Gator08041971 • Volunteer Community Mentor 2024
Offering free shipping is attractive to buyers.
But having shipping costs charged to the buyer isn't a bad thing either.
I list some items with free shipping, flat shipping costs, and calculated shipping.
In the case of the last, I always pre-box, weigh and measure the packaging, to ensure I have the right information for the listing.
I then charge the buyer retail rate, and I pay the discounted rate. That difference usually covers any costs for the packaging itself. Although you can include a handling fee with that if you prefer.
Now, if the difference is more than 50% of what they paid vs what I paid, I either will upgrade their shipping to a higher tier, or if its really bad I will refund a portion of the cost. My worst case one was where eBay charged the buyer 66 dollars to ship, but it cost me around 20. I refunded $40, as it was a very large difference.
But you have to think about all your fees and shipping costs, and that difference in shipping cost between what they pay and you pay can help make up the difference on some listings.
And some items you get ahead, others you may get behind. I have had a couple of larger packages that I about broke even on the shipping, but you could get into a situation where you pay more than they pay you.
So something to keep in mind.
As for combining items. You can combine from the same listing automatically (if you are using a multi or variation listing) or you can setup shipping discounts when people buy from multiple listings. You have to create shipping policies for these to work correctly. The buyer also has to be smart enough to add to the cart first and then pay. I occasionally have buyers that don't do this and buy every item individually. Even from the SAME listing!
With the free shipping listings, that's a no brainer! I make a bit more money on those buyers than I would on those that know to group items and even get quantity discounts. But these are on items that are relative low cost, so the difference, while helpful to me, isn't that egregious.
@1wish2fish-43 wrote:So when you refund the buyer for overcharged shipping is that an eBay policy, a buyer request, an unwritten rule, or your conscious telling you should refund them?
Usually that's up to the seller.
There is no rule for or against it. But obviously a seller that constantly charges too much for shipping purposefully (and buyers can check the costs from zip to zip themselves) it can bite them back occasionally.
I have never had any complaints, and I have only chosen to refund shipping a couple of times. Otherwise I mark it as part of business and as long as my buyers are happy, I have nothing to worry about.
In your case, I doubt you will either. But as I said, if you get the occasional where they get charged waaay more than you would expect, you can always just hit them a partial refund to make them feel like they got a freebie.
Good luck.
