Are eBay sellers profiting from crazy shipping?

[shitisshit]

I shop a lot online - Offerup, eBay, Poshmark, you name it. Something really special about eBay is how sellers have significant shipping but... for what reason? 

Are sellers profiting from excessive shipping?

I try my best to find sellers who have multiples of what I want. For instance, if 1 seller has 50 of my 8oz shampoo, I will buy all 50. I understand if the shipping is like $30 because that's a 25lb box. What I don't understand is when shipping reaches $250 for 50 shampoos. Like -- what? Are they profiting off this?

I always message sellers to fix the shipping cause I somewhat know an approximation of what shipping should be. I've received lots of messages from sellers saying they won't change it. A seller told me that "by having the cost of the item low, I need to compensate through higher shipping." So sellers profit off these jacked up shipping prices? Is that how it works? 

*confused* 

[downunder-61]

No decent seller profits from shipping, I calculate as  S&H, if the ship cost for me is $14.95 I will up it to $15.95 depending on the size of the parcel and packing materials involved. For smaller items I would add 0.50c - the extra helps pay for my packaging supplies and costs to get items to the PO etc. 

If you ever see an OVER the top shipping, just pass on by, I have no idea why seller's do this.

You can go to  the site they use (USPS/Fedex) for shipping and get your own idea of how much it does cost the seller, and with another price hike coming in January I believe for USPS it ain't cheap LOL.

[alcoforever]

Shipping cost doesn't matter.   What matters is total cost - item + shipping.  

What difference does it make how a seller gets his profit - item, shipping, or some from both?

[stainlessenginecovers]

Ebay, like many of the other sites you mentioned, are made up of individuals that do not have a have any training in retail or customer service.

A not-so-bright seller does this.

A not-so-bright seller missing brain matter would tell you that's what they do.

Move on to another seller. There are 1000's in every category. 

[redmodelt]

Depending on how it is worded, the asker may end up getting on my blocked buyers list!

[fab_finds4u]

You can't compare Poshmark shipping to eBay.  Poshmark makes sellers EAT shipping costs because shipping costs on Poshmark  for up to 5 lbs costs $7.45 no matter what the shipping actually costs the seller. USPS commercial rate is  $8.20 to $41.26 for a package under a cubic foot so those Poshmark sellers are building the actual cost into the item cost.

[fab_finds4u]

To clarify the shipping cost of 8.20 to 41.26 is for a 5 lb regular size package. 

[frankienlola]

When a seller ships by weight and a large quantity is bought shipping can get wonky especially when it was listed as 1st class and it falls out of it due to excessive weight.  I tell the buyer to place selections in their cart and request an invoice with correct shipping BEFORE they make payment. If they don't combine shipping, and don't want to be bothered,  move on. I can often make more per unit and save the buyer a bunch in shipping and sometimes split it with them or even throw it in the sale.

When I list something that I know there's a good chance they'll buy multiple quantities I use calculated shipping otherwise it has to be built into the first unit and then it's in every unit thereafter......that would be nice for me but I know I won't sell multiple quantities.  I often create special listings for specific buyers so they get accurate shipping as I don't try to make money on shipping, but that's me.  I work closely with buyers to get them the best shipping possible. 

[7606dennis]

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@downunder-61 wrote:

No decent seller profits from shipping, I calculate as  S&H, if the ship cost for me is $14.95 I will up it to $15.95 depending on the size of the parcel and packing materials involved. For smaller items I would add 0.50c - the extra helps pay for my packaging supplies and costs to get items to the PO etc. 

If you ever see an OVER the top shipping, just pass on by, I have no idea why seller's do this.

You can go to  the site they use (USPS/Fedex) for shipping and get your own idea of how much it does cost the seller, and with another price hike coming in January I believe for USPS it ain't cheap LOL.

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Actually, any business needs to profit or at least break even on all parts of their operation.  Otherwise they will not survive for long.  It must generate enough income to cover all expenses incurred, provide for the income for its owner/owners and provide for future growth of the business.  

[powell-memorabilia]

@downunder-61 
@downunder-61 wrote:

If you ever see an OVER the top shipping, just pass on by, I have no idea why seller's do this.

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My supposition is that the sellers that have returns paid by buyers jack up the rates.  With a remorse return, they can actually come out ahead.

don’t rule out ignorance - we still have sellers assuming that eBay doesn’t charge fees on shipping and handling!

[soh.maryl]

1. Have you checked out prices on, for instance, USPS shipping? Ongoing rate changes and one expected in January.

2. Any time any buyer sees any shipping price that seems exorbitant, he is free to move on to another seller/listing.

[mudshark61369]

@shitisshit,

 " if 1 seller has 50 of my 8oz shampoo, I will buy all 50. I understand if the shipping is like $30 because that's a 25lb box. What I don't understand is when shipping reaches $250 for 50 shampoos".

Often if a seller has that many of an item they should have a shipping rule set up like;  Buy one, pay $X for shipping, each additional add $Y per additional item.  If they do not then find another seller. 

What you may not realize is ebay's fees are paid by the seller, not only on the item price but the shipping cost as well. The base rate would be 12.5% of the item cost + shipping. If your state charges a sales tax, sellers pay ebay a fee to collect that as well.  This year there was a holiday surcharge added by the USPS for most of its services too. Add to that the consumable part of shipping costs, tape, packing material, printer ink, and sometimes the cost of boxes (which has risen because of shortages) All of that has to be taken into consideration as a handling charge, when you try to calculate the shipping on your own. Some items fall victim to dimensional rate (DIM) shipping costs because of the size of a box being over 1 cubic foot. It was charged because larger boxes take up more space no matter what the actual weight of the package actually is.  The 2019 USPS DIM  increase was as follows, it has gone up since then. The package weight calculated on packages over 1728 cubic inches (1 Cubic ft) L x W x H.

"2019 increases the shipping cost from $15.93 to $18.42. If that box were 14 x 14 x 14, the Dimensional Weight would increase to 16.53 lbs. (round up to 17 lbs.) and you're looking at an increase to $20.35",

That is not to say that some sellers do not try to a lot more profit by overcharging on shipping. There are many who do that on all of the 3rd party online shopping sites. I used to sell quite a lot on ebay and am aware of what the actual shipping costs are and can spot them easily, I just pass on those listings.

[myangelandmyprincess]

$30 would be insanely cheap for that.   Anyone charging that for a 50 lb package might be losing money on shipping.  

Just some calculations I did. 

I'm in MS if I ship a 50 lb package to California it costs over $100. Depending on size the calculations are going to up to almost $200. 

If I ship just here within MS it's $40 to $80 depending on size.  

Now this is USPS prices. 

For UPS from me to Cali is $100 and up.  From Ms to Ms it starts at about $70 and goes to over $100

[ander_187]

As long as they aren't ripping off customers to do all that fair enough. Otherwise,  it's their business model that's wrong and ita unfair to raise costs on a buyer simply because they are inefficient at what they do...

[7606dennis]

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@ander_187 wrote:

As long as they aren't ripping off customers to do all that fair enough. Otherwise,  it's their business model that's wrong and ita unfair to raise costs on a buyer simply because they are inefficient at what they do...

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If the buyer doesn't agree with what the seller is charging for S&H, they should simply choose a seller that has terms more to their liking.