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If any of the following buying or selling experiences have happen to you, please read this guide. Ever buy a cellphone battery on eBay for $1.99 and pay $6.99 for shipping and handling (S&H)? Ever buy a 2 ounce printer cartridge for $.99 and pay $6.99 for S&H. Ever buy a 10 gram memory card for your camera for $18.99 and pay $15.00 S&H? Are you tired you reading the negative energy that people waste on their listings?
This guide addresses three basic issues. Why does eBay continue to allow larger volume sellers to charge patently exorbitant S&H fees and what can you the buyer do about it? Why do some sellers pretend that their S&H are for the buyer's benefit? Why do some sellers try to make negative comments about other seller in their listing?
I paid $7.99 to purchase one printer cartridge ($0.99 for the item and $7.00 for S&H). The seller paid total eBay fees of $0.26. Had the seller sold the item at $3.99 and charged $4.00 for S&H the seller fees paid to eBay would have been $0.62. The seller saved $0.36 on this printer cartridge. eBay lost $0.37 (one cent more because of fractional rounding upward) in fees. It costs the buyer nothing either way. But is that proper???
eBay policy disallows listings which don't conform to eBay rules. Fee avoidance is the issue in the excessive S&H charges. If the seller charges $3.00 more for S&H than is reasonable, then they save the eBay selling fees on that $3.00, which at present amounts to 17 cents for an auction or fixed price listing. If the item is listed with a starting price of $0.99 the listing fee is $0.20. Starting the bid at $3.99 (the real cost of the item) costs the seller $0.40.
Why does eBay the company allow this to continue? I don't really understand. I would hope that the bottom line is improved when eBay allows it's rules to be broken repeatedly. I suspect the some group of executives has decided that enforcing the rules would cause them to lose the business of a number of large volume sellers. That's the only consideration that I can think of that makes any sense of this. My question though is, where would those sellers go? Yahoo? Google? Amazon? I don't know. My conclusion is that whoever is in charge of this at eBay, the company, doesn't understand his competition (specifically the lack thereof) as a market maker.
From the buyer perspective does any of this matter? Yes, if you believe that eBay is a wonderful arena in which to buy and sell your product to a vast market, based on honesty and trust. No, if you don't care about following the rules of your community. The honest seller will charge a reasonable S&H fee that includes the cost of packaging, labor to packing, cost to get the product to the shipper and the ACTUAL shipping cost. Can I trust this business to ship what they claim to have, when I already know that they are avoiding paying their fair share of eBay fees, which in turn increases the fees that eBay has to charge us ALL.
Another guide on eBay suggests that one way to combat excessive S&H (in the example of multiple purchases with combine S&H rates, where the combine rates only saved 75 cents on a $20.00 S&H fee) suggests that you pay in separate payments and if the seller ships in one package that the seller wouldn't have proof of shipment for all of the items if you filed a claim if PayPal. That statement is encouraging dishonest buyer claims. If you agree to the seller's terms, live with it. Don't try to find a dishonest method of getting back at the seller! eBay as a fun place to transact is only as good as the people who make up the community.
Seller...Don't insult your buyer with the statement that if they don't purchase shipping insurance for their item, you are not responsible. Why if the buyer any more responsible than the seller? Answer...he's not. File a claim with PayPal and find out.
Seller...Price your item with reasonable S&H fees and live with the cost of doing business on eBay,i.e., pay the fees and don't try to grossly avoid them. For small items that don't require unusual packaging, $1.00 to $2.00 is a reasonable handling fee. $5.00 or more is not.
Seller...To the seller who says "I don't make a profit on S&H...I only charge the actual postage." ...It's your time important? Doesn't it cost you money to take these items to the post office or going to Office Depot to buy envelopes? Handling charges are a FAIR method of recovering the cost the obtain, list on eBay, procure shipping materials, and take the package to be delivered. Not charging for a legimate cost is not really a very smart or effective business practice. Nor does it make your item any more attractive to the prospective buyers. It's just a way to tell customers that YOU think everyone who IS charging a handling fee is gouging. That's just another negative, passive-aggressive comment that does no one any good.
