So, what's a good eBay shipping charge to offer?

[Chip Cataldo]

Most of my books wouldn't sell at $2.99 each.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

[FlyingDonut]

I ship everything flat rate envelope for $5.50. With an eBay discount it ends up being $4.95, which covers the cost of the cardboard I enclose with the mailing.

 

Use USPS Flat Rate for everything. You can buy 200# cardboard from Papermart for $15 per 100. I usually order 600 at a time - it ends up being roughly 20 cents per cardboard sheet all-in including shipping - my assumption is if you ordered more you'd save on shipping. If you use two sheets of cardboard together and tape, that's more than a box.

 

If you are buying stiff mailers you are shooting yourself in your foot for your profit. eBay buyers are cheap - my DSRs for shipping are in the 4.8s, which annoys the out of me since a flat rate envelope costs $5.60 without a discount that muggles don't get. Your $6.50 shipping is, without question, costing you sales. Also, if you're not shipping flat rate, you are adding a significant amount to your production time.

[darkstar]

Most of my books wouldn't sell at $2.99 each.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

 

Then they aren't worth listing by themselves in the first place. Sell them in sets or lots.

[Jeffro.]

I know what YouMeChoose charges but what do you other eBay sellers charge for shipping? I know Divad has been up my rear end to reduce my shipping charges so I just ordered 175 of the Affinity mailers in order to reduce my apparently "stratospheric" shipping charge of $6.50.

 

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

 

You just won't let this go huh?

[Jaylam]

If you're buying from any of the major auction houses you can expect to pay a minimum shipping charge of $10 to $20 for a single order or graded book. So why should people expect free shipping on eBay??? No matter how you slice it, shipping is not really free. I can't even drive across town and back for less than $10 in gas, yet people balk at paying that to have something shipped across the country when they didn't even have to get out of their chair. Plus if you want to give a package a fair chance of surviving its passage through the shipping service, you have to use a fair amount of materials and supplies for protection and that stuff isn't free either.

[Buzzetta]

I have what may be the unpopular response:

 

$1 books are grouped into lots. The opening bid is determined by what I would like for the book including shipping if I were to receive one bid. I do not offer international shipping over eBay. (Here it is a different story and I will ship worldwide)

 

Right now, I don't need to move anything tomorrow. My eBay listings are made up of things I no longer want and a few things from relatives that they gave me to list as a favor. (I cannot say 'no' to my mom or aunt.) If the items do not sell in the first week, sometimes I lower the prices, sometimes I let them continue to roll until they sell at the price I want for the item.

 

But you are better off grouping some things into a lot and building the shipping into the cost.

[Aces]

I'm not offering free shipping on a $1.50 comic.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

I know it sucks for cheaper items but free shipping guarantees a 5 star rating on one of your scores.

And if you use eBay's checkout and print the label through them and never contact the buyer directly for info you guarantee a second 5 star (communication) score for yourself.

All that's left is shipping speed and item as described.

 

[Chip Cataldo]

You just won't let this go huh?

Let what go? I said I was trying to change things.

 

Sheesh.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

[Barth]

Personally I charge $3 for the 1st book and 50 cents each for each additional. Under 13oz is shipped USPS 1st class, over 13oz is shipped Priority. I partial refund if shipping ends up less.

 

Typically I lose a little on the Priority shipments that are just over the 1st class weight limit.

[Stumptown]

I charge $4.95 for up to 6 books though I'll go as high as 10 books if asked nicely.

 

If shipping one or two regular books, put it between cardboard and it's under 13 oz. so okay to ship regular mail. I think it costs about $3.50 in postage but that makes up for the orders where they buy over 13 oz. and I ship those Priority so I lose a little bit after Ebay/PP fees.

 

I ship in bubble mailers for one-two books and Priority flat rate above that.

 

I looked at your listings and charging $6.50 PLUS .50 thereafter is a real deal breaker for me personally.

 

I used to ship Media but always kind of held my breath on it. Never got busted and now there is no need to hold breath.

 

Once in a while I will list free shipping just to prime the pump on lots or a high ticket item.

 

Always keep that mind and vision open to new ideas. Good luck.

[nocutename]

I would personally do lots as they tend to sell quicker. Have you looked at Regional Priority Rate? You have to order the boxes online from the Post office but they are free. The other catch is you need to pay and print the postage online as well. Ebay's shipping system, I believe handles regional now but Paypal still doesn't.

