Shipping Profiteers!!!!

[BigMan]

I know it is an old topic but I thought we should create a list of those who seriously milk shipping costs. My example is mmcomics $9.95 per CGC slab to ship plus $5.00 for each addtional slab. Bought two slabs $15.00 sent UPS ground their cost $7.00 tops......makes $8.00 profit on the shipping : They have 3 books I want and I really do not want to pay $20.00 when their cost will be $9.00.

 

Asked about possibility of reducing costs on shipping was told they don't negotiate shipping and handling charges, looks like I may not be bidding on their slabs anymore..... or I will have to seriously adjust my max bid for cost of shipping..........

[davidking623]

I would approach it just that way! Include it as a part of my total bid as to what I would be willing to pay for the entire auction with shipping and handling included. That way if you win then all that matters is how much you paid total!

 

Davidking623

[BigMan]

Yeah I see I will have to do that. Though it sucks knowing they are making more money just by shipping the books.........

[milo-g]

Think about it shipping and handling. Shipping is only part of it. They might be making money off shipping and handling to pay for staff, ebay expenses, paypal fess etc. It makes sense. You knew a head of time what they charged for shipping and if you didn't agree with it you should have bid.

 

I live in Canada and get burned by Americans all the time. I was charged $10 to ship an item that cost them $1.65 to send. What do you do? If you want it you have to pay the associated fees that go along with it.

[Darthdiesel]

Think about it shipping and handling. Shipping is only part of it. They might be making money off shipping and handling to pay for staff, ebay expenses, paypal fess etc. It makes sense. You knew a head of time what they charged for shipping and if you didn't agree with it you should have bid.

 

I live in Canada and get burned by Americans all the time. I was charged $10 to ship an item that cost them $1.65 to send. What do you do? If you want it you have to pay the associated fees that go along with it.

 

To me, the difference matters. If there is a reasonable handling expense included, and it is evident from the degree and caliber of packing. I don't begrudge the seller the overcharge. It is when they build up a profit from multiple auctions won and they insist on charging a flat rate for each auction, don't combine shipping costs for multiple auctions won and insist on paying additional flat rates of $1 or $0.50 per book/lot, then you know they are shipping profiteers.

 

I've always told sellers who do this that it is their job to pay their staff and cover their business expenses, not mine. I am only paying for the item and the postage that it takes to get the item to me in same condition advertised. That whole mentality behind covering their costs and expenses is a slap in the face of small dealers like myself who pack everything ourselves, safe and secure, don't skimp and still only charge exact shipping or a reasonable handling charge regardless of the time or "expense" for us to ship these items out. My reply would be "I never told you to get a staff/automated delivery system/warehouse/etc., why should I pay for that?"

[BigMan]

Think about it shipping and handling. Shipping is only part of it. They might be making money off shipping and handling to pay for staff, ebay expenses, paypal fess etc. It makes sense. You knew a head of time what they charged for shipping and if you didn't agree with it you should have bid.

 

I live in Canada and get burned by Americans all the time. I was charged $10 to ship an item that cost them $1.65 to send. What do you do? If you want it you have to pay the associated fees that go along with it.

 

I am a seller on eBay have been for 4 years and I have heard all about the B.S. some call handling. It does not take an addtional $8.00 per customer to pay for a staff person, ebay expenses and paypal fees. so no it does not make sense. These people are simply crooks who profit from something they shouldn't IMHO as a seller. If you paid $10.00 shipping for a item that cost $1.65 you should of complained as you got ripped off!!!!. The problem is to many people are using Handling as a front to get their credit card / Paypal fees (which is against the law to charge directly for) and eBay fees back (which a buyer should not have to pay for) and even if they had a person who worked for them to package anyone can do 8 packages a hour, so a extra $1.00 expense, give me a break. . I don't mind paying a couple bucks over cost. It is when they factor in the shipping and handling to make it completely to their benefit and fatten their pockets and not to just pay the costs of shipping supplies. Combined shipping should be less per item you get not more or the same because it saves sellers time to pack them all at once and costs less to ship. Crooks!!!!! Crooks!!!!!

[greggy]

Hey....araich just bid on some books for me and was charged over $20 for shipping around 15 books. Actual cost was less than $2. Luckily araich is gonna neg the [!@#%^&^] out of the guy if a reimbursement isn't forthcoming!

[wrcomics]

I totally agree, BigMan. I pay my step-daughter (soon-to-be step-daughter, that is) $10/hour to package orders for me. She usually does about 10 packages an hour so that works out to about $1 a parcel and typically that's all I charge plus a few cents (like 50 to 75) for materials plus postage. Period. There really is no need to charge triple the postage or more for shipping and handling. It's just another way unethical sellers can skirt paying commissions to eBay. When they list their $10 or $12 shipping charges, buyers are forced to factor this into their bid. Where on a reasonably structured auction you might bid $110, you are now bidding maybe $105 or less to compensate reducing the hammer price as a result but not the buyer's total cost.

[Rickdogg]

Yup! I saw their shipping costs and ran for the hills. Ridiculous "handling" charge. I charge a bit more for handling myself ($0.25 - $1) , but not anywhere near as much as they do

[BigMan]

I just sent them, the profiteers, AN (For rickdogg) email asking them to lower their shipping costs before I will be a customer of theirs again. Think they will do it? Doubtful You would think they would realize that they lost an additional $40 at least in auction prices compared to the $10.00 they would of made on shipping. We shall see........

