I don’t understand shipping costs

[aquila9989]

So, last time I sold on eBay, I set shipping costs on a standard $10 because I’d need to ship internationally and eBay somehow didn’t give a viable option for Germany to USA.

Due to underestimating the size and weight of the book I shipped, I ended up paying $50 in shipping. Since I only got paid $70 (before ebay took their pound of flesh) I ended up giving the thing away.

so this time, I learn and select $40 shipping cost… it is listed as $40 shipping cost… but then it just states: Buyer pays $7… WHY? 

[brightlightbookseller]

Whatever you list as the shipping cost is what the buyer will pay YOU to ship it. You are responsible to whatever shipping service you choose, who sets their rate for what you’re shipping based on weight, size, and destination, with varying prices between services and shipping methods. In the future, either know how much it will cost to ship first, or just use calculated shipping, which will figure out the cost if you give it accurate information.

[dbfolks166mt]

     This is primarily a U.S. seller forum and I for one am not familiar with your postal system or its cost you may be better off posting this on the EU forum. For sellers in the US a lot of us are now using the EIS system so we/buyer pays shipping to the US EIS hub and eBay handles and invoices the buyer for the international leg of the shipment. 

     For those that ship internationally directly maybe somebody can provide some details on how they handle/set or estimate the shipping costs for their international shipments. Sellers in the US have multiple options for shipping carriers including USPS, UPS and FedEx I am not sure what your options are but for ANY shipment, domestic or international, it is critical to have the size and weight correct in/on the listing. For a book shipping from Germany to the US $40 seems excessive. If you provide the actual size and weight of the book I can see what it would cost a US seller to ship to Germany. 

[reallynicestamps]

For US -based sellers

https://postcalc.usps.com/?country=10440

Use Calculated Shipping.

Let your customer decide whether your asking price PLUS shipping is still worthwhile.

Remember the overseas customer is buying from you because The Thing is not available in their own country.

As a non-US sellers on dotCOM we are forced to use Flat Rate Shipping.

So your national postal service rates would be needed.

You may notice when you use Flat Rate that you can set several different International Rates.

So you can have a Flat Rate to USA, one to Mexico, one to Norway, another to the EU, another to India, another to UK.

When you have your prices worked out, make a template so you don't have to do it again.

[reallynicestamps]

https://www.deutschepost.de/en/b/briefe-ins-ausland.html

[aquila9989]

I basically did what you said and calculated flat rate $40. But it still only charges the buyer $7. That’s what confuses me.

[dbfolks166mt]

I basically did what you said and calculated flat rate $40. But it still only charges the buyer $7. That’s what confuses me.

     There are two places for setting your shipping. One applies to domestic the other to international. Did you change them both? FYI your items show shipping out of Germany and for the two items you currently have listed I see a shipping cost of $7. What do you have for the size and weight of your items in your listing? Can you capture the shipping section of one of your listings when you are in edit mode and post it on this forum? 

[pjcdn2005]

When you list on .com the domestic shipping area of the shipping page always refers to the cost of shipping to the US regardless of the seller's location.  So when you put in the domestic price, it should reflect what it will cost you to ship to the US.