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Understanding Shipping Reimbursements for New Sellers
Summary: rickscoins-2 is seeking advice on how shipping reimbursements work when selling items. They are confused about when and how reimbursements for shipping expenses occur amid various fees. krazzykats responds by explaining that the buyer covers shipping costs, and it is essential to use calculated shipping based on the item's actual weight and dimensions. They also mention that when offering free shipping, the costs are often included in the item's price, emphasizing that shipping is not actually free.
Hello everyone,
I'm new to selling and trying to wrap my head around the concept of shipping reimbursements. I've noticed that fees and costs are deducted, but I'm not sure how or when the reimbursements happen for shipping expenses.
I’d appreciate insights from experienced sellers on how to best navigate this. How do you track and manage shipping reimbursements? What tips do you have for ensuring everything balances out at the end?
Looking forward to hearing your experiences and advice. Thank you!
monroe67
Mentor3 weeks ago"I'm new to selling and trying to wrap my head around the concept of shipping reimbursements. I've noticed that fees and costs are deducted, but I'm not sure how or when the reimbursements happen for shipping expenses."
I'm not really sure what you mean by "shipping reimbursements."
Generally, eBay does not reimburse sellers for shipping costs.
A quick glance at your current listings shows that you do ask your buyers to pay a shipping price in addition to the price of your items.
Buyers pay the total price of the transaction to eBay. That total price includes the item price + any sales tax if their state requires it + the shipping price shown in your listing. Two states currently also have very small Delivery Fees which the buyer may be required to pay.
That shipping price that your buyer pays is made available to you, the eBay seller, by eBay. Then, when you purchase postage through eBay, you are actually spending the buyer's money.
In some instances, it may be possible that the postage you buy through eBay is more expensive than the amount paid by your buyer. In those instances, eBay sellers need to pay that price.
Again: eBay does not reimburse sellers for any such additional postage.
eBay does not allow sellers to request any additional postage from buyers after those buyers have paid the total amount of the purchase.
In those instances, the seller has to absorb the additional cost of postage.
The silver lining for sellers is that, generally, everything eBay sellers spend on postage for their eBay sales is deductible on their/our federal income tax returns as business expenses.
The lesson for new sellers is to package their items before they list them, so that they can enter accurate size dimensions of the box or padded envelope, and the weight of the package. This will help eBay's computers calculate accurate shipping amounts.
The result should be that sellers do not have spend more for postage than their buyers pay when they make their purchases through eBay.
krazzykats
Mentor3 weeks agoThe buyer pays you for shipping. You purchase the label and ship the item. The best way is to use calculated shipping with the actual packaged weight and dimesions.
If you offer free shipping, you purchase the label from the funds you received for the item. Most sellers roll the shipping costs into the price of the item in this case.
Shipping is not actually free.