Filtering shipping costs is a needed improvement

[taffgiraffe]

I may be in the minority but "free shipping" and "local pickup" is a poor selection for filtering with shipping. Many countries outside your own can have reasonable OR unreasonable shipping costs (for me, it's cards). Being able to filter out shipping costs beyond $10 (like you can with price) would be an added benefit. I don't mind small shipping fees so "free shipping" (not sure there's any audience for local pickup) doesn't do me much.

[kathiec]

The problem is that a single listing can have multiple shipping costs, depending on where the package is going. Even if the seller only ships to the US, if they use calculated shipping it's possible shipping to one zone could be slightly under $10 while another zone would be slightly over. And your threshold may be $10, but for someone else it may be $15 or $20 or $13.65. The complexities of adding this to search are far too great for eBay to want to address it.

And yes, there's a fairly broad audience for local pickup. 

[mudshark61369]

@taffgiraffe,

The sort filter for Price: Lowest + shipping is already there.  Most people know that there is no such thing as Free Shipping, because the cost to ship to the furthest region a seller will ship to, is already built in to the item price which may be higher than a calculated shipping cost to your location. 

Shipping costs for cards are can differ based on the number of cards purchased, whether or not they are slabbed, the thickness of stiffeners used...  Good sellers of cards are going to pack their items so they do not get damaged in shipping, the amount of protection needed may cause a single or few cards to have to be shipped as a package not in an envelope.

Local pickup is used mostly for larger and/or heavier items a seller may list. If you click on the Shipping, Returns & Payments tab on a listing page you can see what shipping service(s) the seller uses and the cost.  Some sellers will choose Local Pickup as the first option in hopes of attracting local buyers who save money by using it.  I definitely look for local pickup and know of many others who do as well. 

[taffgiraffe]

I understand there are complications with some international locations and producing shipping costs. They can categorize those as undefined.

But the way it's organized today is silly. Some countries already convert and display a shipping price with search results. For example: I might see a UK seller with a shipping fee of $20. I will never buy a single piece of cardboard that requires a $20 shipping fee. For those that cannot produce an immediate price or there are complications in doing so, they can filter those to an undefined category under shipping. They can at least make it a teeny bit easier for people with hobbies that have an ungodly amount of search results with shipping costs that can*** be filtered.

[pjcdn2005]

Is your search page already customized so that when you view results ‘price + shipping lowest’  that the shipping cost is displayed  on the search page?  

[kathiec]

Bottom line, there are 135 million eBay users, each of whom has their own wish list of improvements they'd like eBay to make. But eBay doesn't have the bandwidth to implement all the changes people want to make their personal experience 'a teensy bit easier'.

[taffgiraffe]

I get it. But how they prioritize things is how much yelping is going on. I work in this field. I'm not expecting instant gratification. Maybe 6-8 months down the line if I'm lucky.

[kathiec]

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@taffgiraffe wrote:

I get it. But how they prioritize things is how much yelping is going on. I work in this field. I'm not expecting instant gratification. Maybe 6-8 months down the line if I'm lucky.

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Based on my 27 years on eBay I would advise you not to hold your breath. No one looks good in that shade of blue.

[taffgiraffe]

I've requested things in the past that were implemented later on ebay. Cards in particular have better traction for requests as they've expanded their attention on such a large market. I've certainly dumped enough money on it. These aren't exactly life altering requests from developers. These kinds of requests are for when work loads are light and something to do.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

If you are in Raleigh NC, why do you care about shipping costs other than to Raleigh.

Only reason I can see, would be because you are looking to offer items at a lower price than other sellers.

If that is the case, your request should be at the very bottom of Ebay's Honey Do List. There are many buyer needs which are much higher priority than this request. And this is certainly a seller need which is zero sum for Ebay and its buyers - it will not increase total sales on the site.

[taffgiraffe]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

If you are in Raleigh NC, why do you care about shipping costs other than to Raleigh.

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I don't.

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

Only reason I can see, would be because you are looking to offer items at a lower price than other sellers.

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Then your imagination is quite limited in scope. Not all cards, particularly older ones, are readily available and in the condition I desire. They're not all found in the US. And while good pricing is obviously a concern for everyone, it also applies to shipping, and the point of filtering results you don't care to see over and over for select cards you repeatedly look for.

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

If that is the case

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It's not.

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

it will not increase total sales on the site.

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It will increase the desire for more accommodating competition. And me seeking alternatives in the future for a lack of user friendliness. I wasn't always using eBay either.