Point taken, but it still bugs me. Antithesis to my way of selling things, especially on ebaby. I don't include my "labor" in the cost of a sale. That's overhead and is included in the sale price, whether fixed on auction.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyclotourist/2689727201/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyclotourist/2378473704/ Sometimes I make a couple bucks, sometimes I lose a couple. I don't intend to make money in it. Bike parts typically aren't that bad, cameras and lenses seem to be the worst (what are they using for padding, spun gold?). Even if it's a fully boxed bike, $70 gets it to the East Coast. My time boxing it (usually a couple hours) and materials (dumpster diving for a bike box, going to the box store for pipe insulation) are not part of "shipping." I'm sure "Highly Trusted" would charge another $60 for that "service." If someone can fit it in a Priority Mail Flat Rate box (like a Little Joe or Adam bag), then they should only charge flat shipping. Self-adhesive boxes available for free at the P.O. Wrap it in (free) Tyvek shipping bags for padding. Five minute wait (max) to the counter and pay. Delivery conf. is an extra $1.35 last I checked. If they think their time waiting at the P.O. is so valuable, then they should sell at a fixed price that includes their pro-rated hourly rate as a mark up. If they can't, then they should list the shipping cost by postal zone and use the shipping calculator on ebaby. FWIW, I keep a shed full of pre-shipped boxes and packing materials as I hate throwing stuff away. I have never purchased a box or wrapping in my life, if you don't include Priority Mail boxes. I've walked from many "deals" on ebay for this reason alone. I look at the total price, and if I feel the seller is gouging on the shipping... there's plenty more where X came from. YMMV. DE On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 8:11 PM, james black <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 20:00, David Estes <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Seller "Highly Trusted" is trying to make a few extra $$$ outside of > ebay's > > fee structure. Those bags (well, maybe not the Hoss) can be stuffed into > a > > Priority Shipping flat rate box. > > Hi David: > > I wish to offer my perspective to the list on this issue, as an > occasional seller of things. Here's why - compare shipping versus > having somebody magically come to your door and take the bag, which > should be free of charge. You have to procure a box, pack up the bag > into the box, possibly apply packing materials and tape, fill out a > shipping label, go to the post office, pay for postage, either pay for > insurance or take the risk that it won't arrive (self-insuring), deal > with confirming arrival.... Compared to a no-ship transaction, a > reasonable mind might conclude that the cost of all this handling is > way more than $10.00 above the cost of shipping. One might eat this > cost if making profit on the item otherwise, but there's no way you > could pay me $10 to take this on for you. > > James Black > Los Angeles, CA > > > > -- Cheers, David Redlands, CA --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
