I can't count the number of times, in my business career, I have seen shipping charges be major profit centers. When I was in straight commission IT sales, many moons ago, we sometimes got paid on that profit we made. I think most/many businesses look at shipping as a profit center, but not all.
And as for what I want to see in a vintage seller? Again, big, clear scans of front and back. A description of any imperfections not seen on the screen or anything relevant to the aesthetics of the item I need to know. What I don't need is to know that Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs or Ty Cobb is the all time batting average champion.
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Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B
I completely understand the need for security on larger-priced items, but I'm not sure how an $18-20 S&H fee can be justified for a nothing item valued at less than the GSP cost to ship. Both eBay and the seller are basically thumbing their noses at a section of the customer base, however small it may be. Might as well not accept international bidders rather than offending them. For low value items, just run the risk and send without tracking or don't ship internationally at all if you're worried about being scammed. Include verbiage in your listings indicating how much time sending regular mail between the countries can sometimes take. Believe me, all Canadians are already aware of this to begin with, but put the verbiage in there just to cover that base. That's my perspective. Then, there's the incredibly inflated "Import Fees" imposed by eBay on pricier GSP shipments. Combined with the shipping cost, the total has sometimes exceeded 40% of the cost of the item(s)! One guess where all that extra money is going. GSP items are sent through the USPS, so there are no potentially staggering brokerage fees as you sometimes deal with when using UPS and the like.
Also, I certainly hope that most international buyers do understand that a nice amount of that inflated GSP S&H charge goes directly into eBay's pocket. It's yet another money grab. We know that it doesn't cost that much to ship something small like a card to Canada via USPS, even with tracking. Let's not even begin to speculate what sort of discount shipping price eBay has negotiated with the USPS for GSP items, either.
Forgive the derailment from the subject at hand. As is easily seen, this is a sore spot.
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