eBay

emwtackshop · ‎08-19-2023

Why do I constantly feel like eBay is charging too much for shipping? Example today is a small, light $3.99 item. eBay charged $12.55 for shipping. I go to get the shipping label and it's only $7.15. Are they thinking $5 for packing it up and taking it to the post office? I feel like I should be refunding everyone $$ every time the shipping is so much lower than what was charged. Or do I just go with it because the buyer agreed and didn't even message to ask if I could get lower shipping? BTW it could ship for $4.15 if I send it with a slower service.

allthingssurplus · ‎08-19-2023

I think what the problem is when you revised your listings for Ground Advantage that process put you in Zone Pricing for shipping. We ship all of our sale using calculated shipping which is based on zip code and weight and DIMM. It is overall cheaper to ship this way. The complaint by volume Sellers with eBay was they did not have IT create a bulk revising program for us. So those, like my company, that were using calculated and First Class Package had to manually revise their listings. We finished the revisions on the 9th costing 328 man hours, 4200+ listings, to the tune of $8300.

You might want to check and see is the calculated button is checked on your shipping preferences. eBay want you to use Zone Pricing, it generates more FVF for eBay

reallynicestamps · ‎08-19-2023

Who is being charged $12.55 and who is being charged $7.15?

If your buyer is being shown and charged $12.55 it is because eBay is set up to show the buyer the retail/counter price for the service from the postal system.

If you are being charged $7.15, it is because eBay has negotiated discounts from the postal system which it passes to you.

It's a feature not a bug.

You sell an item for $100. to a state with 5% sales tax on goods.

The buyer is charged $117.55 ($100 +$5+$12.55)

You pay 13.5% fees o $117.55 or $15.87.

Your other costs are (eg) $10 for procurement and (eg)$5 for packaging and $7.15 for the shipping label, or $22.15.

Total= $38.02

Profit = $61.98

If you were paying counter rate for the shipping your profit would be only $56.58.

If you want to pay more for shipping, you can take the parcel to the counter and pay full pop there.

If you want the customer to pay less for shipping, you can use Flat Rate shipping and only charge "actual postage" if you can guess what that might be since parcel rates vary with destination.

Both reduce your profit.

dbfolks166mt · ‎08-19-2023

As others mentioned the rate the buyers is seeing is the USPS retail rate what you are paying is the discounted rate and it appears you have figured out how to turn on the discounted rates for the buyers. Remember however eBay applies the FVF to the shipping cost so for the $12.55 shipping the buyer paid eBay would assess you $1.66 in fees. So the overage the buyer paid would have been $3.74 which may seen a bit high but you also have to cover your shipping expenses: bubble wrap, boxes, envelopes, tape, printer ink and paper for the label.............. That remaining $3.74 gets eaten up pretty quickly.

Prior to ground advantage I used to ship a lot of items priority mail simply because of the value of the item and the insurance that automatically comes with priority mail. Now that ground advantage comes with the same insurance coverage as priority mail my default shipping class for almost all items is ground advantage but I also leave the priority mail as an option if the buyer wants to select it.

Ironically I am not sure ground advantage is any slower. I live on the east coast and recently shipped two packages to CA, one ground advantage and the other priority mail, priority mail was actually cheaper for one package. Both packages were dropped and scanned at the post office on the same day but the ground advantage package was delivered one day before the priority mail package.

fashunu4eeuh · ‎08-19-2023

@duffy4444 wrote:
“Does a $3.99 item HAVE to go via Priority Mail? You mentioned the slower service for $4.15.”

@emwtackshop wrote:

“BTW it could ship for $4.15 if I send it with a slower service.”

Just to clarify, once the sale is made, a seller can upgrade shipping to a faster service, but it is against eBay policy to downgrade a shipping service from what the buyer selected at checkout, or from what the listing stated. See the link below for the shipping policy:

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/default/shipping-policy?id=5035#:~:text=Sellers%20must%20not%3A,a...

