Ebay sellers - How much do you charge for "handling"?

[ClarabelleCowFan]

I am starting prices at what I want for the item, the days of the $.99 auctions are over for me.

I miss the days when you could start auctions at a penny or .99 and not worry because they would always get bids.

As a buyer I have gotten some great deals lately but as a seller the great auctions are few and far between.

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

I am reconsidering the whole Ebay thing...I mean, I'll probably do it here or there occasionally, but I'm just tired of the never ending fees and all the increases in the fees.

 

[disneysteve]

I miss the days when you could start auctions at a penny or .99 and not worry because they would always get bids.

Same here. You simply can't do it anymore, even if you got the item for free, because the fees kill you. Currently, ebay charges listing plus 5.25% FVF and Paypal charges $.30 plus 2.9%. If you sell an item for $1.00, fees come to about $1.14. You can't be doing that.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

Same here. You simply can't do it anymore, even if you got the item for free, because the fees kill you. Currently, ebay charges listing plus 5.25% FVF and Paypal charges $.30 plus 2.9%. If you sell an item for $1.00, fees come to about $1.14. You can't be doing that.

Fees are killing me. I sell mostly children's clothing and have started clearing out my CM Disney collectibles. I was listing yesterday and starting my nicer clothing items at $9.99 with a BIN and it was .80 just to list (with a gallery photo). That adds up FAST. Tack on the FVFs and it would almost be better to donate the item and take the write off. Sometimes I feel like I am just selling to pay my ebay fees.

I will certainly be ebaying far fewer kid's items this year and taking more to a consignment sale. We don't have much luck with Craigslist since we are about 40 miles outside of the nearest big city.

 

[marcyinPA]

I add on $1 to my shipping costs. I don't feel that it's unreasonable, and as an occasional buyer, I'd pay for shipping with a $1 handling cost (when you sell a lot, you can kind of get an idea of whether your being soaked on the shipping or not).

What I can't stand is when I see an auction starting at 1c, but the shipping is like $15 for a shirt. Even when I really would like the item, I will not bid on something like that!

 

[DianeV]

It depends on what it weighs..under 1# is $4.60 and thats the minimum. It also depends on where its going. Between 1 and 2# and going across country is more than you realize..and bubble wrap does cost money

Personally as a buyer, I would almost rather see any extra costs either built into the starting cost of the item, or split between the item and the S&H. Paying 10 bucks for S&H on something that was wrapped in bubble wrap and stuck in a USPS priority box irks me a bit. It's only what, 4 bucks to ship that?

 

[disneysteve]

What I can't stand is when I see an auction starting at 1c, but the shipping is like $15 for a shirt. Even when I really would like the item, I will not bid on something like that!

Agreed. That is fee avoidance, plain and simple.

 

[samanthacatangel]

Personally as a buyer, I would almost rather see any extra costs either built into the starting cost of the item, or split between the item and the S&H. Paying 10 bucks for S&H on something that was wrapped in bubble wrap and stuck in a USPS priority box irks me a bit. It's only what, 4 bucks to ship that?

It depends on weight and where it is going to.

I use USPS Priority boxes with delivery confirmation, and it comes to 9.40 I think. I do use the flat rate, and I ship books which are heavy. (Most packages do go out via cheaper Media Mail rate.)

However, USPS upped its rates a few months ago, and with heavier packages the flat rate box is the best option, especially when it goes across country.


Samantha

 

[Imzadi]

I hate seeing $7-8 shipping fees on something I know is under a pound. While I use the bid + shipping = total price, it annoys me to see ridiculous shipping charges and given the choice I'll go for the lower shipping charge even if the total price is the same.

I'm the same way for the most part. Even though I understand why sellers do it, it still seems a little dishonest to me because I know they are doing it to avoid eBay fees. I don't mind a small fee, like 50 cents or $1, but more than that seems too high.

I haven't sold in a while, but when I did, I used to charge actual shipping.

As a buyer, I also do the bid + shipping = total price. I also check the Completed Auctions to see how much I can reasonably expect to pay for an item and whether I am willing to pay that.

