eBay final value fees

[tonyo]

I haven't sold anything on ebay since they changed their fees to charge 9% on all buyer costs including shipping.

Decided to list a few items last night...........

For all you ebay selling regulars:

Is there any reason to not offer free shipping?


Thanks,

Tony

[basesareempty]

Ebay buyers are funny! They do not like to pay shipping costs. For example, I once listed an item for BIN $99.99 with $5.00 shipping and got no takers. I relisted the item for 109.99 with free shipping and it sold within hours of listing. Since then I have listed all my items with free shipping with the cost of shipping and the additional ebay % factored in. I have quit trying to figure Ebay buyers out!

[mintacular]

Here is a fee calculator, you can adjust with free vs. shipping cost and see what the difference is. For example on a $50 item sold you save about .50 cent in fees if free shipping offered....http://www.newlifeauctions.com/calc.html

In my opinion, reasonable chipping with "free or reduced" shipping for multiple items is the way to go i.e. $2-3 for first item, the rest .25/ea kinda thing...

I don't see that as a seller that I should pay shipping out of my pocket.

[mdschulze]

Ebay buyers are funny! They do not like to pay shipping costs. For example, I once listed an item for BIN $99.99 with $5.00 shipping and got no takers. I relisted the item for 109.99 with free shipping and it sold within hours of listing. Since then I have listed all my items with free shipping with the cost of shipping and the additional ebay % factored in. I have quit trying to figure Ebay buyers out!

I agree completely. I only sell a few items a week on Ebay and have noticed the same thing. It appears that some buyers will use the filters to only show items with free shipping (I've noticed an increase in views/watches as well). Likewise, with free shipping, you automatically get a "5 star" rating on the dashboard for shipping fees.

One other thing that I've changed is listing prices. In the past, all of my listings were at whole dollar amounts. I've noticed that items tend to draw more bids if the starting price has a $.99 or $.49 suffix. If I want $50 for an item, I'll list the starting bid out at $49.99 instead of $50.00.... seems to work pretty well on items that I've had to relist multiple times.

[peterose4hof]

Keep in mind....

If you are a Top-Rated Seller the 20% discount only applies to the sale price of the item, not the shipping. So as often as possible if you are a top-rated seller you should offer free shipping and price it into the price of the item.

[tonyo]

Here is a fee calculator, you can adjust with free vs. shipping cost and see what the difference is. For example on a $50 item sold you save about .50 cent in fees if free shipping offered....http://www.newlifeauctions.com/calc.html

In my opinion, reasonable chipping with "free or reduced" shipping for multiple items is the way to go i.e. $2-3 for first item, the rest .25/ea kinda thing...

I don't see that as a seller that I should pay shipping out of my pocket.

That calculator is pretty handy....

Maybe I'm over simplifying this. If I sell an item for $100 with free shipping, I net the same $ as if it sold for $98 with $2 shipping.

Either way I still pay the same amount for shipping and walk away with the same net gain.



Maybe that scenario changes with store owners etc.

[mintacular]

I don't think you should pay $3 out of your pocket to ship the item, that cost should be incurred by the buyer...As long as the ship $ is reasonable, wouldn't you rather pocket $103 than $100? On higher $ cards most people phase out/ignore minimal shipping and understand that is part of the $ to pay on a card and people won't bid much if any less with free shipping...

[steve B]

when I was selling regularly I switched a few items to free shipping. And increased the price by slightly more than I was charging for shipping. I figured there wouldn't be much difference.

Sales of those items increased by about 25%! :D

And no more silly questions about shipping- "shipping $2 in the US international at cost" - How much to ship to California? ?!?!?

If you're running margins so tight that a couple bucks for shipping is a problem, then you're doing it wrong anyway.

Steve B

[tbob]

I agree completely. I only sell a few items a week on Ebay and have noticed the same thing. It appears that some buyers will use the filters to only show items with free shipping (I've noticed an increase in views/watches as well). Likewise, with free shipping, you automatically get a "5 star" rating on the dashboard for shipping fees.

One other thing that I've changed is listing prices. In the past, all of my listings were at whole dollar amounts. I've noticed that items tend to draw more bids if the starting price has a $.99 or $.49 suffix. If I want $50 for an item, I'll list the starting bid out at $49.99 instead of $50.00.... seems to work pretty well on items that I've had to relist multiple times.


+1

[D. Bergin]

As I've said before. Free shipping may be an advantage to sellers with stores selling lots of "Buy It Now" items.

For sellers running true auctions at lower starting bids, it makes zero financial sense.

That being said, I probably shouldn't bitch about the fees too much. I just made a sale on Amazon.com for the first time in months for a $19 book, and the fees came to about 28%.

[tonyo]

For sellers running true auctions at lower starting bids, it makes zero financial sense.



Assuming the buyer has a set price in mind for a card and they factor in the shipping costs when placing a bid, what are the cons?

If a buyer will pay $100 for a card and no more, they will bid $100 with free shipping or they will bid $95 with $5 shipping.

Either way, the seller collects $100 and pays for the shipping.

[D. Bergin]

Assuming the buyer has a set price in mind for a card and they factor in the shipping costs when placing a bid, what are the cons?

If a buyer will pay $100 for a card and no more, they will bid $100 with free shipping or they will bid $95 with $5 shipping.

Either way, the seller collects $100 and pays for the shipping.


In a perfect world maybe. It doesn't really work that way though. Final bid prices are determined by the competitors involved and who's bidding against each other. Has nothing to do with shipping prices.........Especially with Ebay's low bid increments.

Also..........how about the $9.95 item that gets one bid. Would have gotten one bid whether you charged for shipping or not. That's a lot of thrown away money right there.

I also sell lots of items on consignment, much of it low dollar. Free shipping often means, I just lost money on that item after I pay the consignor, just so I can save 9% on the shipping portion of my Ebay fees.

I just went back and checked my records. I paid shipping services (USPS, UPS, FedEx) over $5000 last year and I'm a small seller compared to many.

I guarantee you, I wouldn't have made that back with "higher bids" throughout the course of the year.

[alanu]

IMHO, a small shipping charge on less expensive items and no shipping on expensive items seems to work best for me.

In any case, I think how much you charge is the biggest factor to bidders.

With a less expensive card, say $15, I hate it when the seller charges $5 shipping for delivery in a flat rate priority box, would rather get it first class in a bubble envelope for $2. Even worse is when you get charged $5 for shipping and it comes first class in a bubble envelope.

-Alan

[tonyo]

Also..........how about the $9.95 item that gets one bid. Would have gotten one bid whether you charged for shipping or not. That's a lot of thrown away money right there.



I'm kinda slow (or dense) sometimes...............that point got thru to me and is probably the example I can most identify with.

Thanks!

[tonyo]

In any case, I think how much you charge is the biggest factor to bidders.


-Alan



Another good point and I appreciate all the responses from everyone.