OT of sorts: Fleabay

cacheman

With trepidation I began running some auctions at fleabay to rid myself of odds and ends that I couldn't/wouldn't sell on my sales site. It's been three years since my last auction and I am amazed how the onus has fallen almost strictly on the sellers.

My primary issues are with shipping and how fleabay/PayPal want you to send everything with some sort of confirmation that the goods arrived. Granted, its a good idea but Ebay doesn't really help you in offering this as a shipping service. Are we supposed to eat this cost? It's only a buck or two here in the states and I can live with that but I ship mostly internationally. I've found that there is no reason to spend the money for International/global Priority as it doesn't get there any faster and there is no proof of delivery. Ebay gives you the choice to send first class but doesn't account for the fact that if you do send this way you also have to send it Registered and there isn't a way to have the buyer pay this cost. I mailed off a packet to the Netherlands today where the buyer paid 16.00 according to Ebay calculations for shipment but it cost me $29!!! I've spent 300$ on shipping in the past two weeks and have only been compensated for about half...add in the $400 in ebay fees and PayPal fees and the only thing missing are the whips and chains!!!

In a nutshell, how can you get around ebay in your auction to be compensated fairly by the seller, or can you? Do you just add a pound or two to the shipping weight? Do I just offer Express via USPS and call it good? There really isn't much sense in selling there if they, PayPal and the USPS get most of it. And are the sellers now on the hook to pay for insurance coverage on its way to the buyer?

I feel like I need a 'rape kit' every time an auction closes.

Any advice is appreciated.

Pokermandude

Agreed it's a stiff price to pay, but that is what happens when the only game in town decides that the buyer can do no wrong, ever.

The typical business model is to rake in an extra $1 or more on the shipping cost of every item. Then when a buyer claims non-receipt, you pay them off (not like you have a choice!) and hopefully end up about break even. Most sellers juice their shipping cost even more to help cover the final value fee which also now applies on the shipping and insurance costs.

It's even worse for Canadian sellers. Our domestic mail consists of:

A) Lettermail - completely untracked, no proof of mailing, no delivery confirmation, no signature confirmation, no insurance available. Price 61 cents to $3 depending on weight. If you send a package lettermail and the buyer opens a claim, you will flat out lose.

or Registered mail / Parcel post - includes a tracking number, signature is extra, insurance beyond $100 is extra. Price is $10 and up. If the buyer starts a non-receipt claim, you should be fine.

In short, there is no economical/safe way to ship items between values of $10 and $80. Which make up the vast majority of my and most people's ebay sales.

To make things worse, there used to be an economical ~$8 shipping option to the USA which gave proof of mailing and $100 insurance included (with extra coverage up to $600 available). Now this option no longer has any insurance available.

mrpotatoheadd

If you're determined to ship internationally, you can stick with fixed price listings and set your price such that your postage costs are covered in the price you choose. If you set up the listing to include "free" shipping, buyers can't ding you on shipping charges.

edited for clarity...

JCMhouston

I just add the cost in the shipping. If you know it needs to go registered, add that cost to the overseas shipping amount. And no, you dont have to eat the insurance cost, I usually guess what something will sell for and add that to my shipping cost before I start the auction.

Bjorn

Be glad you're not in the UK - none of the Royal Mail International options are sufficient for Ebay with regards to proof of delivery and signature confirmation, so one has to rely on couriers (for about $20 - $50) when shipping an items that can't be lost. For stuff under $50 I just hope it gets through and send the standard airmail rate, while for stuff over $200 I set the shipping fees to include the courier cost. Unfortunately, two recent auctions went for more than I thought, so I have to eat about a $30-40 loss from the courier fees to prevent a lost or non-received items and a refund of $250 or so....

ok, rant over

ajaan

<< <i>In a nutshell, how can you get around ebay in your auction to be compensated fairly by the seller, or can you? >>


You can't. If you don't want to take a hit on shipping, start charging $25+ for shipping. Otherwise hope you are selling to an honest buyer who won't say the item didn't arrive when it really did.

Also remember, eBay fees are now added on to the shipping. For example, you sell an item for $100 with $25 shipping, eBay will calculate their fees on $125.

cacheman

"I just add the cost in the shipping. If you know it needs to go registered, add that cost to the overseas shipping amount."

So how do I do this? I use turbo-lister. Do I just charge a flat fee for my international shipping locations?


"Also remember, eBay fees are now added on to the shipping. For example, you sell an item for $100 with $25 shipping, eBay will calculate their fees on $125"

Thanks Don, yeah, I couldn't believe that...and then PayPal hits you again so you really don't get shipping paid up front at all...at least not on anything I've been selling for $500 and up. They're giving Monopoly a bad name...

wybrit

In short, there is no economical/safe way to ship items between values of $10 and $80. Which make up the vast majority of my and most people's ebay sales.

$10 is probably no big deal, but as you get closer to $80, you can insure the shipment out of Canada with Shipsurance (InsurePost.com is the site for low-volume sellers). I've worked that out with Canadian sellers in the past when I found their shipping charges too high. If the package goes lost, the buyer has to submit a validation of non-receipt and you get your money back in reasonable timeframe. I've had packages get lost enroute in the US and in the UK and never had a problem with a claim.

You can insure up to $1000, though I believe that the catch is that you need some kind of arrival tracking as you get to the higher dollar values. It costs me $1.50 per $100 to insure overseas and I usually ship just First Class International. BTW, First Class International has become very expensive since the postal rate hikes - over double the price!!!

Cacheman, I charge flat rate shipping, allowing me to enter my at-cost shipping. On larger cost items I offer free shipping in the US, but still charge a flat rate for overseas. In these cases, if an overseas buyer wins the auction, I do not pay ebay fees for shipping. More than 50% of my sales go overseas.

Of course, you eat about 15-20% of the "hammer" price of an ebay sale no matter what you do.

SaorAlba

I haven't sold on fleaBay since 2008 - now that I am thinking of letting bits of my sundry accumulations I am seriously considering letting Jeremy Katz(Airplanenut) take his cut on selling my coins on eBay - the ones I don't want to put in Stacks or Heritage that is. He takes on all the headaches and charges you a percentage - but since he is a volume seller on there he can get you more take home dosh on amounts less than $800, but even if you are selling more he has name recognition etc that can drive the price up.

YQQ

Jeremy is probably one of the best and consistent sellers on Flea-Feebay Pal. ( when he is not flying around WA).
he most certainly presents his items in the best possible light.

YQQ

Jeremy is probably one of the best and consistent sellers on Flea-Feebay Pal. ( when he is not flying around WA).
he most certainly presents his items in the best possible light.

Again. clicked one time only and post shows double!!!!!!! sorry

cacheman

I was actually toying with the idea of implementing an auction component on my sales site. I’m even more compelled now that I know how much ebay is fleecing everyone.

Hell, I could get by with charging a flat 3-4% and still make out well along with the sellers in comparison to ebay. Unfortunately my site’s area of interest is limited to Central European medals and patterns from 1895-1945 but I’ll bet I could justify the $1000 for the software that functions just like the ebay site, especially when someone can save 12-17% of their take at hammer. I need to figure whether I want the headache or not. I do know one thing, I’ll continue to use ebay to buy when appropriate but will no longer sell once I off all the extraneous material. They’re just too greedy.

PS: As an afterthough, I could have easily paid for the new software and customization with what I'm paying ebay in fee's...probably twice over once I'm done.