eBay

hightidealong · ‎09-14-2017

Hi everyone, please advise me and be blunt if I'm out of line. I have a large dollhouse and it is pickup only. I priced it low because it is only pickup. However after a few messages with interested buyers wanting me to ship, i managed to disassemble to ship in two boxes. Unfortunately, I used up my 20.00 bubble wrap roll just on this house. Buyer interested wants me to send package weight and dimensions to them so they can pay from there to get it cheaper? Not sure how that works....but now I'm losing money on this house...should I ask for a handling fee? List house again higher? I'm not sure what to do. Would 15.00 handling fee be too much? Usually I put that into the price of the widget.

stoicbeagle11 · ‎09-14-2017

When I charge for shipping, I consider "shipping" the cost of postage and the supplies it takes to actually have to ship the item. After all, you can't ship something without properly wrapping/boxing/etc. so it is a part of the "shipping" price.

I am hoping that you told them you were charging them for at least the postal charges from UPS/USPS/FedEx?

Bubble wrap is CRAZY expensive. I'm in the wrong line of work...

I know it might be dumb, but I started going the "pack & ship" route via certain shippers near me. One is particularly good and fairly reasonable. It actually ended up coming out $10 less expensive in the end with materials and postage price than did the previous shipment - and the items were nearly identical in size, shape, and weight! And the time savings, it's invaluable. I'm so tired of bubble wrapping the world.

dakotasmoke · ‎09-14-2017

@hightidealong wrote:
Hi everyone, please advise me and be blunt if I'm out of line. I have a large dollhouse and it is pickup only. I priced it low because it is only pickup. However after a few messages with interested buyers wanting me to ship, i managed to disassemble to ship in two boxes. Unfortunately, I used up my 20.00 bubble wrap roll just on this house. Buyer interested wants me to send package weight and dimensions to them so they can pay from there to get it cheaper? Not sure how that works....but now I'm losing money on this house...should I ask for a handling fee? List house again higher? I'm not sure what to do. Would 15.00 handling fee be too much? Usually I put that into the price of the widget.

Tell the buyer you need to use Ebays shipping service to be covered by seller protection. Letting the buyer arrange the shipping rarely works out well.

Im not sure how to do calculated shipping on 2 boxes, but I would put the handling fee in to the item price, but thats just me. Others will have better advice