How much postage and shipping and handling may one charge on Ebay?

[Junie]

This question may not be in the proper board, but how does a Seller set postage?

I read that the best way, regarding something that isn't fragile, is to use a Tyvek bag and mail it the least expensive way (my local post office has a rule, that if it's over 12 oz. it automatically is mailed priority, how do other Sellers get around this as well, I've had things arrive with $3.00 postage and it's well over the 12 oz. weight limit).

There seems to be a lot of descrepency with that. Some Sellers have an opening bid of .99, but shipping is $11.00. I just bid and won a shirt auction with that exact listing. $11.00 shipping is expensive for one shirt, but it's a way for the Seller to recoup costs on the auction, fees and the item, but eBay didn't pull their listing, which I've heard has happened due to high shipping costs.

How did they get away with it and how do you, as a Seller, set the postage on an item?

Thanks and sorry for all the questions (I want to learn how to make money and not lose money selling my second hand items).

Junie

[Modee]

How much you may charge on Ebay for shipping, handling and packaging

Take a look at these threads:

Does "free shipping" really work in the buyer's eye? Is free S&H&P good idea on Ebay - Free EBAY, PayPal, Business and Law Forums - Ebay Suspension, PayPal Limited

Listings pulled / removed due to "excessive shipping" - Ebay "handling time" required - Free EBAY, PayPal, Business and Law Forums - Ebay Suspension, PayPal Limited

In general:

1) For low dollar (under ten dollar) S&H&P charges, you may charge the actual amount of postage to ship, plus a couple of dollars to cover the cost of say, a padded mailing envelope or box and a handling charge.
If you add much more than that, Ebay might pull the listing, or buyers might be turned off and not bid on your auctions, or give you low DSR stars on shipping charges once the auction is completed.

2) For high dollar (over fifteen or twenty dollar) S&H&P charges, one way to collect the amounts you want is claim that the box the item will be shipped in is quite large, and then check the options on the auction listing that make the Ebay system itself calculate the shipping cost. This will render as especially high shipping cost for UPS shipments.
That way, you will collect the money you want on S&H&P to cover your handling and packaging costs. No one wants to drive a large box to the post office, or to UPS, stand in line and drive back, for free!


Occasionally, on low weight items, try free shipping if you need to boost your DSR ratings on shipping.

[Junie]

Modee:

Thank you for the links. I did see one of the postings in the past, but I will scan it more closely for help.

Also, double thank you for explaining in detail shipping on eBay. I'm still baffled as to how the Seller I purchased one knit tank top from was able to get away with $11.00 shipping. I liked the shirt and read the details and I wanted it, so I bid on it and won.

Regarding advertising, if I see a listing with a "high" opening bid, I won't look at it. Usually it's with free shipping.

Is there a way to get Buyers to look at your listing with a higher opening bid and free shipping? It seems eBay doesn't show the free ship unless the Buyer is specifically looking for free ship. Do you put that in your advertising line with the description? Is that allowable on eBay?

Thanks and again, sorry for all the questions.

Junie

[Modee]

You may put most anything in the title for the Ebay listing, or in the subtitle (keeping in mind that the subtitle is not visible on the initial view in the catalog of listings, but only after the buyer clicks to open up the entire listing itself).

Ebay does include the exact shipping charge (or the word free shipping) prominently on all listings, including in the search index. For example, I just did a search of
SanDisk flash drive 16Gb
I did not include the word free shipping in my search
and this is a partial listing of what came up:


It's all there, including the words free shipping on the listings. The exact amount of shipping requested will come up too if the item is not free shipped. This may be a relatively new thing on Ebay - I do not recall the shipping cost details coming up immediately on the search index list, but it may have been there for a while and I just didn't notice it.

[Modee]

eBay charges a final value fee even on shipping, which is rather absurd when you think about because it means that you must surcharge ten percent just to break even on shipping.