You might have noticed lately that when you leave feedback you are now asked to also rate the seller's perfomance in description accuracy, communication, shipping time and shipping and handling charges. These ratings are enormously important to us sellers and we would like you to take a few seconds before deciding what to rate in each one.

You will be asked 4 questions:

Was the description accurate?

This is the simplest one to measure. You take what you received in the mail and you measure it against the seller's description.

How was the seller's communication?

90% of my transactions go on without any questions. People order my products, I send them the tracking number, they receive them and that's it. I write good descriptions and I send the tracking numbers out quickly so there really aren't that many questions to answer or problems to resolve. How can a person rate communication that was non-existent?

How was fast was the shipping time?

I hate this question. It gives buyers the impression that I'm somehow responsible for making sure that the item arrives exactly when the Post Office says it will. Problem is that the Post Office's estimated delivery times are usually wildly optimistic. Priority Mail domestically sometimes takes 5 or even 6 business days, while the service comes out as 2-3 business days on my listings. Another problem is customs delays for international orders. I have had orders sit in foreign customs for 30 days and I have customers screaming at me because they paid for the fastest service. 

How reasonable were the Shipping and Handling Charges?

This is the most controversial of all the questions. What is "reasonable" or "very reasonable" to the average person who might not have ever shipped a package? I think most people end up answering this question in almost complete ignorance and I think it is causing a lot of grief among sellers who would like to be able to enjoy the benifits (fee discounts, better visibiltiy on search) that they rightfully deserve.

Shipping costs is a complicated business. Here are a few things to consider:

- Shipping company: If the seller ships with UPS or Fedex or DHL, their shipping costs are higher than if they ship with the Post Office.You might not know it, but UPS, Fedex and DHL offer much better tracking and handling services than the Post Office. Remembert when it comes to shipping, sometimes you get what you pay for.

- Shipping service: Some sellers decide not to ship with the lowest priced option available. If its something expensive, it makes much more sense to ship with Priority rather than Parcel Post. Why? Parcel post might take 3 weeks to get there and it is much more likely to get lost. Paying a few extra dollars for Priority in that situation makes sense.

- Costs of packaging supplies: Some items require very little packaging supplies. Others a lot. For example, a brand new in box iPod or DVD is much less likely to break in transit (almost impossible) than a China bowl. So, the China Bowl requires a lot more packaging. Then there are envelopes and boxes. Most manila-type envelopes cost $0.10-$0.40 depending on size if they are bought in bulk. Bubble mailers (the ones with the bubble wrap lining) cost a lot more. $0.40-$1, depending on the size. Boxes cost $1.50-$5 depending on the size and quantity one buys. Problem with boxes is they take up a lot of storage space, so it is hard to buy them in bulk, specially if you are not selling the exact same kinds of items over and over. Tape costs about $3 per roll. Bigger items require a lot more tape than smaller ones. Paper and ink for shipping labels maybe adds an additional $0.15 to one's shipping costs.

- Insurance: Ebay adds insurance to the cost of shipping on search results and on the top of listings. Buyers often think they are being ripped off on shipping because they don't take into account the costs of insurance. Fedex, UPS, etc. usually include insurance on their online shipping quotes. USPS does not.

Fee . . . . . . . . . . Insurance Coverage
$1.65 ................ $0.01 to $50
$2.05 ................ $50.01 to $100
$2.45 ................ $100.01 to $200
$4.60 ................ $200.01 to $300
$5.50 ................ $300.01 to $400
$6.40 ................ $400.01 to $500
$7.30……………$500.01 to $600
$7.30 plus $0.90 per $100 or fraction thereof over $600 to $5,000.

- Time: I have my own ebay business now and I have worked for 2 others in the past and in this business (with the exception of digital goods maybe) shipping is the most time-consuming part of this business. The bigger an item the longer it takes to package it. An ipod might takes about 10 minutes to package. A PS3, probably more like 25. Some days (Mondays usually) I spend 5 hours packing items and 1 hour at the post office.

- International shipping costs: International shipping costs varies a lot depending on the weight of the item and the shipping service. I used to ship Priority Mail International. had a ton of problems with it so now I only use Express Mail international or Express Mail Guaranteed. This makes my shipping costs a little higher, but I have found that it cuts problems with shipping by 75%. I also found a way to send it much cheaper than before (USPS flat rate envelopes), so that eased the transition. This is an extra expense that I feel is absolutely worth it for me and my buyers, but sometimes they might not see it that way especially if the item is delayed by customs, which doesn't care which shipping service one uses.

- Customs charges: Sellers are not responsible for customs charges. I have also heard of complaints about extra hidden charges by international buyers. Not on mine items, but from other sellers. They are not hidden charges. They are import taxes. Sellers can't be expected to know and list import taxes for every country in the world. I recently sold a high-end cell phone to Indonesia. The buyer was charged $112 in import taxes and a $150 license fee by the Indonesian Ministry of Telecomunications on a $400 phone. Seller's can't be expected to find out about all of Indonesia's import laws. Nor Bulgaria's, or Australia's or Canada's or Spain's, etc. It is the responsibility of the buyer (the importer) to find out before buying.

- Shipping to "difficult" places: Some countries have a reputation for having extremely unrealiable mail services with lots of lost packages. I usually contact buyers from those countries and let them know that the only way I will ship to them is with Fedex delivery because insurance paperwork takes forever and takes up a ton of time . I don't usually mention it on my listings because I don't want to embarras anybody or hurt their feelings about their countries.