Ebay US Shipping Charge Variations - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: TurboSam
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 03:58:41 am
content: I hope this is the right place to ask this, but could someone please explain to me the wide variance I see for shipping used technology hardware within the United States.For example, I've been looking at used power supplies, and in some cases the shipping charge is 100% (or in one case 200%) of the BIN price of the hardware compared to similar equipment sold and shipped to me the from same region of the country. And in other cases, the shipping charge for the same hardware at the same price is more in line with what (at least in my experience) is a more reasonable UPS based charge for a heavier and possibly out of standard proportions box.Is the jacked up shipping just to avoid a refund if the product is defective and/or misrepresented and Ebay makes the seller return the purchase price? That way the seller refunds the (for example) $60 BIN or auction price but keeps the (for example) $110 shipping charge (when, in fact, the seller's actual shipping charge was far less)?Or am I missing something?Thanks.

author: TK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 04:12:02 am
content: Sellers enter the weight and box dimensions and eBay estimates the shipping fee. If an item is not as described or faulty, then seller needs to pay for the return shipment and refund the item price + shipping fee. So the variation is due to sellers entering the weight and dimensions they want.

author: TheSteve
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 04:18:51 am
content: Some sellers also have heavily discounted accounts with UPS/Fedex etc and pass along the savings. A good discount can be 60-70% off listed/book rates.

author: CNe7532294
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 06:50:31 am
content: What TK and TheSteve said. To add, I was a seller once and can see why people would be "lazy" and just follow ebay's way of calculating shipping instead of entering their own price. If you have alot of stock to sell it can easily be confusing. Meanwhile I sold pretty much one item at a time. I took the time to go thru all the postal options and get the rate straight from them to stay competitive. I even got a discount for being an alumni for a time. As for why ebay would post higher shipping, they need to make money off of all of us too. You might get that occasional dishonest seller though. In that case, just try use the shipping calculator yourself and see if it makes sense.

author: TK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 02:21:12 pm
content: When I list a heavy test equipment to sell, I pack it and enter the correct weight and measures and eBay's estimate is pretty accurate. Sometimes I forget to add the extra packing material and I end up paying the extra shipping fees, and if there is any saving, eBay gives it to the seller. Based on my experience, if a shipping fee seems overpriced, it is because the seller entered the wrong dimensions and weight on purpose or because of wrong estimates.I always add the item price and shipping when I evaluate an item to purchase. And if seller offers best offer option, I try to round up the number including the shipping.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 06:22:24 pm
content: For small volume sellers there are no easily accessible discounts from the major shipping services. My experience is that Ebay provides a modest discount (varies from 0 to 10%) to us small fry. I don't know if they get a larger discount from the shippers and pass it on to us. This can result in a small bonus to me, but on average I break roughly even since I don't pack items for shipment before sale, and end up underestimating weight fairly often. The seller eats this when it happens so it eats up those savings.Most buyers don't seem to understand how high shipping is, and how much it varies with distance. I have sometimes tried to reduce the pain by going with some secondary market shippers like Parcel Monkey. That can cut shipping costs in half, but is a major hassle for the seller and buyer. If you don't pick a shipping method at listing time the buyer just has to guess what it might cost. Buyer and seller need to communicate a couple of times to get total price settled, all of which is viewed with suspicion by Ebay as a way to avoid fees. Ebay has no easy way to integrate these outside services, so tracking and completion of sales is difficult. If you set normal shipping at listing time, Ebay has literally no way to deal with reduced shipping fees. You can refund the difference to the customer, but get charged Ebay fees on the original amount. Finally, delivery times with the secondary shippers are long, and tracking is often sporadic. While I have not personally had packages get lost with these folks, reports of that are widespread.For me it just isn't worth the effort. If someone doesn't want something that costs pennies on the dollar even after paying shipping then that is their decision.