How do you ship cheaply?

[packsmartshop]

I am a newer seller to eBay and would really like some advice... I see that some sellers have their items listed for say.. $0.99 and item weighs atleast a few ounces.. and they also offer free shipping. How do they do that? I print my shipping labels off through Ebay and it seems like the cheapest shipping I can ever get is $7.15 minimum! How do I change this so I can offer free shipping, list my items cheaper so I am not losing money and make a profit? Please help I appreciate it. Thanks! 

[kensgiftshop]

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@packsmartshop  

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Chinese sellers, they can ship for almost nothing.

[glasser]

You should do some research on packaging and carriers. Also, research how sellers selling similar items are handling shipping. That is your real competition not the rest of eBay.

Not everyone can provide free shipping. That's an unrealistic eBay expectation on sellers to compete with Amazon (which probably does lose money on shipping). The are other options beyond USPS priority mail such as FedEx ground and now UPS built into ebay. Check the rates. Also, maybe you can subsidize a bit of shipping. I have been doing a lot of flat rate lately usually an $1-2 less than I think it will cost to ship. 

Shipping and associated costs a topic of discussion and concern since the earliest days of eBay

[packsmartshop]

Most of these people are shipping from the U.S.

[richard1rst]

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@packsmartshop wrote:

I print my shipping labels off through Ebay and it seems like the cheapest shipping I can ever get is $7.15 minimum!

A first class package at a few ounces will be about $3.00. That beats the $7.15. If it is a patch or decal or card or something similar you could ship it as a standard letter for 55 cents. Of course, you won't get tracking but it gets you the price you need.

[cityslickercreations2004]

The minimum shipping cost for a tracked package via USPS is approx. $3.00 or more. But you know that. There really is no "free shipping." It is just a case of how it is packaged. The exception may be some items that are shipped from China or other countries. 

It is possible they are using a similar marketing strategy  that is used by retail stores. They will run a sale which is known as a loss leader with little to no profit. They also know you may very well purchase other items at full price while you are there.

The loss leader strategy really works. It has worked on me for decades!

[1grandmashope_1]

Many sellers that have "free shipping" are including what it would cost to ship onto the price of the item that they are selling.  People see free shipping and....Seasoned buyers look at what has sold and what is listed and the totals to find what is reasonable to pay, sometimes.  

Up to you how you want to present your items and how you want to distribute the $.

Weight, dimension and the carrier determine the cost to ship.  There are also, via Priority Mail (USPS) Flat rate boxes for heavier items.

I wish you much success!

Grandma

[gildedl64]

Many people abuse first class LOL  and ship overweight items. But mainly, people just raise the base price to cover shipping. Free shipping is a huge incentive to buy and people will pay a higher base price just to avoid shipping.

[greenhousefoliage]

Stop shipping your items by USPS Priority Mail shipping (flat rate). 

You could switch to USPS First Class shipping. The shipping times are close to the Priority Mail shipping times so you can still offer 'fast shipping' but only pay about $3 for it instead of $7.15 or more. 

The items you have for sale are not time sensitive, so shipping First Class should work out. 

[dbfolks166mt]

Yea go figure on that one. Largest Communist controlled capitalistic economy in the world. 

[kensgiftshop]

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@packsmartshop wrote:

Most of these people are shipping from the U.S.

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They dropship from Chinese warehouses here in the US.

China has a few warehouse in the US they all use.

[Anonymous]

Are the 0.99 listings you are seeing auctions, or BIN ?

If they are auctions, many sellers will risk the item being bidded up enough to cover fair price and shipping. They will do that with an item that is popular and/or selling well. There is always the chance though that it will bite them in the rump.

If they are "Buy it Now", like others here have said, the Chinese get stupid cheap shipping for pennies.

As far as your cheapest shipping rate being 7.15, it sounds like your eBay Labels is set to Priority. You can change it to First Class and get rates by the ounce: 1-4oz. is 3.43, 5-8oz. is 3.92, 9-12oz. is 4.71, and 13-15.9oz. is 5.95 .

eBay Labels has a glitch right now where it will be defaulted to Priority, if you need First Class you have to change the setting to First Class.

[lja440]

Just a general comment as I don't sell in your catagory.

You seam to be doing well sell through wise. I buy poly sleeves for LP records. Your discount for buying multibles is attractive and it usually pulls me in as I tend to buy 5 to 10, 100 sleeve packs at a time.  As long as your profit margins are in sink with your items cost to ship it's all good. 

As these paper items can have some weight in bulk know your priority mailers and your shipping zones. Smaller orders may fit in a PFRE, getting into larger orders use the Regional Rate boxes, Flat Rate boxes, or cubic foot pricing when it benefits you depending on the order size and distance it will be shipped. Too many sellers just plop things in a LFRB and then complain about shipping costs.

Also don't let anyone talk you into shipping Media Mail. (I have had some sellers try shipping the poly record sleeves that way, THEY DO NOT QUALIFY).

[bath.store]

Most of these people are shipping from china 

[johnrj1226]

For items  less than 1 lb.  your least expensive method to ship will be  via USPS First Class PACKAGE.   Your cost will vary by weight and distance (approx  range $3.00 to $5.50 range).  This service is with tracking but no insurance coverage and you have supply the shipping envelope.