How do you calculate shipping before you know where the package is going?
When you sell, the shipping cost is calculated automatically, correct?
How do I keep shipping costs from eating away my profit margin?
11 comments
When you sell, the shipping cost is calculated automatically, correct?
How do I keep shipping costs from eating away my profit margin?
grand-and-glorious-purpose
·4 months agoBy charging the buyer shipping.
Free shipping is only useful for smalls under a pound or items that you know are going to have a consistent weight and size.
If you apply free shipping across the board on heavy bigs and smalls alike you are setting yourself up to lose money by subsidizing buyers the furthest from you at the expense of alienating buyers closest to you.
oempartscatalog
·4 months agoFind the farthest zip code you might have to ship to and put that into ebay's Shipping Calculator page to see what the highest cost might be for the different carriers. I find that to be more accurate than using the calculator on the listing page.
ryry-jj
·4 months agoIf using calculated shipping correctly, you may still want to add handling charges to cover FVFs applied to postage to prevent additional damage to your profits. Handling charges do not appear as a separate charge they just get figured in to the shipping cost
worldcoinauctions
·4 months agoAll my packages run about the same size and weight, so I simply calculate the postage to the furthest point I have to ship to and add the ebay fees on it to that amount. You do realize you pay fees on the money you get for shipping I hope! I also add the cost of my packaging to that as well.
bonanza125
·4 months agoShipping cost is separate from the item cost and is automatically determined based on weight and dimensions put in. If you calculate your shipping cost then when you first list your item check to see how much it costs to ship. Then make sure you add 15% of that shipping cost price to your overall item cost cause there is a fee taken out by Ebay. In addition to item and sales tax cost. Now if you do free shipping for example like I do a lot of I make sure I know the cost up front to varies locations and add that to the price of the item I am selling. For me personally it's a tad easier cause most of the stuff I sell is under a pound so prices are pretty much the same give or take 25 to 50 cents.
stainlessenginecovers
·4 months ago@bonanza125 if, and ONLY if a seller were to use 'ebays calculated shipping'.
If a seller were to use 'flat rate', that means the seller is going to 'collect' the same amount of $$ for shipping if the buyer lives next door or 3000 miles away. 'FLAT RATE' means- Buyer is CHOOSING what $ amount to charge.
bonanza125
·4 months ago"if, and ONLY if a seller were to use 'ebays calculated shipping"
That's a given which was mentioned.
stainlessenginecovers
·4 months agonot the way you explained it.
christworks
·4 months agoFlat rate is when the seller chooses what to charge.
Also, you can use flat rate shipping in combination of shipping tables (as I do) and not every buyer pays the same amount. Instead you set multiple flat rates. If you want to have a flat rate for each state or even different flat rates for the same state, you can.
kensgiftshop
·4 months agoYou need to figure it up before listing an item.
I try to use flat rate packages when I can, so it's pretty easy to figure.
On other packages, I go to USPS, and see what it would cost to ship to Cali., then add a little extra to the item price to cover the fee's.
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·4 months agoIf you have your listing set up with calculated shipping and have the correct weight and measurements then yes it will calculate shipping costs correctly to your buyers location.