How can a new seller possibly offer free shipping?

[bobo710]

Many of my products that sell fairly well online and in person have a low margin. I try to sell on eBay at a fair price while making a small profit. I charge the buyer exactly what I pay for shipping.

So how can I possibly offer free shipping when the shipping cost to me is sometime the same or more than my profit?  And when I do try jacking up my price to build in shipping I turn around and find other sellers selling same or similar product for less than my cost and they still offer free shipping..  How the heck?  Is their product falling of a truck somewhere?

It's all very frustrating to someone new to selling just trying to supplement an income..

[fuzzface50]

Are you competing against Chinese sellers?   they can ship very very cheap.  They can live on very little money too.

[bobo710]

Thank your the suggestions. I will work on that ASAP.

I appreciate you taking the time to offer your advice and creative criticism, it is helpful.

Thanks again!

[rpalma]

I met a dude who was selling things cheaply with free shipping. He was shipping from work and not paying for the shipping. He had permission to do it.

I met a lady that was losing money on every sale, but she included a religious tract in each box and considered it part of her religious mission.

Some people are drop shipping from China and aren't paying the same shipping costs as you.

Some people may be laundering money.

You don't know other peoples' situation. If you can't do it profitably and competitively, then don't do it.

[rpalma]

There are advantages to not offering free shipping.

If the shipping cost is variable to the destination, then some buyers will pay less than the average if they pay the shipping cost. It also makes it easier for the buyer to buy multiple items and get a shipping discount.

Also, there are people who set mental  limits on what they will pay for something (budget/spouse/whatever) and some of them will be happy to pay $15 plus shipping but won't pay $25 with free shipping even if the total cost is the same. There is a reason that the sales of items "as seen on tv" name a price "plus shipping and handling" and don't give you those numbers in the commercial.

[debbie6438]

For the past 14 years I have been selling phonograph records on eBay.

During this time eBay has had a practice of charging sellers a tax or fee, whatever you like to call it,

on shipping. Let me explain: If we sell an item, and we charge the buyer a shipping and handling

fee, eBay in turn charges the seller a final value fee on shipping, this fee amounts to approximately

55 cents or more.

When I call them to get an explanation as to why they impose this tax or fee, they say words to this effect: “This fee helps to prevent fraud on the part of sellers who might be inclined to over

charge for shipping.”

In the early days of eBay this might have been true, however, if I buy something and pay an enormous

shipping fee from a seller, that's my stupidity. Any intelligent person knows when they are getting

overcharged and swindled. In that case it would be a complaint, then brought to the attention of

eBay, and thus dealt with appropriately.

Let me say this, we sell very fragile phonograph records made before 1960 in the 78rpm ten-inch

and twelve-inch sizes and most of these discs where pressed in shellac, and they will crack very

easily when dropped or mishandled. Our shipping and handling fee is based on the following.

The fee at post office ranges from $3.00 to $3.80 which reflects “media mail” and the handling fee

is about $3.00 which reflects the following materials we must use in order for safe passage.

1. a brand new 12x12x6 inch box for ten-inch or a 14x14x7 inch box for 12-inch discs.

2. Cardboard supports around each disc.

3. Plastic bags to protect in the event the box gets waterlogged

4. Rubber bands to hold the disc in firm place

5. Much packing “pop corn” as it is called, and then tape and labels.

This method is approved by all of our serious 78rpm record buyers, and they will settle for

nothing less! They have taught us over the years, and that is why I am a top rated seller!

Working on our receipts today, I noticed something else which I believe to be additional unscrupulous business practices on the part of eBay.

Let me explain: If a buyer, buys more than one item, there is an option to place each item in a virtual

shopping cart, then the buyer requests total from seller. The main purpose of course is to combine shipping and pay only one shipping fee. For some unexplained reason sometimes the buyer is able

to do this, and other times they are not? Of course calling eBay tech support is useless, because they will blame the sellers. However, a more sinister reason, I believe is this: When this happens of course I refund the extra shipping fee or fees to the buyer, and of course eBay gets a charge back fee on each

refund I make to the buyers!

But I noticed that when I refunded the extra shipping fee to a buyer, instead of eBay refunding the

final value fee on shipping for one item, they merely split the other shipping fee in half, so they could keep the final value fee on shipping twice. In addition to all of this, anytime a fee or refund is issued for whatever reason, eBay, Pay Pal, takes a reversal fee! Now you might say these fees are pennies, but

pennies add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars after a while!

As far as I know, no other platform, not Amazon etc charges a final value fee on shipping? So why

is eBay allowed to continue this? Furthermore, since we have been selling for years, you would think

they would exempt trusted sellers who do not gouge on the shipping and handling fees! However

as you will read on the blogs on-line eBay has many complaints for their various and sundry bad

business behaviors.

