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[quote voodoopenguin]I really do not understand why people seem to get upset over shipping prices. Anyone with sense looks at the price of the item and the stated shipping price, adds them together and then decides if it's worth it. What does it matter to you if the shipping is high and the item is low or v.v. If you don't do the sums before bidding then more fool you.
Because-- simply put-- it's a discouragement for me to buy the item, and makes me think twice. If the S&H were more reasonable, I'd be inclined to buy. But this strikes me as seller dishonesty... wanting to make more money on a low ticket item.
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PeterB - nobody is forcing you to pay high shipping prices. Just don't bid on it and move on. You know, you have a choice here....
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[quote richorlin]PeterB - nobody is forcing you to pay high shipping prices. Just don't bid on it and move on. You know, you have a choice here....
Yep, that's the conclusion I'm coming to... sad...
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I recently sold several identical items on ebay. I noticed my shipping charges were almost always higher than others. When I played around with the zip, I found it had to do with where I was shipping from. It's a lot cheaper to ship from the middle of the US than from a corner.
Because of this, I also added a bit to handling.
Depending on the item, $3-5 for handling doesn't sound bad. It may take a seller a half hour to package and ship the item. So if minimum wage is $8/hr, then $4 for handling seems totally reasonable.
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I'm with Richorlin-if you don't want to pay the freight, nobody is making you do it. Same thing if a store opening at 10 is not to your liking and you hit the joint that opens at 9.
I did a lot on eBay and I'd figure a minimum of $10 for packing materials (you can only recycle so many peanuts and so much bubble wrap), my fuel (I'd try to combine all my trips to the post office into one a day, and there were days when I'd be shipping out 10 boxes and some days I'd be shipping out one) and my time. You're shipping out a notebook for example, you have to pad it, secure it, seal it, label it, weigh it, etc. etc.
I'm out of it now but if I were still active the fuel alone to the post office (round trip) would be almost $10.
Obviously you don't want to pay $12 shipping on a $3 item-yeah, that's a deterrent, but unless this is the ONLY way to get it, what's the problem?
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[quote PizzaGod]
Obviously you don't want to pay $12 shipping on a $3 item-yeah, that's a deterrent, but unless this is the ONLY way to get it, what's the problem?
I would be very happy to pay $12 shipping on a $3 item if $15 is still a good price.
Why stop at getting at eBay sellers? Why not moan about those on Amazon selling (here in the UK and probably similar with you) books for 1 pence but charge heavy for the shipping? I'm sure there are many other areas that very similar practices occur but the only part that need matter the buyer is the end price and that is the item plus shipping.
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[quote voodoopenguin]I would be very happy to pay $12 shipping on a $3 item if $15 is still a good price.
That's the question. For this particular item, I'd say $3 is a very good price. Even $8 is a good price. Anything above $10, I think is really pushing it. (I'm considering these prices as prices for the item, WITHOUT shipping.) So when the cost plus shipping goes to $15, I'm pretty much unsold on the item...
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[quote PeterB] (I'm considering these prices as prices for the item, WITHOUT shipping.) .
I think you need to retrain your thoughts on this and never just look at the price of the item as a meaningful figure. Unless the auction details say you can pick it up for free the only price that should mean anything to the buyer is the item price plus shipping. How the seller arrives at this figure should make absolutely no difference to a buyer, only to eBay and I don't see them going under in the near future.
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[quote voodoopenguin][quote PizzaGod]
I would be very happy to pay $12 shipping on a $3 item if $15 is still a good price.
Not everyone refunds shipping charges, if you have to return the item you may end up with a $3 refund.
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[quote PeterB]For this particular item, I'd say $3 is a very good price. Even $8 is a good price. Anything above $10, I think is really pushing it. (I'm considering these prices as prices for the item, WITHOUT shipping.)
But the price is not $3. It is $3+shipping. You can customize your search results to display the shipping cost right next to the bid price. You can even sort the search results from lowest to highest total cost (which includes shipping.)
Craig
