Dick Pontoon Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 On 10/25/2023 at 11:38 AM, Dr. Balls said: This is kind of an aside to the regular conversation - but I'd recommend weighing your books inside the box when you get them, and then checking the price on Pirate Ship, entering in your shipper's address and your address and comparing the estimate. This way - for future purchases - you may be able to negotiate a better shipping price. I recently sent a run of Star Wars (incomplete, but still around 90 books) from USA to Australia via UPS for around $100. And that was including the massive packing materials I used to ensure they got there undamaged. Some sellers may not want to bother with it, but if you're wanting to buy lots of books, you might have room to negotiate on shipping. It's my experience that if you're a buyer who wants to buy 100-150 books at a time, you have some leverage on price because people such as yourself are fewer than the guy who wants to buy 3 or 4 books. Use that leverage to negotiate better pricing! A good suggestion, but if the ebay seller generated his postage through ebay or used the Global Shipping program, (or shipped it himself at the P.O., perish forbid) the cost could be entirely different than Pirate Ship's rates. For your basic small, light package of a comic or two, ebay postage and Pirate Ship are the same. With more weight they're not. Not long ago I put together several lots for an ebay buyer and used Pirate Ship's rate calculator to determine my shipping cost. After the books were bought, I went to print the shipping label through ebay as I always do and found out postage was higher. When I went back to Pirate Ship, I got the same cheaper rate that I had looked up and bought my postage there. With the Global Shipping program, I just have to pay postage to ebay's shipping hub, so my cost is the same as sending a package to anywhere in the US. The buyer will see a different cost when they buy the item. Another advantage is that's what I pay fees on. If I sell an item for $10 + $6 postage, my FVF is based on $16 whereas if i shipped it myself and the postage overseas was actually $30, my FVF would be based on $40 which makes a big difference. Regarding UPS, they are notorious for adding in outrageous customs brokerage fees. We stopped using them for international shipments at my job many years ago, and I've seen plenty of Canadian Board members complain about the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BA773 Posted October 25, 2023 Author Share Posted October 25, 2023 (edited) On 10/25/2023 at 5:38 PM, Dr. Balls said: This is kind of an aside to the regular conversation - but I'd recommend weighing your books inside the box when you get them, and then checking the price on Pirate Ship, entering in your shipper's address and your address and comparing the estimate. This way - for future purchases - you may be able to negotiate a better shipping price. I recently sent a run of Star Wars (incomplete, but still around 90 books) from USA to Australia via UPS for around $100. And that was including the massive packing materials I used to ensure they got there undamaged. Some sellers may not want to bother with it, but if you're wanting to buy lots of books, you might have room to negotiate on shipping. It's my experience that if you're a buyer who wants to buy 100-150 books at a time, you have some leverage on price because people such as yourself are fewer than the guy who wants to buy 3 or 4 books. Use that leverage to negotiate better pricing! In fact i negociate on it everytime, but here the global price including how much he asked for the books was just not fair. Anyway now because i had bought to an other place Edited October 25, 2023 by BA773 Dr. Balls 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Balls Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 On 10/25/2023 at 11:15 AM, Pontoon said: With the Global Shipping program, I just have to pay postage to ebay's shipping hub, so my cost is the same as sending a package to anywhere in the US. The buyer will see a different cost when they buy the item. Another advantage is that's what I pay fees on. If I sell an item for $10 + $6 postage, my FVF is based on $16 whereas if i shipped it myself and the postage overseas was actually $30, my FVF would be based on $40 which makes a big difference. I forgot about how that worked on EBay. And I don't think seller's can find out what shipping charges a buyer faces when it leaves the hub to it's final destination? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Pontoon Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 On 10/25/2023 at 3:04 PM, Dr. Balls said: I forgot about how that worked on EBay. And I don't think seller's can find out what shipping charges a buyer faces when it leaves the hub to it's final destination? Sorry, can't answer, the thread is closed. I just checked my Order Details on some completed sales, and there's no info on those charges. But IIRC, when the buyer paid and before I generated my shipping label, that amount was listed among the payment details. It might be a case where the seller can't access the buyer's shipping charges after the sale or it might be a case where ebay changed what's visible and the buyer shipping charges are no longer visible at all. I don't do tons of volume and my last international sale was more than a month ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
