Shipping charges on Ebay

[ultraman36]

Hey ive been looking at some items for sale on Ebay and noticed that some people may not charge alot for the product but make up the difference in shipping charges. I work for a large shipping company and let me tell you im looking at some people charging 40 to 50 dollars for ground shipping for items whose weight cant be any more than 5 pounds. All i can say is i just sent a box ground which cost almost 30 dollars dont get ripped off

[waheed]

People are profiting from shipping on ebay. Some sellers do it to avoid paying ebay fees which is chargable on final bid fee but not shipping charges.

[ultraman36]

ahhh i guess that make more sense then thanks waheed

[leapinlizard]

I've bought a few old magazines on ebay and those are the most ridiculous. $1.25 for the mag, $7 for shipping. Needless to say, I've stopped buying old magazines on ebay

[Doramius]

It's a common thing to put eBay charges to shipping. Also, people can start a $.99 auction for a low entry fee. The Item is normally $14 Wholesale and shipping may be $5, so They start the Auction at $.99 with a shipping cost of $18. They break even if only 1 bidder bids on it. They pay $.30-$.50 if nobody bids on it by the second time it's listed. Usually they list it that way if people are bidding at least $5 over what they are inserting it at, So they'd be making around a $4.50 profit. Commercial Power Sellers do this like mad on pity little items that people will buy.

[lordsmurf]

Just report these to eBay, they usually take down auctions like this. Moreso than anything else, as this sort of activity cuts into their profit margin.

[lumis]

I remember looking at memory prices on ebay a few years ago. It seemed like every seller was charing $30 for shipping.

[SquirrelDip]

Someone else pointed out on another thread: Sellers will often only refund cost of item it there's a problem and not the shipping.

[Doramius]

Here's your $.99 back.

[waheed]

Here's your $.99 back.

Thats quite true. If these sellers can con ebay in avoiding ebay fees, whats to stop them from conning you.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

I just got my latest eBay purchase in the mail today.
My winning bid was $10.50, shipping was $8.00.
When the package arrived, there was $32.60 in Hong Kong Dollars worth of postage on the package.
A quick search on 3 different exchange rate sites shows that to be only $4.20293 USD -- a 'profit' of $3.80 on his shipping charges.

so I wound up paying $18.50 for an item that's almost impossible to find where I live. In the past 14 years, I've only seen it in a shop once and they wanted $45 for it.
did I get screwed? I don't think so.

[Supreme2k]

The other thing that you have to remember is that "shipping" doesn't only refer to the price that you pay at the post office/UPS/whatever. There's packing material and getting the item to the delivery system.

Not that I'm saying that $20 shipping on a $1.50 item is not totally screwed up (it is), but I also understand all of the "behind the scenes". I used to sell on eBay, and I can't tell you how many times I would charge, say $5, shipping on an item, only to have the person bitch about it being $3.75 on the shipping label, as if the package wrapped itself and flew to UPS on its own.

[Conquest10]

Everything I have received has been wrapped up in newspaper or the one I got the other day was in the weekly specials in a recycled box from another delivery (it had the label on another label).

[lumis]

I just got my latest eBay purchase in the mail today.
My winning bid was $10.50, shipping was $8.00.
When the package arrived, there was $32.60 in Hong Kong Dollars worth of postage on the package.
A quick search on 3 different exchange rate sites shows that to be only $4.20293 USD -- a 'profit' of $3.80 on his shipping charges.

so I wound up paying $18.50 for an item that's almost impossible to find where I live. In the past 14 years, I've only seen it in a shop once and they wanted $45 for it.
did I get screwed? I don't think so.

What did you buy? You make it sound mysterious and interesting.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

Haha! no, nothing mysterious -- just geeky.
I bought a 1994 release of a Japan-only video game for the TurboGrafx-16/TurboDuo CD system.
Neo Nectaris, the sequal to Nectaris (called Military Madness in the US). This is the turn-based military strategy that all games in this genre owe their existence to -- Advance Wars, Warcraft, C&C, Field Commander, all of 'em are a flat-our rip off of the Nectaris formula.
check it out: http://home.comcast.net/~base_nectaris_military_madness/ (no, that's not my own page! )

[Doramius]

eBay's not a total ripoff. I can honestly say that anyone who has purchased from me has never been ripped off, and they never have had any complaints. I pride the fact that my account has 100% positive feedback.

Actually I have 2 accounts. 1 is under my same username here and another is under my wife's choice of a name. The one that matches my user name here is the one I use for purchases and small sales. The other one I use for just selling and I usually only put new or hard to find items on it. I've had one account since 2001 and the other since 2002. The 2002 account is still less than 100 total eBay transactions. The 2001 account has more than 3000. It makes me feel good knowing I've never once received a negative or even a neutral feedback rating from any customer.

I just wish others could try to have or offer the same experience.

[Epicurus8a]

Some of the sellers over-charge on shipping because e Bay over-charges, too. First there's a listing fee, then they take a percentage of the profit, and if the buyer uses Pay Pal (owned by eBay), they claim a little more of the profit. I sold a few items a couple of weeks ago, and made only $2.00 on one of them (I paid $50). Considering the time and expense involved, I should have just thrown it away; but I thought someone might get some use from it.

