Shipping question
I have multiples of of a small decorative hat clip to sell. The weight even in a small bubble envelop is only 0.5 oz. Ebay won't let you enter less than an oz as a weight. I ask at the post office if it could ship in a regular envelop and indicate on the envelop to only hand stamp. The clerk at the post office pulled out his slot template and told me the clip was too thick and it would need to ship in a small bubble envelop.
Here's my dilemma. The competition selling the same item mostly are paying the shipping. To stay competitive I guess I'll have to do the same. Not a lot of profit after paying the shipping. Is there any work around on the shipping cost in this scenario, or is "it is what it is"? If you have any thoughts, let me know.
johnrj1226
·8 months agoJust recall that Dollar Tree had to raise their prices by 25 cents or more on their low priced/low quality stuff
inhawaii
·8 months ago.5 oz. counts as 1 oz.
reallynicestamps
·8 months agoSome things are not worth selling online.
And the usual reason is shipping.
It is legal to ship goods domestically by letter rate, but there are restrictions on weight and dimensions.
I agree these are best sold in pairs to reduce shipping cost.
Also Free Shipping means that the cost of shipping is included in the selling price.
Which is cheapest?
A $2 item with $1 shipping?
A $3 item with Free Shipping?
How about a pair at $6 with Free Shipping?
When scrapbooking was a huge fad, many sellers of scrapbooking supplies did quite well on $1+Free Shipping listings because their customers normally purchased multiple items at a time.
inhawaii
·8 months agoYes.
Start adding the shipping cost to the price of the item -or- add on a shipping charge.
Let the buyers pay for the shipping, not you.
dhbookds
·8 months agofind some cheap hats and feature the clips as removable.........
christworks
·8 months agoI agree with the others. If, there is a market for that stuff, lot them up. You may find your competitor buys them from you to flip individually. Let them deal with those slim margins!
Also, look for better things to flip if you will be doing this regularly. There are certain things I will flip for less than $10.00 - certain categories. But I am really trying to get away from a lot of it. Many times the cheapest things end up causing the biggest headaches because of the type of buyers those items attract.
onefootflipper
·8 months agoI will still grab books and media down to $5 because I get free bubble mailers from one of my youtube sponsors, and they are generally 2-3 photos done on the fixed document camera on my main computer and then done. Under 1 minute to process.
onefootflipper
·8 months agoYou need to find something better to sell. That is a lesson that it takes many sellers a long time to learn.
I pretty much won't even bring anything home if I can't list it for at least $10 plus shipping anymore. If I get stuck with things worth less I try to make lots that are worth more than $10. I might do a media item down to $5, but even those I try to avoid.
Now, if you look at my store you will see that my median list price is only about $11, but that was because I didn't start trying to pull up my median until 6 months ago, and there are stuff up to 3 years old still in my store, still getting marked down.
njtoyreseller
·8 months agoYou would probably be better off then selling them as one lot or smaller lots depending on how many you have. This would allow you to keep your price competitive while also being able to save on shipping them together rather then individually.
tobaccocardyahoo
·8 months agoYou have the wrong dilemma.
Your dilemma should be whether this item is worth the time and effort of selling online.
The fact that you have competition who is willing to accept a slim margin and offer free shipping is one of the reasons.
The fact that you are looking at cutting the mail cost to a level that leads to untracked shipments is another reason.
You seem bright enough to list the pros and cons and make a decision.
babyers88
·8 months agowhen I get small cheap items to sell (similar) to your situation, I normally pass it up to be honest but if it is a really good deal and hard to pass up then I look at doing bulk/lot sales, so like a lot of 12 pieces mixed variety or something (depends on the product in question) .
if they are light and small then it is a more profitable sale for me to do a lot of 12 for my $5 shipping cost.
versus selling 1 for $7 and eating $5 shipping....
hope that makes sense
12345jamesstamps
·8 months agoSell two together instead of one...which other competition is probably not doing for same price of shipping.