Sellers -- how much is shipping REALLY?

T

the_gloaming

CAGiversary!
I'm just curious about this, because I've wondered sometimes ... maybe sellers can shed some light on me. I've only sold one thing on eBay and shipping was next to nothing.

I just bought Angel s1 on eBay, and the shipping charge was $6. When I received the package, the postage said "US Paid Postage - $1.84." Am I reading something wrong, or did he jack up the shipping cost? I'm not familiar with sending packages so I don't know for sure. Maybe someone can set me straight on the issue?

It's not really a big deal; I still got a great value, but I was just curious. Thanks.
 
Shipping includes "Handling" as well, so you have to account for the packaging and the gas to drive to and from the post office. Most sellers do overcharge a little for selling just to make sure they don't take a hit on shipping. Plus most sellers see it as a way to cover Paypal and listing fees as well. $6 shipped isn't great, but it's not too big of a rip off either.
 
The majority of eBay seller jack up shipping charges.

First class mail is going to be around $1.30-$1.80 on most games. Media Mail is generally a little bit cheaper. Priority(in a box) up to a certain weight is $3.85. I think you can also send a bubble mailer priority(?), that would probably be a little more than first class.

Sellers tend to cover their eBay listing/Paypal fees through shipping costs, though some are taking complete advantage of eBay. Example: charging $7.99 shipping w/ a $0.01 BIN.
 
[quote name='shipwreck']Shipping includes "Handling" as well, so you have to account for the packaging and the gas to drive to and from the post office. Most sellers do overcharge a little for selling just to make sure they don't take a hit on shipping. Plus most sellers see it as a way to cover Paypal and listing fees as well. $6 shipped isn't great, but it's not too big of a rip off either.[/QUOTE]

For the same item I'd probably charge $4-$5 since those dvd sets are a bit heavier than normal dvds. $6 is no where close to being too much IMO
 
As a guy who has sold a lot on eBay....some sellers jack up shipping, and some don't. Those who charge what the postage actually is are losing money.

As a general rule, shipping includes the cost to mail the item, plus these additional items:

1) Packaging. Envelopes/boxes/packing material cost money. Most large sellers pass this on to buyers.
2) Time to package. Time is money and a lot of eBay sellers are businesses. If its a large one, they have to pay someone to track and pack and ship all of these auctions.
3) eBay fees. Every auction has a listing and final value fee. Most sellers "pad" the Shipping and handling fees to help offset these costs.
4) Paypal fees. See #3
5) Other misc fees. Think about time to get to the post office, cost to get there (have you seen gas prices lately), cost to store items/packaging, overhead.....and several other things that fall under the category of business overhead.

Yeah, it sucks to get stuck with a high shipping charge, but there are a lot of costs that regular sellers try to pass onto the buyers. I always tried to cover most of these costs as S&H, as much as possible.....might as well try to get out of as many fees as possible.

On the other hand, small sellers typically tend to charge high prices too, just to make sure that they cover all of their costs.

Hope this helps.

TBW
 
With delivery confirmation it usually costs me $2.02 to send most games via first class mail. Sometimes they go as high as $2.20. Most people increase shipping prices to cover eBay fees and paypal fees.
 
I always send things Priority mail with Delivery confirmation. It's just about the only thing I know, which is why I'm surprised people sell stuff on the forums for 5 shipped, I often wonder how they make any money off of the deal.

For me, Priority with DC costs 4.45 usually. I charge 4.99 just cause it's easier to round up. 5.99 for canada. On my last auction, I sold a gbasp with a bunch of goodies and did priority with 5.99 as shipping and actually lost money when it came out to 7.40. Go me.
 
To ship a game costs me $2.07 or $2.30 for most PS2, Xbox and GCN games (depending on the weight), $1.84 to ship a PS1 game, $1.61 to ship a Gameboy Color or Advance game and $2.53 to ship a N64 game.

All prices are for 1st class with delivery confirmation.
 
I was going to throw my 2-cents in, but this pretty much covers it. It is common and in most cases justified for the seller to charge more than actual shipping.
 
I charge at the most 3.00 for 1st class with DC, if it is media it's a tad cheaper, if they want priority its actual USPS rates. I dont charge for handling or travel an the such and my priority boxes are free from the USPS and padded envelopes are cheap as hell in bulk
 
Actually for a single game 1st class is sometimes a little LESS expensive than Media Mail. (Not so in this case with a TV set.) In a bubble mailer a single game typically runs 5-7 oz. 5 oz is cheaper 1st class, 6 and 7 ounces are barely cheaper to send Media Mail, but it's not worth the slower shipping.

My take is that as long as the seller specifies how much S+H will be in the listing, everything is kosher. And if they don't specify the method, assume it will be the cheapest slowest method possible (usually Media Mail).
 
A lot of small buisnesses on ebay when they factor up shipping, supplies, gas, time spent figure that it costs about 5-6 to ship a package. But if you are concerned shipping prices are to high then just check them before you buy, normally auctions with extremely high shipping don't sell for as much.
 
Normally I try to round on what everybody else is charging on average, but I include good packing, insurance, and confirmation.

Sometimes I tack on a bit more if I'm unsure, not to mention the fact I have to usually ship on my lunch break. Usually this means my lunchbreak consists of driving, shipping, and maybe having time to run through the local McNasty drive through, sometimes not. I sometimes (rarely) come out 10 - 50 cents ahead because of how I pack, just from shipping costs. But you can rest assured it will get there just as it left here.
 
Don't get me wrong ... I think $6 is a fair shipping price. I just wasn't sure where the rest of the money went, is all. Just curious if anyone knew. I appreciate the answers though, it makes a lot of sense. I've only sold one thing on eBay and I do remember it had a ton of listing fees, etc. Seems perfectly fair to me.
 
Yes, the "$6 shipped" price isn't for just the postage, it's all the things that were mentioned, packaging, time spent packing the box, time/gas spent on getting it to the USPS/UPS/FedEx/DHL.

All reasons why I just provide a price, with shipping, and everything figured in, and just do all my business here. Too many asshats on eBay for my tastes.
 
It depends on where it is going. It usually takes 1 - 4 days for me. Priority isn't that much faster and only saves a day or 2 if you live at one end of the country and are shipping to the other end of the country.
 
PLAIN AND SIMPLE...
Cheaper than they charge you.

DVD, CD's and magazines qualify for media mail and it's dirt cheap
 
my friend used to charge 8 bucks for shipping a game . but now they only charge like 5 or so . they were going overboard on shipping. they were using a tracker number + sig delivery (where you had to sign for package) Insurance and shipping it 2/3 days when first class would got there around same time

i charge around 5 bucks but that includes insurance + dc
 
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