posted on October 3, 2000 01:45:08 PM
I went into an auction to check an article and I liked what I saw until I saw the shipping charges. No wonder there isn't a bid on this. It goes something like this $3.20 for priority shipping, insurance extra plus a handling charge of an outrageous amount. Isn't the priority box free? It was when I got mine. Needless to say I didn't bid. I can't understand outreagous handling fees. How much does a little, I mean little because the object is quite small and if your know a business you can get free peanuts. Otherwise use newspaper. Maybe they put the object in a ziplock bag. lol Sellers lets get real. Thanks for listening.
posted on October 3, 2000 01:51:42 PM
I SELL AND NEVER WOULD THINK OF PUTTING A HANDLING CHARGE ON PRIORITY. FIRST CLASS YES. ITS MY MATERIAL IM USEING AND I PAID FOR IT. BUT PRIORITY + HANDLING IS GREEDY UNLESS ITS SOMETHING VERY LARGE AND HARD TO PACK.
posted on October 3, 2000 06:54:07 PM
I didn't know if I could say it but the auction says actual shipping charge $3.20 priority mail and insurance is extra with a handling fee of $3.00 but then I went to other auctions and wow there are other higher handling charges than that $3.00. The item I bid on was about the size of a silver dollar and weighs approximately 4 ounces give them the benifit of the doubt half a pound. Don't you think that is excessive?
posted on October 3, 2000 07:11:57 PM
Well....the handling charges are relevent to what? It doesn't take any less time fondeling a small object then it does a large object. wait that doesn't sound right...let's do that again...*click* take 2...I would think that the first part, the $3.20 for Priority shipping is fair. That is where it starts, right? There are all kinds of things , you can add into that handeling charge....time, wrapping, addressing, organizing your product, gas run..... time....postal run, emails, listing fee....time......taking of pics.....and then there is your time. Just what is it worth to you and if you were working for someone else, and lets say all of this stuff from the beginning of the auction to the very last bit of it took an hour, would you work for $3.00 an hour? Not me! Something to think about....time......
Many sellers are relizeing the fees for selling are going up ebay wants to charge for more things palpay is starting to charge fees may auction management site are chargeing now .
Profits are getting slim and people think there time invested is worth more then 5 or 10% left after auction listed and many times now end with one bid.
I dont charge any handeling or packing fees for the things I sell at all but many who never have are starting to.
look at the fee this way if the seller uses an hours time on this sale from time spent finding to getting it to the PO to ship to you they are chargeing you $3 for there hour.
some are chargeing this fee as well to be able to keep there starting bids as low as they can, I would always write the buyer and ask them about any fee im not sure of.
posted on October 3, 2000 08:35:54 PM
I'm curious as to ask you how much do you think your time is worth? If you don't value your time doesn't mean others don't value theirs. They are entitled to charge whatever they feel will be compensated. Are you right to judge someone because they don't work for peanuts? If you wish, suggest to your sellers not to put the item in a box. That for me could save me an hour of time packaging a day. It's a no win situation to whine because the old rule of thunb is you get what you pay for. Now do you really want to receive a damaged item in the mail just to save a couple bucks? Of course, you can shop around and compare like any other mature person or you can come on AW and whine. Why play victim, do you get a strange high by playing one?
posted on October 3, 2000 09:09:39 PM
Just a thought-I have been in contact with eBay, PP, Mastercard, and VISA concerning what can and can not be done, ect. in an ongoing "dialog" for several months now.
I have had them go from you CANNOT to "well if you have a standard handling fee that you use across the board and not just on credit card sales, you can pass certain fees/charges on to the customer or deduct them in refund situations provided you have clearly stated them in your TOS, or EOA or Payment Invoice!
I think perhaps with all the new 3rd party payment services popping up and peoples' desire to use them, and the fact most auctions aren't designed with large profit margins in them (least they not be competitive with the other 6,000 similar/identical items, you may be seeing many more handling fees orrestocking fees, in the event of a refund.
I'm a hobbiest, basically getting rid of the excess in my life without any big concern of making a real profit. I use the word "real" because sometimes I think I made a profit, but when I factor in original cost of item, time, packaging materials, other "related expenses", I find I didn't really make a profit at all. I did get rid of that "xtra" widget though!
If you are doing this as a business, you know you have to pass your cost on. That's basic Bus 101! You can add it to the starting price and hope you don't put yourself out of the "accepted" range for your item, you can pass it on by using a reserve, or you can be open with it and place it in your TOS.
