eBay

patternsaver · ‎12-01-2024

Occasionally I get a message from a potential buyer asking me if I can reduce the shipping cost on a single item. My listings have a set shipping price for light weight items or a calculated price for heavier ones unless the price includes shipping.

Buyers sometimes have no idea what it costs to ship something, to say nothing of the expense incurred for packing materials, gas to get the box to the post office or depot, and the time it takes to pack right.

Many times the cost they pay to ship something does not or barely covers the actual cost.

How do you answer these buyers? They almost never buy after asking anyway so sometimes I do not even want to respond.

I generally tell them they can choose between carriers on the listing to see what is the best for them. What I really want to say to them would be different. How do you handle this?

meme6253 · ‎12-01-2024

I just tell them that shipping costs have gone up over the years & unfortunately I cannot do anything about that

nobody*s_perfect · ‎12-01-2024

@jg.mason wrote:
The first thing I do is see if I can. I get buyers on the west coast asking and sometimes I can use a flat rate box and save them some money. ...

Why not just offer both options (flat rate box and calculated Priority Mail shipping) right in the listing for items that will fit into a flat rate box? At current Commercial rates, the Large flat rate box is cheaper for a 4-pound package going to Zone 8, and the Medium is cheaper for a 2-pound package.

For really heavy items, a Priority flat rate box can even be cheaper than Ground Advantage, though that's unusual now that eBay offers Cubic pricing (which applies to packages up to .5 cubic foot for Priority and up to 1 cubic foot for Ground).

dbfolks166mt · ‎12-01-2024

I offer free shipping only on items that weigh less than 4 ounces packed and I can send USPS ground saver. But I only sell in the USA so you can pretty much predict the cost to ship and build that into the price. If something is over 4 ounces it gets tricky since the cost to ship varies so widely with the distance.

There is a potential down side to using free shipping for both the seller and the buyer and while it is minimal every penny seems to count to a lot of buyers these days. About 1/2 of the states do not charge sales tax, which of course the buyer pays, on shipping if it can be separately identified in the transaction which of course with free shipping it cannot.

Since eBay applies the FVFs to the sales tax if the buyer is not paying sales tax on the shipping then eBay is not charging the seller any FVF's on that portion of the sales tax that would have applied to the shipping cost.

youn2240 · ‎12-01-2024

I'd say " Nope not gonna do that. Thank you have a good day. " or "Sure I can make it happen. Thank you have a good day."

fern*wood · ‎12-01-2024

What annoys me more than the shipping discount question is when I'm asked to accept a discount on my item plus add free shipping. Why don't they just offer less for my item and not ask for the double discount? This almost always gets a no from me on both counts, where I might have have offered the discount for the item otherwise.

I can politely say no when asked about the shipping if I see I didn't make a stupid mistake when listing.

I prefer to rarely offer free shipping because I don't like losing my initial shipping on remorse returns.

date-bait · ‎12-01-2024

fab_finds4u

writes:

In case you did not know

"eBay's policy for used colognes and other cosmetics is as follows:

Used cosmerics: eBay does not allow listings for used cosmetics, including colognes, perfumes, lotions, and more."

fab_finds4u:

In case YOU did not know.....

according to that Guru Griff:

eBay eliminated the used category from the Health and Beauty fragrances, but there's another category that you can list these (pre-owned fragrances) in. In collectibles, it's called Vanity Perfume & Shaving Collectibles.

There are 180,000+ perfume listings (as of today) in:

Collectibles : Vanity, Perfume & Shaving Selected category Perfumes

These items are considered "collectibles" and NOT cosmetics.

OP's fragrance items are listed in the correct category. Not sure what patternsaver's question had to do with selling perfumes, but fab_finds4u, THANKS for being a diligent (albeit misinformed) potential eBay narc.

jg.mason · ‎12-01-2024

Good Post. I have done that in the past. Priority Mail has gotten so expensive that a few months ago I removed it from all my listings that weren't Media Mail.

ebooksdiva · ‎12-01-2024

It works quite well for me. I ship Media Mail so it's easy to figure in the cost since it doesn't change per zip code or zone like Ground Advantage does.

calculus314 · ‎12-01-2024

Buiding in the shipping is next to impossible on bigger, heavier items. They charge by dimension anymore, so you could literally send a large empty box and it would cost a lot. I use calculated because I am in south Florida. If I lived in the center of the country, I may use a flat rate since nobody could be too far away. But if I go with a flat rate and someone in the state of Washington buys it, that's over 3000 miles away and will cost.

kath.layn · ‎12-01-2024

I’m in Oregon so folding shipping charges into the purchase price isn’t fair to my West Coast buyers. I almost always give buyers a choice of Ground Advantage, FedEx Ground, or Priority Mail. When I get those questions about “can you lower shipping” I reply thusly: Shipping is not set by me, it is set by the carrier based on size, weight, and DISTANCE TRAVELED. I’m sorry it’s so high. If you tell me exactly how you would like it shipped, which carrier, I am happy to see what I can do. I have never had a buyer message me back after that. They usually just buy. Oh, and then I block.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎12-01-2024

@jg.mason wrote: .... Priority Mail has gotten so expensive that a few months ago I removed it from all my listings that weren't Media Mail.

I offer Ground Advantage as the first shipping choice, but then also Priority as secondary for buyers who are in a hurry. Then if a buyer who paid for GA complains about slow delivery, I can politely point out to them that there was a faster option but they chose the slower method.

dbfolks166mt · ‎12-01-2024

Agree with all previous posters, would only add that our buyers generally already receive a healthy shipping discount as compared with postal rates at the local USPS counter.

When Ebay tells the seller upon printing a shipping label: " You saved x dollars & x % on your shipping label today"

what they are really saying is: " Because you purchased your label on Ebay your buyer is saving money on shipping today"

Whether I pay x, y, or z for a shipping label as I seller I save nothing. As sellers we are saving our valued customers some money by printing shipping labels on a platform that has brokered a discount with the major carriers. Let us also not forget our Final Value Fees. Whatever the label cost the buyer we pay a percentage of that as well. Plus, packing materials and the time for careful & deliberate packing.

I also get discounted rates on shipping but I utilize Pirate Ship which has the same discounted rates as eBay, sometimes a bit better. The difference is I pay for those labels with a cash back credit card so my actual shipping cost is reduced a bit further when I cash in the points.

714ricki · ‎12-01-2024

Unless there is a big shipping error in your listing, then just tell them..."thank you for the inquiry, unfortuntaley the shipping cost is firm." Then, just move on!