JR
A small correction to what you wrote. I DO charge actual shipping
(plus $2 for packaging materials) some weeks (like this current
week), but I only do so when the items vary in size, weight and/or
value quite a bit, and there is no good way to charge a flat rate.
Other weeks (when I sell mostly items of the same size), I charge a
variable shipping charge, based on the total DOLLARS spent, and
irregardless of the total number of items. The costs are these:
If your order total is less than $20, U.S. shipping is $5.50
If your order total is $20 to $49.99, U.S. shipping is $7.00
If your order total is $50 to $399.99, U.S. shipping is $8.50
If your order total is $400 or over, U.S. shipping is $10.00
For those who live outside the U.S. I still charge actual shipping
(plus $2 for packaging materials), because rates vary so much from
country to country.
The benefit of the above sliding scale is that those who just get a
single cheap item "get a break", and that is important as those
people are the ones most likely to get upset over what they perceive
as "excessive shipping".
Do I sometimes lose money? Sure. I almost never make even a penny.
But it is worth it to have a standardized rate that all but the
wackiest of collectors can live with.
As to the packaging materials, I always use brand-new custom-made
heavy duty boxes, tubes, and backing boards, and I spend the $2 I
charge on 99% of the orders I send. I never get complaints about that
$2 charge, once they see my packages and tubes!
I wish all sellers would adopt these same standards, but I am not
holding my breath waiting. For too many sellers (and major auction
houses) shipping and "handling" charges are a major "profit center".
My least favorite sellers are those that charge a full "per item"
charge for every item you get, and only combine the shipping if you
complain (and say it was an error), thus pocketing a LOT of extra
money from those who DON'T complain.
Incidentally JR, I suggest you re-consider regularly mentioning me in
a positive light. You might find that the Hershenson haters out there
start attacking you, maybe even calling you a "joke", and I wouldn't
want that to happen, as I have a lot of respect for you and what you
have accomplished.
Bruce
JR wrote:
I agree with what Craig and others have been saying about pumped-up
"shipping and handling" charges that some sellers implement. But I'd
like to point out a couple of things:
1) This is a common practice for non-eBay mail-order companies and
has been for decades. How many times have you seen the TV ad where
they're going to send you a "$75 dollar value for ONLY $9.95" and you
look at the screen and it says "$9.95 plus shipping & handling" and
when you place the order you discover that shipping and handing is
$19.95 or more? Using the shipping and handling charge as a way to
offer absurdly low retail prices and still end up getting paid closer
to a genuine retail price is a common practice,even with the big
brand-name catalogs -- let's not pretend it's just an eBay issue.
It's just that more and more of those sellers who have been doing
regular mail-order and charging excessive shipping charges have now
moved to doing business on eBay and have brought their decades-old
techniques with them.
2) In a way, eBay encourages this kind of thing by prohibiting
sellers from charging users who pay with PayPal or Credit Cards a
processing fee. The seller is charged the processing fee -- it is a
cost of doing business -- but they are not allowed to pass it on to
the customers, at least not up front and honestly. They can't add it
to the starting bid, because on all this low-cost stuff that makes
their starting bids non-competitive with the 99-cent starting bids of
their rivals on eBay. So, the only place left for them to recoup
genuine cost-of-business expenses is by pumping up the "shipping and
handling" charge. Note the "handling" term attached to "shipping and
handling" -- that very clearly means they are not claiming that all
of the charge will be spent on the actual shipping cost, but some of
it is also for covering "handling" -- a code word for "our cost of
doing business and making the profit we feel we need to make to stay
in business."
So, pumped-up shipping and handling charges are nothing new and
there's really nothing that eBay is going to be able to do about it,
despite their public posturing. The only thing a buyer can do is be a
smart shopper and check out various sellers and compare what their
"shipping and handling" charges are -- then do business with the ones
who seems to be the most reasonable in this area. I remember several
years ago when Bruce was publicly criticized because he was charging
a flat $8.00 shipping and handling fee on all of his eBay sales --
regardless of how many posters you won, he would combine them into
one package and charge you a flat $8 bucks. At the time some people
thought that was kinda high... particularly if you only won a single
poster for $9.95 (in those days many poster sellers were only
charging $3.00 to $5.00 to ship). Now almost everyone charges $8
bucks or more and Bruce has now gone to actual-cost shipping plus a
flat $2.00 for packaging materials (which makes the most sense, but
is a hassle for his staff and the exact amount the shipping will be
is something the bidder can't know until he's actually won and gets
the invoice -- but it's the only fair way to do it. Those who still
charge a flat fee must either make it high enough to guarantee that
they won't lose money on the packaging and shipping or else take a
chance that they will. Given the low prices so many eBay items go
for, most are not willing to take even a small loss on shipping and
handling and I don't blame them).
It's true many more sellers abuse the process... that some insist on
insurance and then don't buy it... or charge you Priority Mail rates
and then ship "Media Mail" or simple First Class in crummy packaging.
Those people you learn to avoid buying from -- and when one of them
screws you like this take a stand and leave negative feedback and
explain what they did, so that others are warned (or maybe the seller
is forced to change his ways). But don't expect any third party like
eBay to be able to reign in these abuses, because they are
well-established business-as-usual practices. The best you can do is
comparison shop and leave that all-important negative feedback when
you do get burned.
-- JR
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