[Doramius]

First thing is How long ago did you purchase the item? What's its current value? Is it worth getting what you plan on selling it for?

You have to approach eBay with a few thoughts in mind, otherwise you probably are better off throwing it away. PayPal wasn't always owned by eBay. PayPal fees pay only for PayPal. eBay fees do not pay for anything related to PayPal. This information is publicly available. You might have to pay a few bucks to have some tax records mailed to you though, but neither eBay or PayPal get any money from it.

Also the listing fees are sometimes what you often want to consider in with S&H or the cost of the item anyway. S&H isn't just the cost of taking the item to a post office. Let's say I buy 4 lbs. of Jelly Beans (just to be in the spirit of the holiday). My winning cost is $12 and shipping is $8. (BTW - I'm using fake numbers, but you can relate this to real numbers easily) Maybe the real shipping cost is $6.50. Well there's packaging for the beans. A little padding because I don't want the beans to be damaged (I know, I know. remember it's only a false scenario). The starting bid was $8. The original cost of the beans was $6, but $2 goes to eBay & PayPal fees.

In the end I paid $20 for Jelly Beans. I woudl feel ripped off too, but the cost is right there.

It's the damn MPAA & RIAA that are the enemy. [eyes squint and start to glower] Jack Valenti is the anti-Christ .

[Xylob the Destroyer]

I have gotten some phenomenal deals off of eBay when filling in my comic book collection.
Just as anywhere else, you have to be a smart shopper.

[Supreme2k]

S&H isn't just the cost of taking the item to a post office.
etc.
etc.

Quit ripping off my posts

[waheed]

S&H isn't just the cost of taking the item to a post office.

True. But its still ridiculous when actual shipping is $5 and packaging is $3, but you still get charged $19.99 for S&H.

The original cost of the beans was $6, but $2 goes to eBay & PayPal fees.

Last time I checked, charging for paypal fee is against ebay rules :P

[Doramius]

Like they can tell. However, you can figure an estimate and incorporate it into the cost. People do it all the time though. :/

[Supreme2k]

Last time I checked, charging for paypal fee is against ebay rules :P

Since when? Is that "rule" easily accesible? I've tried to find it with no luck. I've been doing that for years (roughly since paypal started). I usually charge $1-$3 for paypal usage, depending on the item. Haven't had a problem with buyers or eBay yet.

[drjtech]

Payment Surcharges

Sellers may not charge eBay buyers an additional fee for their use of ordinary forms of payment, including acceptance of checks, money orders, electronic transfers or credit cards. Such costs should be built into the price of the item.

Some Examples

Not permitted:
Charging an extra fee to use a credit card instead of a check.
Charging an extra fee to use PayPal

Permitted:
Shipping and Handling - Sellers may charge a reasonable shipping and handling fee to the final price of their item. A shipping and handling fee can cover the seller's reasonable costs for mailing, packaging and handling the item. Shipping and handling fees cannot be listed as a percentage of the final sale price.

-drj

[Supreme2k]

Oh well.

I won't tell if you won't.

[Doramius]

Tell what?

[SquirrelDip]

shhhhh - he charges to cover his paypal expenses...

I see nothing wrong with this - many small shops will charge extra for credit card use (or give discount for cash). As long as the person is fair with his shipping/handling he should be able to cover his expenses.

[birdygal]

It is not free to drive to the post office to drop off a package or to UPS as for the shipping charges you will need to take this into consideration. At $2.75 a gallon of gas for me it would cost me $2.75 to go to the closest post office to go to the closest UPS facility to drop off a package it would cost me over $6.00 the post office is a 40 mile round trip for me, UPS is a 90 mile round trip. Not everyone has a post office or ups facility within a few miles from them.

Considering what ebay charges to list and sell and what paypal charges to accept payment. The many times I have shipped items where I got an estimate it always came to more than I expected. You have to factor in everything otherwise you would end up in the red.

[Supreme2k]

At $2.75 a gallon of gas for me it would cost me $2.75 to go to the closest post office to go to the closest UPS facility to drop off a package it would cost me over $6.00 the post office is a 40 mile round trip for me, UPS is a 90 mile round trip. Not everyone has a post office or ups facility within a few miles from them.

As the Wolf would say: "move outta the sticks"

[waheed]

It is not free to drive to the post office to drop off a package or to UPS as for the shipping charges you will need to take this into consideration. At $2.75 a gallon of gas for me it would cost me $2.75 to go to the closest post office to go to the closest UPS facility to drop off a package it would cost me over $6.00 the post office is a 40 mile round trip for me, UPS is a 90 mile round trip. Not everyone has a post office or ups facility within a few miles from them.

And its very surprising when you offer to COLLECT THE ITEM and the seller DECLINES knowing he/she is profiting from postage costs, not to mention they would be saving themselves the trip to the post office, time, the cost of packaging, the time taken for packaging, petrol costs, etc... etc...

I even had one seller respond back when questioned about collecting an item locally saying that the bid price (buy it now price) of the item is lower than his cost price so I cant collect. His postage cost was heavily inflated.