”Sellers must not:

Use a slower shipping service than the one selected by the buyer
Include any additional fees for handling and packaging when offering free shipping
Delay shipments once notification is received that a payout has been initiated”

emwtackshop · ‎08-19-2023

But what if the buyer messages and asks about cheaper shipping after they pay? Can you change the shipping and refund the difference? Or do you need to cancel the whole thing and start over?

reallynicestamps · ‎08-19-2023

But what if the buyer messages and asks about cheaper shipping after they pay?

This is what is called in Retail Theory 101 a "high maintenance customer".

And by most sellers a "pain in the badonk ka donk".

The answer should be "I am not able to change the shipping fee. If you have reconsidered your purchase as advertised , I can cancel the transaction and you will be refunded. "

Because it will not get better.

duffy4444 · ‎08-19-2023

@fashunu4eeuh wrote:
@duffy4444 wrote:
“Does a $3.99 item HAVE to go via Priority Mail? You mentioned the slower service for $4.15.”

@emwtackshop wrote:
“BTW it could ship for $4.15 if I send it with a slower service.”

Just to clarify, once the sale is made, a seller can upgrade shipping to a faster service, but it is against eBay policy to downgrade a shipping service from what the buyer selected at checkout, or from what the listing stated...

@fashunu4eeuh :

What I was recommending in my reply is the seller could have offered the less expensive shipping cost when the item was originally listed. I didn't intend to suggest the seller could have changed the shipping after the sale and against eBay policy... you are correct, and I should have made that more clear. Thanks for bringing that up...

Cheers, Duffy

emwtackshop · ‎08-19-2023

WIX hosts our store website and we're not getting rid of it. They are a website builder tool and have been around since 2008ish. It's an option like shopify, godaddy, or wordpress.

emwtackshop · ‎08-19-2023

So you're saying keep the difference and not feel guilty? I could be ok with that lol

duffy4444 · ‎08-19-2023

@emwtackshop wrote:
But what if the buyer messages and asks about cheaper shipping after they pay? Can you change the shipping and refund the difference? Or do you need to cancel the whole thing and start over?

@emwtackshop:

Cancel the whole thing and start over, after correcting your shipping cost confusion.

BTW, I wasn't suggesting you dump WIX altogether. In the context of your shipping cost problem, I was suggesting you do not put it between you and your sales on your eBay site. Just simplify by using eBay.

Cheers, Duffy

fashunu4eeuh · ‎08-19-2023

@duffy4444 wrote:
@fashunu4eeuh wrote:
@duffy4444 wrote:
“Does a $3.99 item HAVE to go via Priority Mail? You mentioned the slower service for $4.15.”

@emwtackshop wrote:
“BTW it could ship for $4.15 if I send it with a slower service.”

Just to clarify, once the sale is made, a seller can upgrade shipping to a faster service, but it is against eBay policy to downgrade a shipping service from what the buyer selected at checkout, or from what the listing stated...
@fashunu4eeuh :

What I was recommending in my reply is the seller could have offered the less expensive shipping cost when the item was originally listed. I didn't intend to suggest the seller could have changed the shipping after the sale and against eBay policy... you are correct, and I should have made that more clear. Thanks for bringing that up...
Cheers, Duffy

Hi Duffy, you’re welcome. Yes, as soon as i hit Reply, i realized you probably meant prior to listing, not after listing. Always appreciate your knowledgable contributions and feedback!

emwtackshop · ‎08-19-2023

How did you get to the "shipping preferences" page starting from the seller overview page?

emwtackshop · ‎08-19-2023

   Cancel the whole thing and start over, after correcting your shipping cost confusion.
   BTW, I wasn't suggesting you dump WIX altogether. In the context of your shipping cost problem, I was suggesting you do not put it between you and your sales on your eBay site. Just simplify by using eBay.
   Cheers, Duffy

Ahh but that would mean remaking all the listings wouldn't it? And keeping track of inventory on 3 platforms instead of 2? Our piece of sh*t POS already doesn't link to anything so I already adjust inventory on WIX every day which adjusts it on eBay automatically. I feel like its bad enough doing everything twice when entering new items, I'd hate to add a third.

And we're owned by a non profit so getting anything new (like a fancy POS that could link to everything!) costs money and has to be approved by a whole BOD who don't think we actually need it. Trust me I've been trying.