yuppicide Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 (edited) I haven't sold on eBay in awhile. Decided to sell a few things. I find the shipping thing very annoying. I understand it's probably good as it doesn't allow people to overcharge, but it also doesn't give me options for packing materials. If I try to put shipping as "Flat cost same to all buyers" and then select "Other" it tells me the maximum I can do is $6.00. How come? USPS Priority is $5.50 and Delivery Confirmation is .70 cents. that's $6.20. Add on some packing peanuts and you're at $7.00. I can probably find a box, but what if I needed to add on price for a box also. If I do "Calculated: Cost varies by buyer location" it comes to $5.50 but has no option for addition services like Delivery Confirmation. I stated it in my auction that it's non-negotiable buyer must pay the .70 cents, but I am doubting they will read that and will just send me what eBay calculates. How come on another auction I selected that flat cost thing and it let me put in $15? Yet on this auction it only lets me put a maximum of $6? I am guessing it's based on the type of item for sale? Edited November 2, 2009 by yuppicide Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Theoretically if they do pay only what eBay states they're likely to win a dispute anyhow. Yeah, their shipping has gotten really weird. I was selling cart lots and wanted to charge $6.50 for shipping but they would only let me go up to $6.00 in certain categories. If you can figure out what categories have that lack of shipping requirement you are golden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Even worse is that ebay only lets you charge $4 bucks shipping for a loose cart and $6.70 is the cheapest Air Mail postage rate to the USA from Canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yuppicide Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 It seems to be based on catagory. For example the maximum I can charge for a CD is $3.00. I need to charge $4.95 (USPS Priority) + .70 cents Delivery Confirmation. I wanted to offer this price across the whole United States. So, technically I could be losing money if the person is farther away. As a result I have to list calculated and say people are required to pay .70 cents for the confirmation. So, if they don't pay for confirmation who's to say I even shipped the item at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accousticguitar Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 $5.65 for shipping a CD? I would never pay that. CDs can ship first class or media much cheaper than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busterm Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 In most categories they also allow you to do options services. This allows you to include handling, insurance, and so on and the cost of these services onto of the shipping. The new rule ebay is trying to do away with people charging $15 to mail a game and so on. So this way people can see what they are paying for when its above and beyond the actual shipping. I actually like there new police. I won a bulk auction of games the other week and the shipping was $60 but when i got the package it only cost them $18 to ship..WTF haha needless to say i was a bit let down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zwackery Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 In most categories they also allow you to do options services. This allows you to include handling, insurance, and so on and the cost of these services onto of the shipping. The new rule ebay is trying to do away with people charging $15 to mail a game and so on. So this way people can see what they are paying for when its above and beyond the actual shipping. I actually like there new police. I won a bulk auction of games the other week and the shipping was $60 but when i got the package it only cost them $18 to ship..WTF haha needless to say i was a bit let down The max shipping levels by item category really bit video game sales in the ass, and you can specifically blame all the sellers out there who would sell a few games and charge a big shipping fee to a) cover their eBay fees, b) cover their PayPal fees, c) pad their profits, and d) a combination of all of the above. It was really getting out of hand, and so this was eBay's solution - maybe not perfect, but at least the company did something. Yes, it may be more of a pain to box everything up, weight and measure it, and then put it into eBay's shipping calculator, but that is keeping everything above board. As was pointed out, you can still add some sort of handling fee (and eBay even suggests to sellers that this is where you add in the cost of insurance, if needed, because the latest eBay rules change make the seller completely responsible for the package until it gets to the buyer). Finally, if you ever get toasted on a shipping charge - $60 charged, $18 real is complete crap - you can (and should) actually file a complaint through eBay/PayPal and get the difference returned to you. It is a violation of eBay policies to engage in this kind of overcharging and they will typically side with the buyer. I know the few times this has happened to me and, after trying to work things out with the seller, I went to a formal complaint, I got the overpaid difference refunded 100% of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yuppicide Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 Oh.. I understand people can pay less to ship a CD. If I select Media Mail through the USPS website it does not give me an option for Delivery Confirmation. I refuse to ship anything without it! If you do, the buyer can claim he never received it and you can't provide PayPal any proof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulBlazer Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 Oh.. I understand people can pay less to ship a CD. If I select Media Mail through the USPS website it does not give me an option for Delivery Confirmation. I refuse to ship anything without it! If you do, the buyer can claim he never received it and you can't provide PayPal any proof. Wha? I ship Media Mail all the time on Amazon and get Delivery Confirmation for it every time! Maybe you can't do it through the website, but I just take care of it when I go to the post office. Also, 99.9 percent of the time a single CD is cheaper to mail by 1st Class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie W Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 A lot of the categories for eBay UK, don't allow you to add any price for postage. So, when the buyer wins and pays for an item you can't ship it out to the, because no company will ship your item for £0. It the buyer complains, ask them if they can ask eBay to direct you to a company who will ship your item for £0 (the maximum eBay will allow you to charge for shipping). Simple! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accousticguitar Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 What SoulBlazer said is correct. You can use delivery confirmation with media mail, and it is usually cheaper just to ship it first class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahfish Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 i don't mind paying a dollar or two more to have my items shipped properly and i'm never expecting to pay the exact sum on the box/envellope. sure, completely exagerated shipping fees suck ... but the way i see it ebay also has it's scam going on ... and based on all the auctions that are running, it's a much bigger one: ebay says you should include the costs for handling/packaging in your starting price, but then you're facing more fees, and you are paying ebay fees on your packing/handling costs .... and even worse is the option "free shipping", as you will also pay ebay fees for the shipping fee included in the auction price. you pay 10% of the shipping costs on top, although that should be taken over by the buyer and normaly has nothing to do with ebay ... and don't forget that you already loose about 5% of that sum when it is payed with paypal ... this leads to the shitty situation we're in right now .... small priced items are just not worth the trouble anymore, specially not for private sellers, unless u do add a dollar or so on top to somehow compensate for the high fees swallowed up by ebay ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahfish Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 ok, ebay germany also adopted this "free shipping policy" for video games now ... looks like i'm finaly done with ebay ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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