send an invoice with freight costs, then buyer pays.

Based on the value here you must get online viewable signature confirmation to have seller protections on non-receipt claims. Make sure the service you use offers that and that it will integrate with eBay. Link in my last post has a list of integrated carriers for tracking purposes, but you'll have to speak with the carrier to find out if sig conf is viewable online.

I'd also verify with the buyer that their FF can accept freight shipments of that size. Last thing you want is to have the freight shipment turned away at the FF then, depending on the service you use, potentially have to pay freight shipping a second time to get the item back.