Comments on: Some more thoughts on eBay shipping charges

By: TheCatLady

TheCatLady — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:55:45 +0000

I don’t mind paying a bit for handling charges, but there is a limit.

I was looking at a miniature wicker gift basket shaped like a dog bed. It was selling for 99 cents. Shipping was $30. Actual shipping fees might be $3 at most. Add a few dollars for packing materials and time is fine, but $30 is silly.

I’ve seen many people who inflate the shipping fees way over the value of the item.

By: This Little Piggy

This Little Piggy — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 02:54:37 +0000

Don’t remember if I mentioned this on the other post. Sorry if I did.

I’ve had 2 recent auctions, on the first one person bought two seperate items and sent $16 for shipping. ($8 for each item) I was able to fit them into one box and ship for $10 so I refunded him $6. I’m not out to make a killing on shipping.

The other auction was to ship to Canada. I don’t sell much. I looked it up at USPS.com it came out to $20. Well at the post office it was MUCH less so I refunded her too.

Of course I’d like the extra money, but I’d feel too guilty just taking it and I’d rather refund it since it’s a large amount (over $3) Just my way of doing it.

By: lowbudgetlife

lowbudgetlife — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 21:34:25 +0000

Yes, many ebay users put big shopping charges to give a low starting price. However, some people think they should only pay for stamps. It’s reasonable to add more for good packaging, perhaps a little for handling. Ultimately, though, I keep my shipping cheap – I want to encourage bids, not have people thinking, ‘Hey, he’s overcharging’…

By: Monika

Monika — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:13:49 +0000

I have sold a few things on ebay, and guess at the shipping charge, but don’t spend too much time on it. As a buyer, I just build the shipping into my cost, and I have a limit for everything I buy, so it doesn’t matter if it goes to shipping or not. It makes me more mad when it is hard to determine what shipping will be, or if you have to email the seller for a shipping cost, than if it is just posted on the auction site.

From USPS website, there is a box you can check so that the shipping cost is not displayed on the shipping label. I check this. I don’t think it is something the buyer needs to know.

By: PaulD

PaulD — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 10:45:28 +0000

I read an interesting post a month or so ago on Marginalrevelution.com. The post discussed a study by some economist who studied shipping costs and bids on ebay. It turned out that sellers who used high shipping and handling costs ended up with more money than those whose shipping costs reflecting only actual costs. Apparently, the lower bids attracted more bidders even though the total costs were higher.