[debbie6438]

BTW Mr. Xavier Becerra, State Attorney General Of California

could careless about this “final value fee” controversy issue on eBay.

Ebay knows they can get away with anything! So don't even bother

to write your elected representatives, they all could careless!

You can call and write until you're blue in the face and stone cold

dead! Our system is rigged for the rich and well connected -

we're peons trying to make a living selling whatever we can

get out hands on! The CEO'S need MORE! So WE get less!

That's life, how can we change it?

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

The Fvf on shipping is a final value fee. It is an eBay fee, not a shipping fee. On an accounting basis It is an expense against your item, like all other expenses. It is charged that way so that on a ball sold for $25 total the seller pays the same fees whether the sale is set up as “free” shipping, actual shipping or shipping and handling. Why should free shipping sellers pay higher eBay fees than other sellers.

How sellers split buckets between item and shipping also may have a impact on the sales tax buyers pay. Some states don’t charge sales tax on shipping so shipping included sellers (free shipping) will be more expensive for that alone.

[debbie6438]

I don't understand a word of what you said?

I look at my statements, and the statement reads:

FVF on shipping 65 cents!

Can you please re-explain your paragraph?

please?

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Fvf is charged on the total. Just like on Etsy and amazon. It is an expense, just like postage, packaging and PayPal fees. The only reason it’s broken out in two chunks is because EBay doesn't know which shipping the buyer will pay until they checkout.

If eBay charged it all together this idea of “fees on shipping” would not be a thing. Nobody complains about PayPal fees being on the total.

We talk about buyers buying and that they should shop total price. Fee calculation works the same. It shouldn't matter how much of the sale the seller breaks out into shipping, the fees should be the same. Under the old method (item price only) sellers who had free shipping would pay higher fees on the same total for the same item.

if eBay did not calculate on the total sale then they would charge a higher percentage. Likely 15%+ of the item price AND shipping bandits would go back to putting most of the sale price back in shipping. Sellers would see no reduction in fees and free shipping sellers and buyers would be ripped off.

[equid0x]

---

@bobo710 wrote:

Many of my products that sell fairly well online and in person have a low margin. I try to sell on eBay at a fair price while making a small profit. I charge the buyer exactly what I pay for shipping.

So how can I possibly offer free shipping when the shipping cost to me is sometime the same or more than my profit?  And when I do try jacking up my price to build in shipping I turn around and find other sellers selling same or similar product for less than my cost and they still offer free shipping..  How the heck?  Is their product falling of a truck somewhere?

It's all very frustrating to someone new to selling just trying to supplement an income..

---

Stolen product... dumpster product that isn't what they say it is... product obtained by scamming other sellers.... Chinese sellers taking advantage of epacket... Chinese sellers purposely undercutting US sellers at a loss as a means of economic warfare.... 

[equid0x]

---

@reallynicestamps wrote:

Free Shipping is just an advertising buzzword.

It means there is no added shipping charge, because your shipping costs (including packaging) are built into the asking price.

Which is cheaper ?

A $10 item with $5 shipping or a $15 item with Free Shipping?

There is no correct answer.

Most buyer love the idea that they are not paying for shipping, but are smart enough to realize that the cost must be covered somewhere.

But some buyers like to see a lower asking price and are comfortable having the shipping added on later.

And then there is "aspirational buying".  Those customers believe the more they pay for something, the better it will be.

Do you really believe a Hermes Birkin is worth an 18month waiting list and $12,000?  Some people do.

---

Hmmm.. there's definitely a contingent that seems to think that eBay has some kind of a "deal" with USPS to offer "free shipping."

[equid0x]

---

@inhawaii wrote:

I often ask myself the same thing when it comes to competitors selling the same item(s) i do ... how do they sell it so cheap?

I believe that the answer is that they haven't sat down and figured out what their costs actually are.  They're not making money. These sellers will come and go. I'm here for the long run. Long after these sellers are gone i'll still be here selling that same item.

As far as what to price items at. Everyone here has their own way of doing things.  Personally i wont sell an item unless AFTER ALL COSTS/FEES i can at least double my money.

Good luck to you!

---

Yup. That's making a key and that's exactly what a good businessperson ought to be doing.. if they want to stay in business. 

I agree that there are many who don't realize they are losing money. Also, in the last year there have been a couple of large theft/fraud rings busted that were selling their porch-pirated wares on eBay - I bet that's a part of it. 

There are also a lot of sellers on here, and even some who post here, who seem to have questionable/unethical business practices. 

[equid0x]

---

@luckythewinner wrote:

---

@bobo710 wrote:

Many of my products that sell fairly well online and in person have a low margin. I try to sell on eBay at a fair price while making a small profit. I charge the buyer exactly what I pay for shipping.

