I used to ask this question: "Why does it cost so much Shipping & Handling to mail a puny little Disney pin?"  Now that I'm a dealer, I understand.

In May 2007, the U.S. Postal Service restructured their entire set of mailing rates.  While for the general public, stamps went up 2 cents, for shippers of small packages (like pins), the rates nearly doubled due to the restructuring of bubblewrap envelopes as packages instead of letters.  Since then, in May 2008, rates rose yet again.

Before the rate change, postage was $.60 for the first ounce to mail.  With the May 2007 change, that amount rose to $1.13 for a pin and an additional $.17 per ounce above that.  This is because the small bubblewrap envelopes are no longer regarded as envelopes by the Post Office.  So immediately, that's a 53 cent rise on every mailing.  For international buyers, that rate has increased about $.65 to start.  Since May 2008, that rate has risen another 10 cents.

"So why do you charge $3.45 for a package with $1/pin extra?"

On Stage vs. Backstage

Think of postage as "on stage" costs...the costs everyone sees.  But there are many "backstage" (or unseen) costs as well.  One of the first things people don't think about is the actual eBay auction and privilege of using PayPal.

Listing the pin.........................................................$.75 or $1.15.

EBay's Final Price Charge...................................5.25% of Sold Price.

PayPal Charges..............................................About 3% of Sold Price.

So let's take, for instance, a pin that sells for $20.  Taking the cost to list the pin (75 cents) + eBay's final price charge ($1.04) + PayPal's Charges (approx. 60 cents) + Postage ($1.13) = $3.52.  Note: If I choose to advertise with borders, bold print or other upgrades, I never pass along that cost to buyers (that's my gamble and you shouldn't have to pay for it). 

THEN, on top of that are supplies: packing peanuts, bubblewrap, bubblewrap envelopes, etc. (about 50 cents' worth of material) + the trip to the Post Office at over $3.70/gallon.  Well...you get the picture!  Depending on the price paid for an item - with many pins selling for over $20, we lose money on the sale due to the shipping and eBay costs.

What I Won't Do is Gouge

Why I will promise you is this: We don't charge what we do for S&H to make extra money.  In fact, sometimes when a person high bids dozens of auctions, I'll give them a shipping and handling break just to say thanks.  But when you look at all that listing and handling an auction entails, you understand that $3.45 is pretty much a break-even amount for us to be able to continue offering great Disney pins at a reasonable price.  Now, if you see someone on eBay charging $5-$6 to mail out one pin (unless it's a jumbo), they're making money by charging excessively on shipping.

If you have any questions about our shipping and handling policy that hasn't been covered here, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading...I'd appreciate you taking a second to mark this as HELPFUL (below) so that others will see this in the future.