 

The other problem is listing order since if someone isn't regionally located to you the price could conceivable be higher than regular flat rate box. So you need to have multiple shipping options which probably confused many people.

 

Shipping comics now is just a PITA. No one ever wants to pay for shipping.

[budsbundy]

I buy a lot of books on Ebay and I like to see shipping for single raw books to be in the $4-$5 range, if I see they offer combined shipping, then I always check to see what else they have for sale.

 

Anything above $6 for a single raw seems a bit steep to me.

 

 

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

 

Anything above $6 for a single raw seems a bit steep to me.

 

 

 

 

Just curious...why do you think that?

[John-2814]

I'm not offering free shipping on a $1.50 comic.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

I know it sucks for cheaper items but free shipping guarantees a 5 star rating on one of your scores.

And if you use eBay's checkout and print the label through them and never contact the buyer directly for info you guarantee a second 5 star (communication) score for yourself.

All that's left is shipping speed and item as described.

 

The "Shipping and handling charges" rating doesn't really matter at all though. Ebay doesn't actually take that particular rating into consideration when looking to see if you quality for Top Rated Plus or not.

 

You're also not guaranteed a 5 star rating for communication even with doing what you're saying as it's going to vary by customer and what they feel they want to rate you.

 

You can have shipping charges be determined by actual weight with cost being pulled from the shipping service you're using and people will still rate you low for shipping charges so I wouldn't hold my breath or anything and hope for logical ratings.

 

@OP - $6.50 is indeed a bit high for single books. I take it you're using just regular priority mail going by that price. You don't have shipping combined automatically when buying multiple books so that's going to hurt you as well. If I add 2 different books to the shopping cart it adds $6.50 for shipping for each one. That will definitely scare off customers.

 

I'm guessing that you schedule a pickup with the USPS so that's why you have priority mail as the only option but you might consider adding media mail as an option for some of the cheaper books.

 

Your final value fees are 9% (with a store, otherwise 10%) plus you get an additional 20% back on your invoice each month for being Top Rated Plus and I'm sure your shipping fees are also to help counter the fees you have to pay for ebay (9%) and paypal (2.9% + $0.30) per transaction.

 

I sell LEGOs minifigures on ebay and I have shipping set at $2.25 as after all the fees that leaves $1.95 and shipping first class up to 3 ounces is $1.93. I have it set so each one after that is $0.10 more which covers the weight increase.

 

I know I said it above but I really think that offering more shipping options would help you as well even though you might not be able to schedule a pickup and might have to drop packages off sometimes.

 

Seriously... I don't need to know every little thing about their communication and people skills. All I want to know is, overall, did they get the item to the buyer in the condition advertised. That is ALL I want to know.

 

If you can do that. I can hand over my money for your stuff.

 

Exactly this. Especially since those star ratings are not factual in any way and are simply a measure of how another person feels the seller did, not how they actually did. You can do everything absolutely perfect and still not get 5 stars.

[Chip Cataldo]

Okay, I think I can swing $4 shipping on one book. Even using the mailers (which are 60 cents each) I can ship one of those for like $3.47 First Class (max shipping charge for the max First Class weight of 13 ounces). I'd have to weigh two and three books with that mailer when I get them to see if they can also go first class. If I can do up to three books for $5 shipping I'll be golden since I can package up a bunch of 3-book lots in my eBay store. Then I can go $6.50 Priority for 4 to 8 books or so and offer something else for more than that.

 

How does that sound?

 

Peace,

 

Chip

[youmechooz]

Okay, I think I can swing $4 shipping on one book. Even using the mailers (which are 60 cents each) I can ship one of those for like $3.47 First Class (max shipping charge for the max First Class weight of 13 ounces). I'd have to weigh two and three books with that mailer when I get them to see if they can also go first class. If I can do up to three books for $5 shipping I'll be golden since I can package up a bunch of 3-book lots in my eBay store. Then I can go $6.50 Priority for 4 to 8 books or so and offer something else for more than that.

 

How does that sound?

 

Peace,

 

Chip

Good.

[RockMyAmadeus]

I'm not offering free shipping on a $1.50 comic.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

I know it sucks for cheaper items but free shipping guarantees a 5 star rating on one of your scores.

