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More ebay stupidness?

Started by nocutename,

17 posts in this topic

nocutename

nocutename

Posted
Posted

Perhaps I am late to the party on this one but ebay seems to be capping shipping cost on items in the books category. I have an auction with coffee table style books that are extremely heavy so it is actually cheaper to use flat rate priority mail box. The auction would not allow me to charge anything over 4.00 regardless of type of shipping option selected. The complete message stated cannot exceed 4.00 in this category. I am forced to put this in a memorabilia category.

 

So what gives? What if I had a bunch of non-fiction hardcovers to mail. Even media mail is not that cheap. I am annoyed because I only sell Books and Comics. I am hoping that I am wrong here but can anyone confirm this shipping cap?

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GACollectibles

GACollectibles

Posted
Posted

I believe this was one of the changes that took place last fall, when I called ebay to question how they could cap the postage at a price below what it actually took to ship something(a multiple copy listing or extra heavy book, I believe I was trying to ship 40 sci-fi digests) they said they had polled the buyers and this is what they wanted.

 

Great. doh!

 

Just so you know, you can also offer additional shipping choices that more accurately reflect the real cost as well. Hopefully the buyer picks it, but at least you can offer them a choice as long as one is the $4 max option.

 

EDIT: This shipping issue was/is specific to Book and I think DVDs and such.

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thehumantorch

thehumantorch

Posted
Posted
Perhaps I am late to the party on this one but ebay seems to be capping shipping cost on items in the books category. I have an auction with coffee table style books that are extremely heavy so it is actually cheaper to use flat rate priority mail box. The auction would not allow me to charge anything over 4.00 regardless of type of shipping option selected. The complete message stated cannot exceed 4.00 in this category. I am forced to put this in a memorabilia category.

 

So what gives? What if I had a bunch of non-fiction hardcovers to mail. Even media mail is not that cheap. I am annoyed because I only sell Books and Comics. I am hoping that I am wrong here but can anyone confirm this shipping cap?

 

Bad Ebay bad.

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Currin Comics

Currin Comics

Posted
Posted
Perhaps I am late to the party on this one but ebay seems to be capping shipping cost on items in the books category. I have an auction with coffee table style books that are extremely heavy so it is actually cheaper to use flat rate priority mail box. The auction would not allow me to charge anything over 4.00 regardless of type of shipping option selected. The complete message stated cannot exceed 4.00 in this category. I am forced to put this in a memorabilia category.

 

So what gives? What if I had a bunch of non-fiction hardcovers to mail. Even media mail is not that cheap. I am annoyed because I only sell Books and Comics. I am hoping that I am wrong here but can anyone confirm this shipping cap?

 

 

So, your saying, if you choose Priority it still locks you out at $4???? Try this-in shipping you have to choose the window at the top and one below, make sure the one at top is switched to priority and not "flat rate to all buyers" then the one below is on Priority as well.

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PrismaticSmoke

PrismaticSmoke

Posted
Posted

The Buyers wanted this for good reason. Way to many sellers charged way to much in shipping, and lets be honest if you charge 10 bucks to ship something and then paid 3 bucks to ship then, yes that is a problem.

 

Bad sellers helped force this decision and while I sold things on ebay I pretty much stopped selling on ebay because it was not worth it.

 

 

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mschmidt

mschmidt

Posted
Posted
If you use the shipping calculator, you get to charge the exact postage - and your handling fee (if any).

 

This is the key statement ... if you actually use ebay's shipping calculator, you get to charge the exact shipping costs - there's no $4 cap.

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nocutename

nocutename

Posted
  • Author
Posted
You can read the gory details here: http://pages.ebay.com/sell/august2008update/maxshipping/

 

Bottom line: Flat rate (if first choice offered) is capped at $4.00. If you use the shipping calculator, you get to charge the exact postage - and your handling fee (if any).

 

Hope that helps!

