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Adjusting ebay shipping rates as a seller

swechsler

swechsler

Frog Whisperer
Anyone who's sold on eBay recently knows that the shipping calculator assumes you have the maximum discount as a UPS shipper, which for any occasional seller is not the case. Does anyone know of a good way to adjust the rates so that they're more in line with reality?
 
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I'm an occassional seller also and when purchasing postage through the paypal/ebay system I cannot recall ever being charged more than was quoted *if* I entered the weight and dimensions of the final boxing accurately. Make sure when listing an item that you know the exact dimensions of the box it will ship in...as I find this has much more impact on calculated cost than weight. This is why I now pack an item before listing it; so I know exactly how much it should cost to ship.
 
BIN or make offer with free shipping--the only way I sell stuff these days. That way there is no dispute/surprises on shipping costs--I know exactly how much money I am getting (less the fees), and you know exactly what you are paying if you buy. I tend to use FedEx for most of my stuff, but it doesn't matter--you can measure and weigh something (packed) and get an estimate before the listing and know what you are in for.
 
I don't use UPS.

Because of the eBay commission on shipping, which sort of washes out with the discount, I estimate larger box and extra weight. It comes out very close to actual cost.

Package weight is from 5 to 10 pounds added depending on what I'm packing and what it think it will take.

I think the reference to UPS.com is meant to mean, find out how to get max discount rate???
 
It's usually not the shipping that kills me, it's the packing. Costs me around $30-$40 to box a 15" driver the way I pack. That's most of what I sell there so that's all I really have to go on. I won't ship anything with knobs but I bet it'd be similar if I did.

Suppose if you pad the dimensions a little bit you could come up with something but the $5-$10 in shipping difference is negligible when compared to the above packing. Generally I use FedEx, not UPS...

For lesser value smaller items I always list auction style with a starting price of the least I would take with free shipping. No guess work that way and a guaranteed 5-star rating.
 
Don't quote me on it but I believe, if you purchase the shipping through eBay you get the discounted rate. Like was said earlier just figure the packing into the price.
 
There's apparently other ways the seller can pad the S&H ... Recently saw a dbx unit that weighs next to nothing listed at a BIN price of $18 ... plus $28 S&H. I imagine that could be a BIG surprise for anyone clicking the buy button.

Expedited estimate, then ship standard? That would put profit at about what the unit would go for anyway, but definitely catch the eye. Did mine ...
 
sKiZo said:
Expedited estimate, then ship standard? That would put profit at about what the unit would go for anyway,
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I have found that listing as standard 2 - 9 day USPS and then shipping 2 -3 Day Priority provides enough of a cushion to allow for a possible mistake of a few pounds. Yes, for the last few items I have sold the expedited was actually cheaper the standard service. My customer receives the package earlier and I can provide a little "value added" service. The less time it is in transit the better for both of us.
 
HyKlas said:
Costs me around $30-$40 to box a 15" driver the way I pack.
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Why is it so expensive for you? $30-40 is a lot for a single driver, are you adding a lot of weight? I shipped a 15" Jensen bass guitar woofer awhile back screwed to plywood and diagonal in a ~20" cube box. I think it was ~$24 through Fedex. I do have a Fedex account which means an automatic discount. But anyone can get that with a 5 minute account creation online.
 
HVHiFI said:
Don't quote me on it but I believe, if you purchase the shipping through eBay you get the discounted rate. Like was said earlier just figure the packing into the price.
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That has been my experience, regardless of how frequent or infrequent the sales. Also, if you open an account at USPS, the on-line prices are about the same as ebay. The only time they aren't is if you go directly to a post office. Then, you pay full bore.
 
On the other side, I bought a pair of 8" Infinity speakers on the bay for $29 last week, with and additional $29.10 for shipping, fixed rate. So all told $58.10 for 2 8" infinities in perfect condition, so I was ok with that. Well this week I received a $7.00 refund from the seller because his fixed rate shipping cost was less than he expected. You don't see that very often.
 
soundmotor said:
Why is it so expensive for you? $30-40 is a lot for a single driver, are you adding a lot of weight?
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FedEx may be the better way to go for something like that. USPS offers pretty decent prices for anything that will fit in their flat rate boxes, but a 15" woofer doesn't qualify. Just ran the numbers quick and dirty, and it came out to around $40 ground with insurance and "fragile" status added on.
 
Roving Sign said:
Go to the UPS site - where they assume you have nothing to do with eBay - and get your quote...

Whats so hard to understand?
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You wouldn't know this, but I've been buying and selling online since 1989. This isn't new to me.

When you sell on eBay your total selling price including shipping is calculated by eBay for the seller, even before they bid. Calculating shipping afterwards is impractical and will probably reduce the number of interested bidders.

BTW, I generally prefer Fedex over UPS as well, but UPS is what's offered with the shipping calculator. Doesn't mean I won't ship with Fedex anyway, though.
 
swechsler said:
You wouldn't know this, but I've been buying and selling online since 1989. This isn't new to me.

When you sell on eBay your total selling price including shipping is calculated by eBay for the seller, even before they bid. Calculating shipping afterwards is impractical and will probably reduce the number of interested bidders.

BTW, I generally prefer Fedex over UPS as well, but UPS is what's offered with the shipping calculator. Doesn't mean I won't ship with Fedex anyway, though.
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yeah - thanks I've been an ebay seller since day 1...I do it for a living.

List your item - select your service, enter your dimensions and weight...sell...pack your item...make any adjustments as necessary (if you estimated package size) Print and ship...

Could you be a little more concise about what is going wrong...?
 
I usually just assume I'm going to eat some shipping cost. You used to be able to add a "handling fee" which could help cover you for things like packing materials. I've shipped some big stuff UPS through e-bay and the calculator has always been pretty good to me (if the inputs are accurate of course...).
 
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