Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean1125
Shipping 1 card:
Mail Cost: $2.54
Bubble Mailer $.11
Cardboard Pads $.16
Tape $.03
Biz Card and/or marketing Materials $.03-$.40
CS1 $.05
eBay charge 10% $.35
I charge $3.50 and payout $3.51~ on every shipment to get it to the door. Buyers who complain about shipping charges and how "you try to make money on them" get blocked.
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As others have mentioned, the cost for a 3oz package is now $2.45. For 4oz (thru 8oz), it is $2.60. You can mail a PSA graded card (or raw card) in a 3oz bubble mailer, but an SGC or Beckett will need 4oz. I think sellers can say anything they need to in order to justify the cost of shipping. I've heard sellers adding in the cost of the gas it costs them to drive to the Post Office to drop off the package and even the depreciation of their vehicle. Buyers just care about the cost of the postage, and I think they're willing to give a little leeway for the bubble mailer. This is why I always use the pre-printed ebay shipping labels, and I never show the cost of the shipping unless it is more than the buyer paid. In general, my costs for shipping a PSA card would be:
Mail Cost: $2.45
Bubble Mailer $.10
Postcard sized penny saver to protect slab: $.02
eBay charge 10% $.33
I put a thin piece of cardboard (from the free small priority mail boxes) on each side of the card. I also tape the packing slip to the cardboard with the buyer's address showing in the very unlikely event the card is separated from the package. I charge $3.25 for shipping (and it used to be $3 before the postage rates went up at the beginning of the year). Using this rate, I've never gotten a negative feedback on my sales. I've been dinged a little, but never down to 1 or 2 stars, and never anything to threaten my Top Rated Seller status. And you can say that I technically think I make a small profit on my shipping. Personally, I really think a key to getting good ebay satisfaction from buyers is if you ship the card really fast, and the buyer has it in his/her hands really quick, they will forgive a lot of things, even slightly higher shipping charges.
About marketing charges, I would never charge the buyer for that. C'mon you're charging the buyer slightly more, and you want to win more of their business by giving them a business card? If you want more of their business, I think they'd much prefer lower shipping cost. And anyway, if you file Schedule C for your business, those marketing costs (and costs of the bubble mailer, etc) are all tax deductible. And I saw that Just Collect posted to this thread also. The last time I won from them on ebay, they even sent me a free Just Collect t-shirt. (Granted my winning was over $1K.) Seriously, that is marketing that you remember. I toss business cards straight into my recycling bin without ever looking at them whenever I get them in my packages.