Suggestions on shipping prices

mmync

I must be way out of line on the price I charge for shipping, because ebay notified me that my search standing has been lowered.
"Your listings may receive lower placement in search results when sorted by Best match. You need to improve your selling practices to earn a higher search standing and more visibility for your items" I've been charging $3.00 for a single card, and free shipping, insurance and signature confirmation for cards over $150.00
Even if a card sells for .99 cents, I still place it into a sleeve, brand new top loader, team bag, oversized cardboard on both sides, and then hand write a "Thank You" or "Nice Buy" or something on an invoice, and then place them both in a bubble mailer, take them to the Post office, and as soon as I get back I send an email to the customer to let them know that their order has been shipped out. If it's an order with Delivery or Signature confirmation, I supply them with that info as well.

My detailed seller rating is...
Item as described -- 4.8
Communication -- 4.8
Shipping Time -- 4.9
Shipping and Handling price -- 4.2

What should I change the prices too? I've been listing combined shipping at $1.00 for each additional card.

$2.00 and .50 cents for each additional?
$2.50 and .50 cents for each additional?
Keep the $3.00 but include DC on every Item?

erinstubby

I always charge $3.00 with optional insurance so your price is consistent with mine as well as alot of others.
Tim

NCDOLFAN

If your bubble mailer shipping with delivery confirmation (always) is running about 2.20 like mine, 3.00 is a perfect amount. I charge .50 for each added card. Between ebay fees and paypal fees you're almost always losing anyway. If they want it cheap, put the card in a envelope with a stamp and see how they like it !! OOPS can't do that... might get a neg. Seriously, I do all my searches by newly listed items anyway not that best match thing ebay is doing now, I think most people with some experience search like that or highest/lowest first.

fur72

Ebay should being worrying about other things like their feeback policy. Or lack there of...

storm888

It is certainly a fair question:

What is the "fair" S+H for a 99-cent item sold on EBAY?

It's a trick question, though. No S+H price, in percentage terms,
can ever look "fair" on a 99-cent item.

If I were you, I would disregard EBAY's nonsense and forget
about the DSRs. They know that nobody can satisfy the psycho-buyers
that have been allowed to take over the place. EBAY just wants
to make sure nobody gets any discounts on FVFs.

In every category, I am making "lots" of items that sell for about $20
and UP. It costs the same to ship those lots as it does to send ONE
99-cent item. My $20 tags include "FREE" S+H. Folks who want penny
items - and to complain about freight costs - are NOT the kind of
customers that any seller will survive on the new EBAY.

If you do some random FB checks on what price-ranges generate
the most NEGs, you will see 99-cent items at the top of the list.

EBAY's constant threats are getting laughable. I do NOT work for EBAY;
they are the landlord......nothing more. I pay them rent to "leave me alone."

They can't even run their own business, I'll be darned if they'll run mine.

MOST of the punks that work for that terrible place have NEVER sold
EVEN ONE item on EBAY. They should ALL be fired.

rant fin

storm888

A few days ago, a longtime friendly acquaintance of mine from the EBAY boards had
a customer who bought a jigsaw puzzle of an American Flag.

When the item arrived, the customer complained about the S+H.
It was shipped at below cost.

The same day, the customer said he wanted to return the puzzle
because, "I thought the item was a real American Flag, not a puzzle."

The seller said, "Fine return it."

My seller friend had a heart attack and croaked the next day.

THAT is the new EBAY.

Tvac897

I find that most people are willing to pay whatever you ask for shipping...some people i know actually undercut their product but overcharge on shipping to show a profit

mmync

Thanks guys, I don't know how beneficial the "Power Seller" status actually is, bu I figured I would chase after it and find out. But according to the ebay alerts that I've been getting, I need to maintain a 4.5 star shipping price rating to qualify.

WinPitcher

Keeping a 4.5 shipping status should not be that hard.


Steve

warrencenter

Hi,

I essentially use shipping methods identical to yours (poly sleeve, top loader, team bag, cardboard, bubble pack, DC) with a short personal note to buyer. The only difference is that I charge $2.00 for 1-3 cards and $0.25 for each additional card...my eBay S & H detailed seller rating is 4.8+

Most cards buyers are very bright folks and want competitive pricing on cards and on shipping. Here is the math for shipping as a buyer might see it...based on a single card packaged as above, weighing 2 oz. Prices are from actual supply purchases at internet stores.

Top loader, team bag and poly sleeve...$0.15
4" x 8" postal bubble mailer...$0.10
Postage for USPS first-class mail, 2 oz...$1.34
Delivery confirmation through PayPal...$0.18
In-home postage printing costs (paper/ink)...$0.05

Total Price = $1.82

P.S. I try to avoid the 6-mile round trip to the post office with gas prices at $4/gal to pay a $0.65 DC fee. With 1-day notice, my mail carrier picks up shipments at my front door.

leathtech

I found staying somewhere in the $2 range works the best - just like gas once you go over $4 anything seems high - $3.96 is like a psychological bargain.

Try setting your shipping price at $2.85 and I bet more people will rate your shipping higher.

clydecoolidge

I charge $2.75 for single cards with optional insurance (and have still have good search status), so you're $3 sure doesn't seem out of line. I would call ebay customer service. If we all don't start speaking up about some of the questionable tactics they use, it'll just keep getting worse.

Questions for all of you (don't mean to hijack the thread, but it is relative): I've started listing about 5 raw cards from the 40's, 50's, and 60's(all stars) on ebay. Besides the Lake to Lake Packer cards that I sell (which move really well), should I be giving Naxcom a try for these regular issue cards? Just curious on the experience others have had with Naxcom.

smtjoy

I package the same as you do but I charge $2.35 plus .50 additional card and I have a 4.8 rating

Leiascards

I think it is your combined shipping that is killing you. 1.00 is too much in general for a second item. Either that or you have had some whacko buyers in that area. I charge 3.00 on cards and have a 4.8 shipping &handling charges rank. Then again it could be based on your volume a 3 or less is going to hurt your ranking more if you only sell 20 items a month than if you sell 200 a month.

cavalier

I charge 3.50 p/h for single cards - regardless of how many cards you buy -- when we bust sets we might have people winning 40-50 cards, all shipping at the same price as the guy who wins 2 cards. Our opinion is it encourages bids on cards that might otherwise not get a bid.

We tried the one flat fee plus the per card add on (ie 2.50 + .25 per card) and you will upset a decent percentage of people who complain, "it doesn't cost any more to stick another card in an envelope"
We have been toying around with lowering our shipping fee to enable us to qualify for the 15% discount on ebay fees, but that is not a given. I've seen people with free shipping have less than a 5 rating - which makes no sense whatsoever.

We use bubble mailers with delivery confirmation for about 90% of our orders. If you choose to lower your shipping just make sure it makes sense. Between mailing lablels, subscription fees to stamps.com, actual postage, bubble mailers, invoicing, top loaders, etc -- don't forget that a well packaged order takes a couple of minutes. Make sure to factor a nominal labor cost, unless you consider yourself free labor.

my DSR's click in at
4.9
4.9
4.8
4.7

CavalierCards Ebay Listings

Leiascards

Actually it was shown recently that sellers would actually come out better by adding 25 to 50 cents to their shipping than trying to qualify for the near impossible 15% discount rating. I was actually at it until the day before my last Ebay invoice and did not recieve any feedback until after the invoice was created yet my star rating in Shipping time fell to a 4.7 that day from a 4.8.

The 15% is going to be near impossible for sellers to get.