And if you use eBay's checkout and print the label through them and never contact the buyer directly for info you guarantee a second 5 star (communication) score for yourself.

All that's left is shipping speed and item as described.

 

The "Shipping and handling charges" rating doesn't really matter at all though. Ebay doesn't actually take that particular rating into consideration when looking to see if you quality for Top Rated Plus or not.

 

This is not true, at all, as it currently stands now. You get 2, or .5%. Once you cross both thresholds (and you have to do nearly 1,000 transactions a year to lower the percentage average), you lose your Top Rated Seller status.

 

You're also not guaranteed a 5 star rating for communication even with doing what you're saying as it's going to vary by customer and what they feel they want to rate you.

 

This is also not true. If you have absolutely no direct communication between yourself and the buyer, you get an automatic 5 star rating for communication DSR.

 

Your final value fees are 9% plus you get an additional 20% back on your invoice each month for being Top Rated Plus and I'm sure your shipping fees are also to help counter the fees you have to pay for ebay (9%) and paypal (2.9% + $0.30) per transaction.

 

Final Value Fee is 10%, and has been for some time. Paypal depends on your running monthly transaction dollar amount. 2.9% + $.30 is the highest. It can go lower.

 

PS. Scheduling pickups is playing with fire. Now that eBay is considering using tracking AND reporting from the service, just using the handheld scanners that carriers use isn't enough. They don't report fast enough, and sometimes, they don't report at all. If you have the items scanned at the window, it will give you a receipt that shows what you did, AND it will show up sooner in the USPS system.

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

Okay, I think I can swing $4 shipping on one book. Even using the mailers (which are 60 cents each) I can ship one of those for like $3.47 First Class (max shipping charge for the max First Class weight of 13 ounces). I'd have to weigh two and three books with that mailer when I get them to see if they can also go first class. If I can do up to three books for $5 shipping I'll be golden since I can package up a bunch of 3-book lots in my eBay store. Then I can go $6.50 Priority for 4 to 8 books or so and offer something else for more than that.

 

How does that sound?

 

Peace,

 

Chip

 

Like you're losing money, and asking for your books to be damaged in shipping. But that's just me, your kilometerage may vary.

[John-2814]

I'm not offering free shipping on a $1.50 comic.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

I know it sucks for cheaper items but free shipping guarantees a 5 star rating on one of your scores.

And if you use eBay's checkout and print the label through them and never contact the buyer directly for info you guarantee a second 5 star (communication) score for yourself.

All that's left is shipping speed and item as described.

 

The "Shipping and handling charges" rating doesn't really matter at all though. Ebay doesn't actually take that particular rating into consideration when looking to see if you quality for Top Rated Plus or not.

 

This is not true, at all, as it currently stands now. You get 2, or .5%. Once you cross both thresholds (and you have to do nearly 1,000 transactions a year to lower the percentage average), you lose your Top Rated Seller status.

 

You're also not guaranteed a 5 star rating for communication even with doing what you're saying as it's going to vary by customer and what they feel they want to rate you.

 

This is also not true. If you have absolutely no direct communication between yourself and the buyer, you get an automatic 5 star rating for communication DSR.

 

Your final value fees are 9% plus you get an additional 20% back on your invoice each month for being Top Rated Plus and I'm sure your shipping fees are also to help counter the fees you have to pay for ebay (9%) and paypal (2.9% + $0.30) per transaction.

 

Final Value Fee is 10%, and has been for some time. Paypal depends on your running monthly transaction dollar amount. 2.9% + $.30 is the highest. It can go lower.

 

PS. Scheduling pickups is playing with fire. Now that eBay is considering using tracking AND reporting from the service, just using the handheld scanners that carriers use isn't enough. They don't report fast enough, and sometimes, they don't report at all. If you have the items scanned at the window, it will give you a receipt that shows what you did, AND it will show up sooner in the USPS system.

 

It seems kind of idiotic to hold something like the shipping charges against a person since if you're shipping something and using weight based shipping with the cost pulled from the service it's not the seller's fault in any way if the buyer doesn't like the cost. After all, they still bought it.

 

Stores have 9% final value fees and the OP has a store. I forgot to state that aspect in that post.