Buyers...Consider the S&H fees as part of the total cost of the item. If the total is less than you would pay in a retail store, the item is identical and you TRUST that the seller will deliver it when you need it then pay the price and move on. Don't complain to the seller or post negative feedback. If the item arrives in the stated condition, at the price you agreed to, in a reasonable time,you are obligated (by my sense of what the eBay community is about) to leave positive feedback. You may state your dislike of the S&H fees in your comments, but the feedback should be positive if your item was as described, delivered in reasonable time and was not subject to any cost in addition to the agreed to charges when you bought the item from the eBay listing.
Buyers...Send an eBay report for ANY item listing that you find that has excessive S&H fees. Maybe eBay the company will some day do something about it. I dislike that the company appears not to enforce this rule. Just do a search for "cellphone battery" or "1 gig ram" if you haven't seen what I'm talking about.
Buyers...When buying small electronic items, buy from those sellers that have the smallest amount of excessive S&H.
Buyers and Sellers...Charge for the service rendered. Pay your share of eBay fees. Purchase from sellers who pay their share on eBay. Continue to do the best you can at the time you do it.
This guide addresses three basic issues. Why does eBay continue to allow larger volume sellers to charge patently exorbitant S&H fees and what can you the buyer do about it? Why do some sellers pretend that their S&H are for the buyer's benefit? Why do some sellers try to make negative comments about other seller in their listing?
I paid $7.99 to purchase one printer cartridge ($0.99 for the item and $7.00 for S&H). The seller paid total eBay fees of $0.26. Had the seller sold the item at $3.99 and charged $4.00 for S&H the seller fees paid to eBay would have been $0.62. The seller saved $0.36 on this printer cartridge. eBay lost $0.37 (one cent more because of fractional rounding upward) in fees. It costs the buyer nothing either way. But is that proper???
eBay policy disallows listings which don't conform to eBay rules. Fee avoidance is the issue in the excessive S&H charges. If the seller charges $3.00 more for S&H than is reasonable, then they save the eBay selling fees on that $3.00, which at present amounts to 17 cents for an auction or fixed price listing. If the item is listed with a starting price of $0.99 the listing fee is $0.20. Starting the bid at $3.99 (the real cost of the item) costs the seller $0.40.
Why does eBay the company allow this to continue? I don't really understand. I would hope that the bottom line is improved when eBay allows it's rules to be broken repeatedly. I suspect the some group of executives has decided that enforcing the rules would cause them to lose the business of a number of large volume sellers. That's the only consideration that I can think of that makes any sense of this. My question though is, where would those sellers go? Yahoo? Google? Amazon? I don't know. My conclusion is that whoever is in charge of this at eBay, the company, doesn't understand his competition (specifically the lack thereof) as a market maker.
From the buyer perspective does any of this matter? Yes, if you believe that eBay is a wonderful arena in which to buy and sell your product to a vast market, based on honesty and trust. No, if you don't care about following the rules of your community. The honest seller will charge a reasonable S&H fee that includes the cost of packaging, labor to packing, cost to get the product to the shipper and the ACTUAL shipping cost. Can I trust this business to ship what they claim to have, when I already know that they are avoiding paying their fair share of eBay fees, which in turn increases the fees that eBay has to charge us ALL.
Another guide on eBay suggests that one way to combat excessive S&H (in the example of multiple purchases with combine S&H rates, where the combine rates only saved 75 cents on a $20.00 S&H fee) suggests that you pay in separate payments and if the seller ships in one package that the seller wouldn't have proof of shipment for all of the items if you filed a claim if PayPal. That statement is encouraging dishonest buyer claims. If you agree to the seller's terms, live with it. Don't try to find a dishonest method of getting back at the seller! eBay as a fun place to transact is only as good as the people who make up the community.
