Shipping Bubble Wrap

[dxconnection]

Greetings,

I listed some excess rolls of 1/2" x 125'  (24" X 28" X 28") bubble wrap that I had in inventory for $25 with free shipping. I researched what other sellers were pricing and priced mine similarly. After selling 2 rolls, to my chagrin, shipping charges were in excess of $200 per roll! I called eBay to see how I could screw something this simple up so badly. The customer service rep came up with the same shipping price as I did. I need some help on how to ship this bubble wrap on the cheap. Thanks in advance.

[lex-talon]

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@dxconnection wrote:

Greetings,

I listed some excess rolls of 1/2" x 125'  (24" X 28" X 28") bubble wrap that I had in inventory for $25 with free shipping. I researched what other sellers were pricing and priced mine similarly. After selling 2 rolls, to my chagrin, shipping charges were in excess of $200 per roll! I called eBay to see how I could screw something this simple up so badly. The customer service rep came up with the same shipping price as I did. I need some help on how to ship this bubble wrap on the cheap. Thanks in advance.

Shipping bubble wrap should not be costing you $200 per roll. Which shipping company are you using?

Most sellers on ebay use UPS to ship their bubble wrap.

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[dxconnection]

Both UPS and Fedex show this shipping rate. USPS says they can't ship.

[dxconnection]

I'll hand carry it to UPS tomorrow and let them calculate the rate. Thanks

[mrmuffinmanvw]

Do yourself a favor and list them as local pickup only someone near you is sure to need them.

[bill.purvis2012]

Be aware that USPS now charges not just for the weight, but for the size package.  If your pkg. is over 12 x 12 x 12 or 1728 of any combination, you will be billed for much heavier weight.  It may weight 2#'s and cost postage for 153's or 203's depending on the inches of size.  This change went into affect several months ago.  That's why I removed all my items that were larger than 12 x 12 x12.   

[vikingsandpintos]

As a seller, I order bubblewrap here, as it is cheaper than buying it locally.

I don't understand how other sellers can ship it so cheap! I sell mostly car taillights, so not heavy packages, but over the 12x12x12 where price jumps. I can't ship a package over that from Michigan to CA for less than $40-50. Don't know how the bubblewrap people do it!

I also order garbage bags of air bubbles for packing. They are about $12 shipped free, same thing on those. How they are shipping those for that, I don't understand.  

[earlyant-77]

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@dxconnection wrote:

I'll hand carry it to UPS tomorrow and let them calculate the rate. Thanks

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Try using 2 boxes and check the Retail Ground price at the PO. The dims don't apply to retail ground - yet.

[corvettestainless]

Me too (buy bubble wrap) $50 shipped- for 4' tallx20" rolls (4 rolls together) I think the seller has a UPS deal, shipping 1000's of items a week. 

[readtime_books]

I'm a new sell and I run into almost same thing. Other sellers are offering free shipping and selling for less than it cost me for shipping! What am I missing?

[no_zero369]

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@readtime_books wrote:
I'm a new sell and I run into almost same thing. Other sellers are offering free shipping and selling for less than it cost me for shipping! What am I missing?

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@readtime_books 

What you are missing are any number of things, especially when it comes to books:

• Mega book sellers buy books by the truckload so have next to ZERO cost
• They are 'exempt' from eBay listing rules so no need to use real photos, descriptions, etc.
• They have stores which gives then FVF discounts and caps on monthly fees, so every un-fee'd book lowers over all FVF 'rate'
• They ship hundreds of books a day, so have negotiated super cheap shipping rates - rate you have no chance of every seeing
• They spend nothing on packaging, just slap a book in a poly bag and allow it to get beat up in transit.
• even when they 'pay extra' for promoted listings, their costs are WAY less than yours.

So the only way to 'compete' with them is to compete on rare books or on quality of service, er, if you can get any buyer to value service over price.

[readtime_books]

Thanks - that at least makes some sense for me. LOL

[readtime_books]

As a NEW SELLER, I appreciate you for taking the time to reply to me!  Your comment was helpful!  Again, you are very much appreciated!  😊

As a new bookseller, I was trying at first, simply to learn whether shipping costs were by the pound or by size.  I finally learned, I think, that as long as the package measurement (length of longest side plus distance around narrow part of the box) is less than 108 inches then media mail is simply charged by the pound.  🤔

This might seem elementary but to a newbie this knowledge was a relief.  I'm always safe on the size of box, even for multiple books.  But for selling a single book, I found it best to stay under 1 or 2 pounds (shipping weight).  Of course, if it is an expensive book, its value can justify a greater shipping cost. 

I'm still always amazed when shipping costs are as much, or more than, the value of the book(s).  I marvel at other booksellers who are selling books, including free shipping, for less than it cost me in postage for shipping.  Then by the time I add in the Total Ebay and PayPal costs - I wonder - am I even making anything for my time?  🙄 

Probably not!  I guess it does keep me out of trouble!  --STILL LEARNING!  LOL--

[lja440]

[I'm a new sell and I run into almost same thing. Other sellers are offering free shipping and selling for less than it cost me for shipping! What am I missing? ]

What you are missing is the math. When you offer free shipping you need to find out what it will cost to ship and add that amount into your starting price.

[readtime_books]

Very true! That is a given... 🙂