Shipping options, can buyer choose?

[mdnacandy]

I am a seller and I can give buyers multiple options for shipping.
For example, I can give a buyer from Germany the option to choose for untracked shipping which is €7.50 or tracked shipping which is €10.00.

Is the buyer able to choose from these options? Or does eBay give them the cheapest option automatically at the checkout?
And am I able to somehow make sure that the option with tracked shipping is the one that will be chosen automatically (if that's the case) even though it's more expensive? So that the buyer has to select or ask for untracked shipping?

Thank you!

[7606dennis]

Personally, I would suggest not giving the buyer the choice of selecting the shipping method.  Most of the time they will select the cheapest without regard the safety of the item being taken into account.  I would also not even consider offering a non-tracked method as it would open you up claims of non-receipt with no defense.

[pjcdn2005 · Accepted solution]

If you want to send that item out with tracked shipping than that should be the only option that you offer. If you want to give a choice to the buyer, they will usually see the first option that you list when they search. But when they checkout they will see other options and  can choose.  Most will pick the least expensive one.

The answers on this board will be based on how the .com site works. If you are listing on a different ebay site such as ebay.nl you might want to ask your question on those discussion boards.

[mdnacandy]

Alright, thanks a lot for your advice! I have adjusted it immediately.

[mdnacandy]

Okay, thank you so much for your reply! I offer non-tracked shipping because it's a lot cheaper for some countries and I hope to sell my items quicker that way. But after doing some reading, I think it's definitely better to offer tracked shipping only.

[7606dennis]

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@mdnacandy wrote:
Okay, thank you so much for your reply! I offer non-tracked shipping because it's a lot cheaper for some countries and I hope to sell my items quicker that way. But after doing some reading, I think it's definitely better to offer tracked shipping only.

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The problem with offering non-tracked shipping is that it alerts some of the more unscrupulous buyers scam artists to the ease with which they can obtain your merchandise for free.  No tracking equals no proof of delivery and thus the loss of an INR dispute. 

It is the seller's responsibility to get the item purchased to the buyer safely.  So it behooves the seller to choose the best method of shipping to accomplish that.  Unfortunately, most buyers look only to the cost rather than to requirements of the item being shipped in regard to accomplishing that goal.