Negative Not So Subtle Comments
Sellers...Don't insult your buyer by including in your S&H charge a fee for delivery confirmation and then proudly announcing that your S&H includes "delivery confirmation." Do you people think about what you write? Why do I, the buyer, care whether YOU protected YOURSELF by purchasing delivery confirmation? Delivery confirmation tells the seller that the package was delivered somewhere. It doesn't mean that someone didn't steal it from my mailbox. It doesn't mean that the package was actually left in MY mailbox. I get delivery confirmation when the package arrives at my house. The message that you are sending is...I don't trust the buyer, they may get this package and then claim that I never sent it. Dealing with lost items is a part of doing business. "We don't sell reprints." As if there is something inherently wrong with selling reprints.
"You'll be happy with our product. We don't bait and switch like other sellers."...but we've though about it.
"Secure packaging, bubble wrap"...Please...we expect our order to be safely delivered.
"Don't bid if you don't intend to pay."...isn't this just asking for some yahoo to bid?
"If you don't pay within.___we will relist and leave negative feedback.
The point is...when you are selling you want it the be a positive experience for your customer. If you want to block bidder from certain countries, with specific feedback numbers or for other reasons, do it within the seller's framework. That will block them without mentioning it in your listing. If you don't want to accept personal checks, just say so. Don't tell us in the listing about how someone slighted you once a couple of years ago.
"You'll be happy with our product. We don't bait and switch like other sellers."...but we've though about it.
"Secure packaging, bubble wrap"...Please...we expect our order to be safely delivered.
"Don't bid if you don't intend to pay."...isn't this just asking for some yahoo to bid?
"If you don't pay within.___we will relist and leave negative feedback.
The point is...when you are selling you want it the be a positive experience for your customer. If you want to block bidder from certain countries, with specific feedback numbers or for other reasons, do it within the seller's framework. That will block them without mentioning it in your listing. If you don't want to accept personal checks, just say so. Don't tell us in the listing about how someone slighted you once a couple of years ago.
Seller...Don't insult your buyer with the statement that if they don't purchase shipping insurance for their item, you are not responsible. Why if the buyer any more responsible than the seller? Answer...he's not. File a claim with PayPal and find out.
Seller...Price your item with reasonable S&H fees and live with the cost of doing business on eBay,i.e., pay the fees and don't try to grossly avoid them. For small items that don't require unusual packaging, $1.00 to $2.00 is a reasonable handling fee. $5.00 or more is not.
Seller...To the seller who says "I don't make a profit on S&H...I only charge the actual postage." ...It's your time important? Doesn't it cost you money to take these items to the post office or going to Office Depot to buy envelopes? Handling charges are a FAIR method of recovering the cost the obtain, list on eBay, procure shipping materials, and take the package to be delivered. Not charging for a legimate cost is not really a very smart or effective business practice. Nor does it make your item any more attractive to the prospective buyers. It's just a way to tell customers that YOU think everyone who IS charging a handling fee is gouging. That's just another negative, passive-aggressive comment that does no one any good.
Buyers...Consider the S&H fees as part of the total cost of the item. If the total is less than you would pay in a retail store, the item is identical and you TRUST that the seller will deliver it when you need it then pay the price and move on. Don't complain to the seller or post negative feedback. If the item arrives in the stated condition, at the price you agreed to, in a reasonable time,you are obligated (by my sense of what the eBay community is about) to leave positive feedback. You may state your dislike of the S&H fees in your comments, but the feedback should be positive if your item was as described, delivered in reasonable time and was not subject to any cost in addition to the agreed to charges when you bought the item from the eBay listing.
Buyers...Send an eBay report for ANY item listing that you find that has excessive S&H fees. Maybe eBay the company will some day do something about it. I dislike that the company appears not to enforce this rule. Just do a search for "cellphone battery" or "1 gig ram" if you haven't seen what I'm talking about.
Buyers...When buying small electronic items, buy from those sellers that have the smallest amount of excessive S&H.
Buyers and Sellers...Charge for the service rendered. Pay your share of eBay fees. Purchase from sellers who pay their share on eBay. Continue to do the best you can at the time you do it.
Guide created: 10/24/07 (updated 07/19/08)
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