[milo-g]

I'm not saying it is right by any means. When I ship items out, I usually add about $2.00 to the price, just because of time in packing the items, and materials that go into them. Also, the quotes that you get over the net are usually wrong. For example shipping items out via Fedex and UPS. The prices on the net are for business customers of theirs. Not the regular joes who send items out.

[Rickdogg]

Jason! Please put "an" before words with a vowel.

 

Example: I sent them an email...

 

Also please use the words too, to, and two correctly!

 

Example: I like chocolate too

 

You always do this via MSN instant messenger!

 

 

 

Anyways...

 

Anytime I see crazy shipping costs like this, I avoid the seller's auctions altogether. Well........unless they have a MTU I reallllly need!

[greggy]

Jason! Please put "an" before words with a vowel.

 

Example: I sent them an email...

 

Also please use the words too, to, and two correctly!

 

Example: I like chocolate too

 

You always do this via MSN instant messenger!

 

 

 

Anyways...

 

Anytime I see crazy shipping costs like this, I avoid the seller's auctions altogether. Well........unless they have a MTU I reallllly need!

[BigMan]

Jason! Please put "an" before words with a vowel.

 

Example: I sent them an email...

 

Also please use the words too, to, and two correctly!

 

Example: I like chocolate too

 

You always do this via MSN instant messenger!

 

 

 

Anyways...

 

Anytime I see crazy shipping costs like this, I avoid the seller's auctions altogether. Well........unless they have a MTU I reallllly need!

 

Sorry was a math student spent more time with numbers multiplying them and not listening while they taught grammar............. .

[BigMan]

I'm not saying it is right by any means. When I ship items out, I usually add about $2.00 to the price, just because of time in packing the items, and materials that go into them. Also, the quotes that you get over the net are usually wrong. For example shipping items out via Fedex and UPS. The prices on the net are for business customers of theirs. Not the regular joes who send items out.

$2.00 is fine I would pay that no problem. It sucks that I paid $15.00 and got their expert packaging service which includes, a used box that once contained a old diamond comics shipment with original sticker on side, some packaging peanuts and tape total cost to seller less than $2.00 plus the $5.00 shipping cost means they earned $8.00 for shipping a package.

 

 

Well these sellers are business customers of UPS so the prices are right then. They are not small time sellers either and thrive on the ability to be insufficiently_thoughtful_person shipping profiteers. All the while not giving their customers the benefits of knowing that they are such and losing money in the process because many like myself won't bid.

[tilleycs]

Stuff like is why I ALWAYS find out the shipping cost(s) and whether they can/will be reduced BEFORE I even THINK about bidding.

[ArAich]

A brief look inside the mind of a Shipping Profiteer...

 

 

========================================

 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Richard Hunt"

Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 10:23:12 -0500

To: deanconley@email.com

Subject: Jerry Lewis Comics....(Please Respond)

 

> Hi Dean,

>

> I believe $26.00 to ship 13 comics is rather excessive. Is there any

> chance that you can give me a better rate.

> I ship comics quite often and know that even if you ship them via

> priority mail the rate would be at least half of what you quoted.

>

> Please let me know asap and I will get payment right out to you.

>

> Thanks, Rick

>

>

> >From: "Dean Conley"

> >To: ar_aich@hotmail.com

> >Subject: Re: Please send me total amount for item #2230912523, HIGH GRADE

> > JERRY LEWIS #124

> >Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 14:02:06 -0500

 

Hiya, that is $2.00 per comic which is well below the advertised rate. Let me know.

 

Dean

> >

[ArAich]

....and this is how they were sent...

 

[Rocketeer]

...On the other side,....I charge $5.75 to ship a book anywhere in the US......I pack in an extra-large express mail box,.....I have to cover it with brown paper and mail tape cause I ship priority (2 day),..rather than express....the box is filled with peanuts, which run me about $1.00 or so per package,...and I ship the next,...or in some cases the same day I receive payment,...and I still get complaints on how much I charge,.......I frequently get E-mails saying ..."Hey the postage on my box only says $4.25 and you charged me $5.75...I think that's a rip-off!!".......I don't even argue with these people,...I just refund their $1.50 and put them on my blocked bidder list ,......

[Rickdogg]

Rick,

 

You should have used salesman tactics to make him oblige. You should have said something more like...

 

"Hey there Mr. Conley,

 

I appreciate the quick invoicing and plan to mail out a money order shortly. However, I do have one concern that I would like both of us to workout together. Out of coincidence, I just shipped out about 11 comics myself via boxed USPS priority from RI to CA for $10 with delivery confirmation and insurance included. I understand that you quoted $26 for shipping, but from my experience and my most recent shipment I believe the shipping quote may possibly be inaccurate. I would like to talk with you over the phone to possibly see if you have other comics I may be interested in and to also discuss our transaction involving my current order of 13 comics. If this is not convenient for you we can also resolve this matter together via email, so that we can complete the transaction as quickly and smooth as possible.

 

Hope to hear from you soon,

Rick"

 

There is of course many ways you can handle this, but this email illustrates the stategy of giving the "buyer" or in this case the seller a choice between something and something and not a choice between something and nothing. He either has the "choice" to talk on the phone or handle it via email. Human nature is very funny. 8 out of 10 people always go with one or the other and rarely respond with wanting neither. Also, you always want to make it look like the "innacuracy" may have been unintentional to make it less personal and/or to give the seller an out. The use of a story is always a good tool as well. Always use examples that relate to the subject matter and if you never experienced anything similar, make it up! Stories allow you to get away with murder when needed! Of course you always try to use the words "we" and "together" a lot since it draws out the picture of both of you guys working out the problem together