---

Unless you have a supply that is cheaper than all of your competition, you will always run into someone willing to make less money on a sale than you are. 

If you are listing items that the competition can regularly beat on price, IMHO you need to list different items. Rearranging the deck chairs is wasted effort. 

If retail were as easy as buying from a supplier and listing on eBay, then everyone would be rich.

---

Except, that it kinda is "that easy." The real advantage is gained in knowing what you're buying and what you're selling. 

[equid0x]

---

@rpalma wrote:

There are advantages to not offering free shipping.

If the shipping cost is variable to the destination, then some buyers will pay less than the average if they pay the shipping cost. It also makes it easier for the buyer to buy multiple items and get a shipping discount.

Also, there are people who set mental  limits on what they will pay for something (budget/spouse/whatever) and some of them will be happy to pay $15 plus shipping but won't pay $25 with free shipping even if the total cost is the same. There is a reason that the sales of items "as seen on tv" name a price "plus shipping and handling" and don't give you those numbers in the commercial.

---

I've found a significant correlation between the scammy/flakey clientele and those who target "free shipping" on purchase.

[equid0x]

---

@debbie6438 wrote:

For the past 14 years I have been selling phonograph records on eBay.

During this time eBay has had a practice of charging sellers a tax or fee, whatever you like to call it,

on shipping. Let me explain: If we sell an item, and we charge the buyer a shipping and handling

fee, eBay in turn charges the seller a final value fee on shipping, this fee amounts to approximately

55 cents or more.

When I call them to get an explanation as to why they impose this tax or fee, they say words to this effect: “This fee helps to prevent fraud on the part of sellers who might be inclined to over

charge for shipping.”

In the early days of eBay this might have been true, however, if I buy something and pay an enormous

shipping fee from a seller, that's my stupidity. Any intelligent person knows when they are getting

overcharged and swindled. In that case it would be a complaint, then brought to the attention of

eBay, and thus dealt with appropriately.

Let me say this, we sell very fragile phonograph records made before 1960 in the 78rpm ten-inch

and twelve-inch sizes and most of these discs where pressed in shellac, and they will crack very

easily when dropped or mishandled. Our shipping and handling fee is based on the following.

The fee at post office ranges from $3.00 to $3.80 which reflects “media mail” and the handling fee

is about $3.00 which reflects the following materials we must use in order for safe passage.

1. a brand new 12x12x6 inch box for ten-inch or a 14x14x7 inch box for 12-inch discs.

2. Cardboard supports around each disc.

3. Plastic bags to protect in the event the box gets waterlogged

4. Rubber bands to hold the disc in firm place

5. Much packing “pop corn” as it is called, and then tape and labels.

This method is approved by all of our serious 78rpm record buyers, and they will settle for

nothing less! They have taught us over the years, and that is why I am a top rated seller!

Working on our receipts today, I noticed something else which I believe to be additional unscrupulous business practices on the part of eBay.

Let me explain: If a buyer, buys more than one item, there is an option to place each item in a virtual

shopping cart, then the buyer requests total from seller. The main purpose of course is to combine shipping and pay only one shipping fee. For some unexplained reason sometimes the buyer is able

to do this, and other times they are not? Of course calling eBay tech support is useless, because they will blame the sellers. However, a more sinister reason, I believe is this: When this happens of course I refund the extra shipping fee or fees to the buyer, and of course eBay gets a charge back fee on each

refund I make to the buyers!

But I noticed that when I refunded the extra shipping fee to a buyer, instead of eBay refunding the

final value fee on shipping for one item, they merely split the other shipping fee in half, so they could keep the final value fee on shipping twice. In addition to all of this, anytime a fee or refund is issued for whatever reason, eBay, Pay Pal, takes a reversal fee! Now you might say these fees are pennies, but

pennies add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars after a while!

As far as I know, no other platform, not Amazon etc charges a final value fee on shipping? So why

is eBay allowed to continue this? Furthermore, since we have been selling for years, you would think

they would exempt trusted sellers who do not gouge on the shipping and handling fees! However

as you will read on the blogs on-line eBay has many complaints for their various and sundry bad

business behaviors.

---

Dead on! Pocket change like $0.30 may not matter much as a buyer but when you're a seller even such a small amount starts to add up pretty quickly if you're pushing any volume. Another way to look at it might be to say that its a 30% fee. 

I think a lot of eBay's business practices are questionable and even unethical. 

Popcorn packing isn't cheap either. Since I do not have storage space for it, I have to shell out about $23 for 15 cubic feet. 

The markup on shipping was put in to stop sellers from doing things like offering an item for $1 w/ $20 shipping. I forget how many years back this policy was implemented(at least 10), but it doesn't seem to be effective. To this day I still see sellers doing the same old same old in that regard.