 

The scanning depends on your location too and if people are actually doing their job or not. I have 2 post offices relatively close by, though neither is that convenient, and one never bothers scanning packages (this one I've only used a few times but it's still a full post office) and the other always does. While your method is different than what I'm doing it's still a testament to the quality (or lack thereof) of the people at a given location on whether the extra steps you're having to take are needed.

[RockMyAmadeus]

I'm not offering free shipping on a $1.50 comic.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

I know it sucks for cheaper items but free shipping guarantees a 5 star rating on one of your scores.

And if you use eBay's checkout and print the label through them and never contact the buyer directly for info you guarantee a second 5 star (communication) score for yourself.

All that's left is shipping speed and item as described.

 

The "Shipping and handling charges" rating doesn't really matter at all though. Ebay doesn't actually take that particular rating into consideration when looking to see if you quality for Top Rated Plus or not.

 

This is not true, at all, as it currently stands now. You get 2, or .5%. Once you cross both thresholds (and you have to do nearly 1,000 transactions a year to lower the percentage average), you lose your Top Rated Seller status.

 

You're also not guaranteed a 5 star rating for communication even with doing what you're saying as it's going to vary by customer and what they feel they want to rate you.

 

This is also not true. If you have absolutely no direct communication between yourself and the buyer, you get an automatic 5 star rating for communication DSR.

 

Your final value fees are 9% plus you get an additional 20% back on your invoice each month for being Top Rated Plus and I'm sure your shipping fees are also to help counter the fees you have to pay for ebay (9%) and paypal (2.9% + $0.30) per transaction.

 

Final Value Fee is 10%, and has been for some time. Paypal depends on your running monthly transaction dollar amount. 2.9% + $.30 is the highest. It can go lower.

 

PS. Scheduling pickups is playing with fire. Now that eBay is considering using tracking AND reporting from the service, just using the handheld scanners that carriers use isn't enough. They don't report fast enough, and sometimes, they don't report at all. If you have the items scanned at the window, it will give you a receipt that shows what you did, AND it will show up sooner in the USPS system.

 

Then the information ebay has listed on their own site must be wrong because they state that the shipping and handling charges ratings do not count. And seriously, why would they after all? If you're charging shipping with the cost determined by the shipping service then someone rating you low for something you can't control and having that held against you is incredibly stupid.

 

Welcome to eBay! You must be new.

 

 

"Holding things against you over which you have no control" is how eBay has operated since 1995.

 

For instance: are you aware that if someone opens an "item not received" case SIX DAYS after they purchased the item, in the new system starting in August, that counts against you?

 

Are you aware that shipping TIME low DSRs now count against you as a "defect"? I have a single shipping time DSR. The person, 1959ed09 (whom everyone should block), bought the item on a Federal holiday, Jan 20 this year, MLK day.

 

I shipped the item within my stated handling time, on Jan 22. He received the item on Saturday, Jan 25th, four business days after buying the item.

 

He left me a 1 or 2 DSR.

 

Under the new system, it not only counts, but it counts much more heavily, as it is now weighted into a "defect" allotment.

 

Are you aware that buyers, if they have ANY complaint that an item is not as described, are automatically funneled into opening a case against a seller? They cannot contact the seller directly unless they are smart enough to choose another option. Otherwise, they will open a case. I had a buyer open a case because he erroneously thought a slab was "cracked" because it had "glue residue" on the side. I explained it to him, and he closed the case.

 

Under the new system, that opened case now counts against me as a "defect."

 

"Holding things against sellers over which they have no control" is the raison d'être of eBay.

 

Stores have 9% final value fees and the OP has a store. I forgot to state that aspect in that post.

 

Ah, yes, that's structured differently.

 

The scanning depends on your location too and if people are actually doing their job or not. I have 2 post offices relatively close by, though neither is that convenient, and one never bothers scanning packages (this one I've only used a few times but it's still a full post office) and the other always does. While your method is different than what I'm doing it's still a testament to the quality (or lack thereof) of the people at a given location on whether the extra steps you're having to take are needed.

 

In this case, it's a technology issue. The hand scanners simply don't upload the information in a timely manner, whereas the terminal scanners do.

 

Every single post office is required to terminal scan your items if you request it. This will give you documentation that you handed the item to the clerk and it's now within the post office system. The hand scanners used by carriers do not do this.