 

Larry

 

Never mind, I see the last reply. I tried that stupid calc but I am not smart enough to use it. :cry:

 

Edit again: Holey stupid caps! These are not including lots though.

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comics-rock

comics-rock

Posted
Posted
The Buyers wanted this for good reason. Way to many sellers charged way to much in shipping, and lets be honest if you charge 10 bucks to ship something and then paid 3 bucks to ship then, yes that is a problem.

 

Bad sellers helped force this decision and while I sold things on ebay I pretty much stopped selling on ebay because it was not worth it.

 

 

because ebay don't get money from shipping, they get it from fvf....so if the fvf is lower and shipping higher the seller makes more $$$...wouldn't be too long before they caught on to that scam

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slym2none

slym2none

Posted
Posted
The Buyers wanted this for good reason. Way to many sellers charged way to much in shipping, and lets be honest if you charge 10 bucks to ship something and then paid 3 bucks to ship then, yes that is a problem.

 

Bad sellers helped force this decision and while I sold things on ebay I pretty much stopped selling on ebay because it was not worth it.

 

 

because ebay don't get money from shipping, they get it from fvf....so if the fvf is lower and shipping higher the seller makes more $$$...wouldn't be too long before they caught on to that scam

 

Yup - remember when eBay was selling the hell out of poker chips right after the 2003 WSOP, and people were selling 500-ct sets for 99¢ but asking $89.99 for S&H? Those days are gone, and good riddance. Too bad its "cousins" are screwing up the book categories...

 

 

 

-slym

 

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Ant-Man

Ant-Man

Posted
Posted
Yup - remember when eBay was selling the hell out of poker chips right after the 2003 WSOP, and people were selling 500-ct sets for 99¢ but asking $89.99 for S&H? Those days are gone, and good riddance. Too bad its "cousins" are screwing up the book categories...

 

 

 

-slym

 

lol I remember those listings ...

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EastEnd

EastEnd

Posted
Posted
The Buyers wanted this for good reason. Way to many sellers charged way to much in shipping, and lets be honest if you charge 10 bucks to ship something and then paid 3 bucks to ship then, yes that is a problem.

 

Bad sellers helped force this decision and while I sold things on ebay I pretty much stopped selling on ebay because it was not worth it.

 

 

because ebay don't get money from shipping, they get it from fvf....so if the fvf is lower and shipping higher the seller makes more $$$...wouldn't be too long before they caught on to that scam

 

Ebay does collect a 3% fee on shipping charges that are paid through Paypal though (which I think is required now - this Paypal acquisition is working out very nicely for Ebay).

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Not*Sure*

Not*Sure*

Posted
Posted

I still get people that whine and cry that I charge to much shipping. It makes me crazy. I have had buyers say "Oh no please just send it parcel post i don't need priorty mail. Then I explain that standdard mail is going to cost more than priorty they usually say "Okay"

 

But seriously I try to get as close to actual cost of the shipping and people still complain.

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scottish

scottish

Posted
Posted
I still get people that whine and cry that I charge to much shipping. It makes me crazy. I have had buyers say "Oh no please just send it parcel post i don't need priorty mail. Then I explain that standdard mail is going to cost more than priorty they usually say "Okay"

 

But seriously I try to get as close to actual cost of the shipping and people still complain.

 

This is a no win situation. If you can't ship it next day for free someone will have a fit. ;)

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Dick Pontoon

Dick Pontoon

Posted
Posted

Yup. Some people will always be unhappy about shipping costs because 1) they genuinely don’t have any idea how much it costs to mail a package beyond a .44 cent letter and 2) they’re conditioned by giants like Amazon that offer free shipping.

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scottish

scottish

Posted
Posted
Yup. Some people will always be unhappy about shipping costs because 1) they genuinely don’t have any idea how much it costs to mail a package beyond a .44 cent letter and 2) they’re conditioned by giants like Amazon that offer free shipping.

 

You go Pontoon! (thumbs u

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