How do they do it?

[wyomingnetwork]

I went to the Fedex website to see how much shipping would cost.  I use a test address in New York.  To ship a 3 pound item would cost me $13.44.  Then I went on ebay and found the exact same item, selling for $12 with free shipping.  I would love to offer a discount like that to my customers.  But even if I gave away my item for free, I would still have to charge more than the person who sold the same item.  How can you get shipping for much lower prices than even eBay's discounted rate?

[southern*sweet*tea]

If they are a large seller doing a large volume of business, they can negotiate deep discounts with USPS, UPS and Fedex. Any seller can if they meet the daily volume requirements and can presort the packages. The daily volume is 100-300 packages per day depending on carrier and type of service.

OR

They could be dropshipping and clueless.

[richard1rst]

Bear in mind that all shipping is based on BOTH weight AND distance.  So if the other seller is ALSO in New York and you are in, for example, the western part of the country they will NOT be paying the same as you. (Wyomingnetwork is kind of a tip-off)

I get the same complaint all the time. I am in Nevada and I get complaints from buyers on the east coast: Why am I charging $15.00 when so-and-so is only charging $7.00. Well, so-and-so is also on the east coast.

[lja440]

They are either buying the item at a quanity that their costs are much lower and/or shipping enough volume to qualify for a deep discount.

Another thing is the item may be a loss leader. A doorbuster to get people to their on line store.