How do sellers list items at so low a price (with free ship) when minimum USPS cost is $2.66?

[krsmith93]

When shipping a light weight item, the minimum USPS cost is $2.66 including eBay's discount. So, how do some sellers offer things for only $3, $4 or even $5 with free shipping?

When you take into account

1) how much the seller paid for the product in the first place,

2) shipping cost,

3) shipping supplies cost,

4) eBay's 10% take, and

5) Paypal's cut, they could not possibly be making ANY profit whatsoever.

This is just out of curiousity. I always try to provide my buyers with the lowest cost possible, but the whole point of selling is to actually make SOME profit for what you sell. Thanks!

[luckythewinner]

How do sellers list items at so low a price (with free ship) when minimum USPS cost is $2.66?

$2.66 might be the minimum cost for USPS postage with tracking shipped from the USA, but it is not the minimum cost for something shipped without tracking or shipped from China. 

And before you say it - yes, there are some sellers who will lie about how they ship or where they ship from.

[reallynicestamps]

I don't track most of my shipments. This means I can ship for between 85c and $5.15 Canadian depending on destination (domestic or USA) and weight (up to 500 grams).

The Canadian dollar trades at about 75cents USD.

And actually even less since I use discounted mint postage stamps.

And many of those sellers are doing the same- shipping without tracking and using a non-US shipper.

The most notorious is China Post, which has finally been persuaded (by means of a work to rule campaign by Western postal authorities) to raise their cost of international shipping.

https://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/postal-service/rate.htm

A yuan trades at around 14 cents USD.

And some newbies foolishly follow eBay's bad advice to offer Free Shipping  without realizing that this is marketing talk for "Include the cost of shipping in your asking price" and worse advice to use Auctions with a starting price of a dollar or less.

[dirk12955]

About 65% of my orders go without tracking.

A forever stamp costs 50 cents

The posters on this board that are spouting that tracking is an absolute ebay requirement are
mistaken.

For some sellers, A $5.00 item produces a $5.00 profit before shipping costs and Ebay & Paypal
expenses are considered.

[scottish_kat]

Here, read this.  (Don't blame me when your head explodes, tho).

https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/11/05/how-the-usps-epacket-gives-postal-subsidies-to-c...

[hyperrush]

SoAfter win a sale, the seller rase the postage cost to undercover the price.

[lovett-1000]

I ask myself same all the time. They are giving it away. Like others say some care less about ratings so do not provide tracking and can mail for low price. With stamps. If is was not for me trying to keep high ratings. I could offer lots of $5 deal no tracking. But I would get the dings on dashboard for no tracking.  It is a shame because those sellers. Do not realize they are setting themselfs up for buyers say not recived.  Pay pal will refund them fast if no tracking was provided. They have no proof of delivery so will be punished in long run.  I my opinon I think it should be a requirement to provided tracking on all. But E bay has not done it yet. I do wish you the very best. 

[dirk12955]

I've been selling in the stamp category for over 15 years. About 1500 sales so far this year in the USA. Well over 1,000 sent without tracking.

No dings, NO hassles, No scammers, No finger waving by ebay, Still "Above standard" rating on my dashboard. Been above standard since it was invented.

I mail all my sales under $18.00 to $20.00 range without tracking and it causes me no problems
at all.

The only thing it does is keep me from being TRS and I simply do not care about the Nickels and dimes I'd save being TRS when I'm saving Hundreds of dollars on postage costs.

[dirk12955]

---

@hyperrush wrote:

SoAfter win a sale, the seller rase the postage cost to undercover the price.

---

That would be against the rules and ebay would not approve.   Easy for a bidder or buyer to report to ebay

and get that seller sanctioned.

[buyselljack2016]

---

@lovett-1000 wrote:

I ask myself same all the time. They are giving it away. Like others say some care less about ratings so do not provide tracking and can mail for low price. With stamps. If is was not for me trying to keep high ratings. I could offer lots of $5 deal no tracking. But I would get the dings on dashboard for no tracking.  It is a shame because those sellers. Do not realize they are setting themselfs up for buyers say not recived.  Pay pal will refund them fast if no tracking was provided. They have no proof of delivery so will be punished in long run.  I my opinon I think it should be a requirement to provided tracking on all. But E bay has not done it yet. I do wish you the very best. 

---

That's nonsense.    Tracking is for the seller to prove delivery.

If they sell items that can ship without tracking, that is their choice to see how "I did not get my item" balances out against the cost of that occasional INR refund.

Tracking "is required" for sellers that want to maintain "TRS" discounts, or "TRS +" discounts, and reduced FVF's. Sellers choice to meet, or not meet the metrics.

There is no reason for eBay to ever "require" tracking.

[duggmills · Accepted solution]

Aside from the Chinese, maybe some sellers may be enamored by the term Loss Leader thinking it a way of attracting more buyers.   LOL 

Yes, they lose money on every sale, but they hope the volume will make up for the individual losses.  LOL

[krsmith93]

"Here, read this. (Don't blame me when your head explodes, tho).

https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/11/05/how-the-usps-epacket-gives-postal-subsidies-to-c..."

This definitely answers my question with regard to international shipping! And that whole article is a bit of an outrage... very informative though. Thank you for sharing!

[krsmith93]

I considered this as a possibility, as I recently had an encounter where I wanted to accept a Best Offer of $4 for a pair of earrings, but told the buyer if I went that route I would not be able to ship with tracking info. They chose to pay the Buy It Now price of $5.80 instead so I went with First Class.

However, what about package requirements and weight limits? I believe USPS states "anything over 13 ounces bearing only stamps as postage will not be accepted," but what about the types of packages? Can you still use a poly or bubble mailer and just affix stamps if it's under 13 oz?

[dirk12955]

---

@krsmith93 wrote:

I considered this as a possibility, as I recently had an encounter where I wanted to accept a Best Offer of $4 for a pair of earrings, but told the buyer if I went that route I would not be able to ship with tracking info. They chose to pay the Buy It Now price of $5.80 instead so I went with First Class.

However, what about package requirements and weight limits? I believe USPS states "anything over 13 ounces bearing only stamps as postage will not be accepted," but what about the types of packages? Can you still use a poly or bubble mailer and just affix stamps if it's under 13 oz?

Oh yeah,    I've received  packages covered with stamps.    The sellers would buy a label for $2.66 and make up the rest of the shipping costs with stamps.   

Anything over 13 oz has to go Priority,    I believe.

I've received priority envelopes with a shipping label for a portion of the postage and the rest in postage stamps.  

USPS does not care,   As long as the postage is correct.  

---

[audioarchive]

My minimum shipping is $1.10, almost all my items are between $2.47 and $5.00.