Free Shipping or charge shipping seperately?

[roncards3]

I have been around on Ebay since 2002 selling vintage items and approximately 1,5 years ago my sales went down and this year is dramatic.
Even Q4 was much worse than other years.

My shop is of  average size.
My listings are good I think: clear pictures against white background, good titles, good item description and many item specifics filled in.
My items are ok as well I suppose as I have been selling similar items all those years before and did pretty well.

So, I see no clear reason why the algorithm would put me down in search results.

I have tried markdown sales and coupons and I use promoted listings but all without results. Very few sales a week (2 or 3 maybe), sometimes 2-3 days no sales at all.

It could be the situation we are currently in. Inflation and things like that.

Now, I was wondering if it would help to offer free shipping and of course calculate the shipping costs in the price of the item.
But, if I now send and item for $30 and have to charge $20 shipping the total is $50.
With free shipping the price of the item would be $50 as well.

The price of the item is one of the first things a potential buyer sees, so does it make sense? $50 looks much more expensive than $30, even though the buyer pays $50 in both cases.

What are your thoughts about this and does anyone have experience with this?

I really don't know what else I can try anymore.

[chevymontecarlo88]

I find that many buyers look for Free Shipping or will accept it as Free regardless if the cost is built into the piece or not. Presentation is the key (IMHO) instead of pricing it at the bottom. If your shipping is reasonable and your listings are tight (articulated well with pictures), i don't know if it really matters overall. I have tried with Free Shipping and without and i don't see much of a difference. What i do notice (which may be just me) is that when i do price items at the bottom, (lowest price w/shipping) more of the customers buying those items vs items priced competitively (not the lowest price w/shipping) tend to be complicated buyers. (not all of them but the ones i have the bigger issues are the ones that want favors or buy at the bottom)

I don't think it hurts to try approach your listings differently at time and also refreshing them at times. (pictures, descriptions, titles) Sometimes a new picture or title can trigger a sale.

Of course it always depends on what you are selling and how many of those items (competition) are currently listed.

-Good luck

[tthodgepodge]

I definitely think free shipping helps.  After looking at your items, I would at minimum make everything that is less than a pound "free shipping" and price it in.  I don't know how it works in the Netherlands but here in the USA shipping differences for anything under a pound is negligible.

[roncards3]

The problem is that most buyers are in the US , but not all.

If I add the shipping-rate for the US to the selling price and someone in the Germany buys it, he overpays a lot !!

But if someone in Australia buys it, the buyer underpays a lot.

And if someone in the US decides to purchase 3 different listings (not that it ever happened hahaha) that buyers actually pays 3 x the shipping costs (approx. $50). That doesn't sound fair either.

All options have pro and cons !!