Excessive shipping cost?

[wacro5430]

It seems to me that the shipping cost people are charging is just so excessive. Is this just a way to recoup more money or is eBay helping them by over calculating charges? 

[corvettestainless]

Shipping charges have to (or might- depends on seller)  include 12% fees (+/-) that ebay charges sellers; plus packing materials etc... not to mention, every year shipping costs go up from the carriers, including USPS had a HUGE increase on items over 1' square. 

[donsdetour]

Well I could ship in the low cost with the shippers and the way today is you most likly MAY get your package in a few months.

Shipping cost is high and at this time some of the cheap methods are being held up and delayed.

USPS is bad about this at this time as well as a ""temporary"" increase coming up.

I think the shippers are making more than the eBay sellers are...

[nobody*s_perfect]

is eBay helping them by over calculating charges? 

The eBay shipping calculator will determine  the exact actual cost based on the package weight and dimensions as entered by the seller. Sellers are allowed to add a handling fee.  They can choose whether the calculated postage is the online rate or the retail ("In store") rate.

[little*blackdog]

I can assure you, my shipper (usually USPS) regularly clears more money from my sales than I do!

Also eBay and PayPal fees are more like 15-17% of sales.

Also, no one but me pays for shipping materials like brown boxes, packing peanuts, bubble wrap, tissue paper, packing tapes, label materials, printer maintenance and ink.  All of that is shipping expenses to a seller.

Plus the carriers do keep increasing the price of postage on a regular basis.  USPS will even add on extra fees this year from Oct-Dec to get them through the holiday rush... and it's probably going to hurt our sales unless we reduce the cost of our items by that much to level things out for the buyers.  

We are all paying more.  Buyers and sellers.  All we can do is reduce our profits so the buyer doesn't have to pay a lot more... and that's sad for us.  Try selling a small item yourself and you'll see it's not as simple as you might think.

[clarencemtroy]

This is a way to have your item look cheaper to a bidder/buyer who is not paying close attention. Its also a way to get your item in the search to standout versus legit sellers who disclose the real cost of shipping and item price.

This low cost/high shipping fee tactic is borderline scammy. I wish ebay would do something about this issue. 

[1grandmashope_1]

There, as has been stated, many reasons that shipping costs to the buyer may exceed the actual shipping cost.  The seller may add their additional costs to their items price or to the actual shipping cost, or maybe just absorb the cost themselves.  If the shipping exceeds what you think is reasonable, move on to someone that either ships differently or less costly.  With that in mind, the way shipping is now it may take much longer than expected for you to receive your item.

I am always amazed at the costs, for me as a seller to send things that are larger and heavy that do not fit in any of the Flat Rate Priority Boxes.  

Best,

Grandma

[southern*sweet*tea]

Define excessive.

How big is the item?

How far is it going?

What is the shipping method?

Does the seller add a handling fee into the ship cost, or do they add it to the item price, making the shipping lower?

There is no way to accurately answer your question without some specifics.

I charge $3.50 to ship a piece of paper on this account. That price includes the actual postage cost of $2.78 to $3.00+ depending on zone. It also includes Ebay fees, paper, tape, ink and envelope or box. I don't make money on shipping. I break even or sometimes lose a few pennies.

I charge, lets say $10 for an item plus $3.50 to ship.  So...is my shipping excessive?

If I charged $13.50 for that item and shipped "free" would that make it okay since there would be no shipping cost to complain about?

[buyselljack2016]

When I use calculated shipping the buyer will nearly always pay more for shipping and handling than I pay for a shipping label, but they will not pay more than is shown in the listing when they make their choice to purchase, or not purchase.