Right now that would make you a very unpopular seller, but as time passes and things evolve, I imagine you will see more and more handling fees until eventually it's the norm instead of the exception. There may even come a time when we say "remember when there was no such thing as a handling fee in auctions"??????
Only time will tell. I am relatively new to the whole scene, but I have read many post about "how things used to be on eBay....you know the "good 'ole days!"
edited 'cause I'm just now learning how to do that UBB stuff!!!!
[ edited by sulyn1950 on Oct 3, 2000 09:13 PM ]
posted on October 3, 2000 09:18:54 PM
I received an item today - the seller charged me $3.00 S&H for using a piece of computer paper as a mailer wrapped around a single tiny piece of bubble wrap (the item was a CD) and the postage was $ .99.
I complained to the seller that I thought that charging $3 is excusable (I mean he didn't even use a padded mailer which can be had for 12 cents (the price I pay) from another ebay seller).
"the s/h is clearly described in description handling is major expense in processing orders and responding to feedback this is anew seald item not readily availbele so it costs me more to handle items like this also I start auctions below retail on most items hope you understand"
Now mind you - this "not readily available item" was available from the artist's web site directly - I just needed not to pay using my credit card, so very often I will shop eBay.
posted on October 4, 2000 05:19:43 AMmaeveronica: Was his shipping terms clearly stated in the auction? If so, and you still bid & won, then where is the problem with his charge?
I won a video with a $4.00 "shipping charge" -- he mailed it in a paper envelope for $2.00! However, I don't feel I can complain, for it was my fault for assuming he was shipping priority -- I never asked!
posted on October 4, 2000 07:40:35 AM
I didn't come in here to whine. I just thought this seller had high handling fees. I am not going to pay outrageous handling fees because ebay prices are down. Why are ebay prices down because of the outrageous prices in handling fees. I think that they are ruining ebay. You can't even get decent prices for the widgets anymore. The article that I looked at, there were three others up for auction and I will bet that the auction that started at $1.00 with no handling fees will go higher than the one that was 3.00 with a high handling fee. I have been in the arts, crafts and reselling for years and from what I know you never get your time out of the article. Imagine cross stitching a picture, it takes many hours to do that. You could never charge what it takes. When I was out in the real world of work I got $15.00 an hour plus benefits with no handling charge. It took me a half hour + gas to get there but I didn't charge my employer for handling fees. You will never get that on ebay and if you think that your dreaming but maybe if you charge a large handling you will. I would gladly pay higher for the article than the handling charge.
posted on October 4, 2000 09:22:08 AMWhy are ebay prices down because of the outrageous prices in handling fees
Can you demonstrate a causal relationship between handling fees and ebay "prices" being "down"?
As a matter of fact, can you demonstrate that ebay "prices" are "down"? (Mine are the same as last year.)
Or that, as you maintain, ebay has been "ruined"? And define "ruined," please.
When I was out in the real world of work I got $15.00 an hour plus benefits with no handling charge. It took me a half hour + gas to get there but I didn't charge my employer for handling fees.
And when you were getting $15/hour, your employer was at the very least paying SSI and unemployment taxes, not to mention for the chair on which you sat, the equipment you used, and the building in which you worked. How's that for "handling fees"?
And we're not even talking benefits yet.
Imagine cross stitching a picture, it takes many hours to do that. You could never charge what it takes.
That's why the $50 "handmade" quilts you see are factory-made in China. Let's be real. At your $15/hour, the quilting labor alone on a queen-sized quilt would be nearly $1,000. I don't think so.
I would gladly pay higher for the article than the handling charge.
'Splain this one to me, Lucee. If you're paying $15 total for the widget, what do you care if it's $1 for the widget and $14 "handling" or $14 for the widget and $1 "handling"? Either the widget's worth $15 to you or it's not.
posted on October 4, 2000 09:28:34 AM'Splain this one to me, Lucee. If you're paying $15 total for the widget, what do you care if it's $1 for the widget and $14 "handling" or $14 for the widget and $1 "handling"? Either the widget's worth $15 to you or it's not.
Yes, please do 'splain... anyone. I've been watching for an explanation for some time, and the best(?) I've seen is... well, I just don't like handling charges.
posted on October 4, 2000 10:06:23 AM
mzales> furkidmom, HEE HEE HEE! What is your charge for fondling???
Strictly a "freebie" for the time bein' *chuckling*
posted on October 4, 2000 03:46:33 PM
tomwii - I do not object to paying $3.00 shipping. I object to paying $3.00 for a piece of paper to be used as my mailer for my item. Reasonable expectation is to have a USPS approved mailer for an item. Such as a padded mailer, a box, a cd mailer. Not a lousy piece of paper wrapped around a CD...
