posted on August 12, 2006 01:58:13 AM new
I don't feel like paying $20 just for the pleasure of commenting once in a bluemoon at another site; you guys do a fine job of provide all the thrills/spills I need. So I'm going to add my 2 bits here.
When doing a lurk over there I saw the thread where someone was looking for comments on their practise of listings with a 99¢ start price, and high shipping to cover what they really wanted to get.
Some of the names I knew (and previously looked up to in many ways) surprised me by agreeing with the OP that they now felt it was ok to do that because ebay were such bungholes, other sellers were doing it, blah, blah, blah.
Seems to me one reason for some pro/anti comments there is that part-timers (and others too) sell from a personal point-of-view. Big sellers often run their sales, or try to, like big corporations which most of us well know can soul-less, without a conscience, etc. Profit, at any cost.
Really, it's not my place to tell people how to run their sales model, whatever they do is their choice. Personally, I think I draw the line at fee avoidance, which is what the OP was describing.
I sum up my feelings on the low start/high shipping this way. Justifying this, and pretty much any other action you perfectly well know should be iffy, can sometimes lead to trouble for you, or your business down the road. Start small, move up your actions in increments, justifying things each time for various reasons.
People justifying the wrong action to themselves has lead to at least two famous comments in my recollection (you guess who said it) :
posted on August 12, 2006 02:37:37 AM new
I agree with you, ymmv, with some exceptions. If the handling is not outrageous (over $10 for sticking it in an envelope)and clearly stated to the consumer (not hidden in calculated shipping or fine print) and CONSISTENT throughout their other listings and flies below eBay's radar - more power to them. Buyers can see the shipping costs and make their decisions accordingly. I no longer worry that other sellers are picking up the eBay fees others have avoided - eBay is strategically using their fee schedule to mold a venue attractive to stockholders and I can't guess what that is.
On the other hand, I am extremely offended by one highly visible postcard seller who has chosen to list his best cards in his store with high prices, low shipping and states he will combine shipping on multiple purchases. He then runs many 99 cent listings with 6.00 shipping (with links to his store) which are not eligible for combined shipping. I think this is blatent fee avoidance and confusing to the buyers. I hope this is not the new model we will be forced to adopt to cope with the higher store fees.
posted on August 12, 2006 04:42:26 AM new
I also agree. For the most part, I don't charge a handling fee on priority packages. I charge exactly what shipping is. I do charge 75 cents handling for international orders and a bit for first class, though. Int'l requires a trip to the post office and I have to cover the cost of padded envelopes. However, I don't pay for priority boxes, or packing materials or tape. If I want extra, I put it in the cost of the item. Not the shipping or handling.
posted on August 12, 2006 09:26:52 AM new I don't feel like paying $20 just for the pleasure of commenting once in a bluemoon at another site
What? Registration is still free, last time I checked. Unfortunately. (I urged charging everyone to post there, in order to improve the level of discourse, but to no avail.)
If you want to be a member, that's $19.95. But you don't have to.
Did we really need yet another thread on this topic?
posted on August 12, 2006 09:56:55 AM new
Cheryl
I too don't charge a "Handling Fee". However, I do charge for packing materials. (bubble wrap & peanuts) Check out the price of these items at the Post Office. At our local P.O. bubble wrap cost comes out to 50 cents a square foot. Peanuts, if you run out of free ones, can run as high as a dollar a cubic foot. Why should the customer benefit from our chasing around to get free packing?
posted on August 12, 2006 11:26:31 AM new
Max - When I run out of free packing materials, I will add that into the cost of shipping. Right now I have a supply from stuff I've ordered, Ken's ordered and my son has ordered. Once that runs out, I will charge for my searching about town. Gasoline costs too much not to.
posted on August 14, 2006 11:57:39 PM new
fluffy, thanks for the correction; registering for the forum only IS free. I was a little hot under the collar after reading that thread and the first thing I found was the $19.95 membership fee. I'm still gonna stay with you folks at EO though.
No, I suppose we don't need to revisit packaging/handling fees. If charged, I think we all try to keep them reasonable as we can. What got me worked up was the OP in that thread (trolling by) giving the example
$6.50 for the item + $3.50 shipping= $10, well so does $.99 for item + $8.99 shipping
saying they did so especially to pay less in listing fees (thus fee avoidance).
pixia, cheryl and max, wherever incorporated, some form of reasonable packing and/or handling according to one's needs has always been ok with me, but multiple p/h fees for a single shipment does get my goat.
I saw a seller who stated in their listings "we combine shipments". They did. Problem was they failed to say the s/h fee of $6 per item applied to each item in the combined shipment! In that seller's feedback I saw where a person had bought 10 items and paid something $60 s/h for one shipment that had less than $6 postage on it (the buyer also left 10 negs).
So I'm going to add my 2 bits here.