This seller has the nerve to tell me that it took him 10 MINUTES to wrap my CD with his precious piece of paper. COME ON!
Last time I checked, and I am a bookkeeper so I know this for a fact, is that your shipping supplies and mileage to the post office and back are tax deductible reducing the amount of taxable income you earn - which is the idea in the first place. If you paid an employee to do it for you, his payroll is tax deductible off your business earnings as well, along with his payroll taxes. Any company I deal with would not be caught dead using a piece of paper as a mailer - and this seller has over 800 feedback. Now he's threatening to take me to Safeharbor for complaining to him...When did we lose freedom of speech again?
posted on October 4, 2000 05:24:11 PM
Reasonable expectation :
This is that the seller get the Item to you in the same condition it was in when they sold it to you.
for all who think you dont charge your employer handleing fees your wrong sales people get from 45 to 80 cent per mile for travel costs they get company credit cards for food and lodgeing many get cell phones pagers and computers paid for by the company some even get company cars or trucks to travel in.
the only differents when you work for some one they are called benifits or perks.
I work in a plastic factory the custumers pay for boxes plastic bag liners packageing tape pallets shrink wrap and anything else needed to package there items.
they also pay set up fees to change and tool up a machine to make there goods they pay lease fee for 6 to 15 employees 24/7 for a per agreed amount of time to complete there order and when it is all done they pay for shut down and tear down time as well.
pluss they pay for all the raw materal and color it takes to produces there goods by the pound. they also pay shipping charges and if they cant take delivery when its ready they pay storage charges.
in fact average just handleing charges run about $200 an hour and up.
the custumers must pay for all the labor and hands it takes to get there goods complete even if the hands never touch there bottles this includes but not limited to office help and management sales and technical help.
There is no set flat rate in any business there is always what auction user are calling handleing fee the factory I work in they call it setup or tooling up fee a tear down or tooling down fees and a labor lease and packageing costs some time there is even more fees if the company is hired to design the tooling and they are decorateing the parts as well.
Reasonable expectation
Of any buyer is that the seller gets a good Item to them in a reasonable amount of time. The seller not the buyer decides what reasonable packageing of an item is and decides what the charge for this is.
Yes the buyer is always right but they are right because they are paying. if a buyer is paying what I ask then they are right I will give then the ritz treatment. anytime a buyer is not paying they are makeing me chase them a month for payment on an Item THEY made the offer to buy or they Made the offer only to complain This is a waist of time.
I have been in the packageing business for nearly 20 years there is nothing cheap or easy about it this is not about packing one Item a fairly good week at the auction can Yeild from 20 to 60 Item some times more to package and ship For most people this is from there home in there spare time after 8 to 12 hours of work.
posted on October 4, 2000 05:33:27 PM
The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy wasn't written for Ebay. First off, buyers shouldn't HAVE to ask if a $3.20 charge is for Priority mailing!!!! Second of all, Sellers should tell the shipping charges upfront in the ad and stop trying to pad their own pockets with asinine handling fees.
posted on October 4, 2000 05:43:41 PM
Now the way I see it this seller is an upfront person. Honest about shipping and splits out the handling charge. I don't mind paying the handling charge if they have told me upfront that is what I am paying for and I want that item. I don't like to see $3.00 shipping and handling. I want it separated. Their time is worth something. Don't be sneaky about telling people that.
posted on October 4, 2000 05:54:26 PM
lalatte - You are right but sadly ebay is full of garage sale mentality sellers who are petty, penny piching and have no concept of profitable business practices. As such all we buyers can do is read those silly TOS's and avoid the ons that read like they written by the numerous power freaks running around the site.
It is too bad that we have people who have the nerve to think that placing widgets in a box and dropping them off is a job they are doing that they should be compensated equally to doctors, Accountants, and lawyers. Who knew packing those widgets required so much thought and hard work. They better watch themselves though because if they keep going with those excessive handling fees maybe the post office will start charging a fee to bring more than 10 packages into the PO in a single trip.
Heck maybe ebay will charge a system maintenance fee to power sellers, heck let's get the government involved how about a state license to sell on ebay? Maybe the ISP will add an extra $2.00 to the ISP bill of ebay sellers for the strain placed on their email servers, hummmm
I wonder if the sellers will pay these handling fees or complain about them like us buyers do here. By the way each one of my examples above could be charged and justified because of the extra expense ebay sellers place on each of those entities.
posted on October 6, 2000 06:10:08 AM
hey d-man: I think a reasonable expectation is that a sellere ship in an USPS approved method of shipping, don't you?