Having been a Seller, I understand they adding onto the shipping to get out of paying the fees. Yet, last week, I bought 2 pieces of costume jewelry from different Sellers. The bid price was very low while the shipping fees were a whopping $9 & $11. The total prices were still less than or about the same as I would have spent in a store - minus the gas & time shopping, so I thought the total prices were very reasonable. The Sellers would still make a decent profit.

Yet when the packages arrived, they were in thin, padded envelopes, bubble wrapped, with 1st class postage, costing them barely $2.00. I, at least, expected a small box, or even cardboard taped around & covering the jewelry, inside the padded envelope, as these were slightly fragile items, & the stones could break if too much pressure was applied. It pissed me off that they would not even pay to have the items securely protected.

If you're going to give the illusion of charging a premium for shipping & handling, then handle & package the items properly. I DID pay for it.

 

[Mono~rail]

I used to not charge a handling fee when we lived where the postal service picked up my priority mail packages from my house. Where we live now, they won't come pick up my packages.

Long story, after I went to the post office and talked to the post master 3 different times, it still didn't do any good.

Now dh takes my packages when he gets off work in the afternoon. Since I had to start doing that I charge a minimum 50 cent handling fee. I do ship some stuff first class mail in padded mailers (Nintendo game cartridges). On those I charge $1 because the padded mailer cost me about 50 cents.

I never put more than $1 handling fee.

ETA: I put it in my listing how I ship. If I'm shipping a small item in a padded mailer then I put that in the listing that way the buyer can decide if that is OK with them or not.

 

[DisneyMomOK]

Personally as a buyer, I would almost rather see any extra costs either built into the starting cost of the item, or split between the item and the S&H. Paying 10 bucks for S&H on something that was wrapped in bubble wrap and stuck in a USPS priority box irks me a bit. It's only what, 4 bucks to ship that?

As a buyer, I agree. If I paid excessive S/H and then get an item in a manila envelope w/ less than half for the actual shipping cost, I will give a positive feedback, but on the shipping portion of feedback give the lowest score possible. I paid for a small item on 1/24, minutes after winning, and I am still waiting for the item, although I paid more than double what it would cost to ship. I am not sure what I am going to do on this one.

Sharon

 

[moppety]

Unless it requires special boxes or packaging, I only charge $1 handling. My Post Office won't pick up boxes at my house, and I try to ship the same day payment is received or the next. I make toooooo many trips to the PO.

 

[disneysteve]

I used to not charge a handling fee when we lived where the postal service picked up my priority mail packages from my house. Where we live now, they won't come pick up my packages.

I thought that was a standard service of USPS. Guess not.

I take my packages to work with me and the carrier takes them from there. Otherwise, I drop them off at the post office (mainly on Saturday).

 

[Mono~rail]

I thought that was a standard service of USPS. Guess not.

I take my packages to work with me and the carrier takes them from there. Otherwise, I drop them off at the post office (mainly on Saturday).

It is standard service, unless your local post office is staffed with people who just don't like to do their jobs (like mine is). I had complained so much that for a while I was even worried to take any packages there. Dh was taking them to the post office the next town over for a few months.

Whenever I would go to the post office to complain about my packages not being picked up, I would have to listen to them telling me that I had to schedule it online by midnight blah, blah, blah. I showed them my confirmation where I had scheduled it so then they'd go in the back and look. Yep, it was right there. The person "assigned to get that off the computer this morning" didn't do. Whatever.

 

[moppety]

It is standard service, unless your local post office is staffed with people who just don't like to do their jobs (like mine is).

Hee! Do we live in the same neighborhood? This sounds familiar...

 

[kimsuenew]

For the longest time we charged nothing.

We finally did charge .50 cents, but it is .50 cents per ALL auctions won within days, so if they win four it would only be .50, not 4 x .50 or $2.00.

We just felt that we had to buy bubble wrap, tape, had to print invoices and thank you slips, and had gas to the post office.

We have not sold anything since fall 2007 however.

We got a crazy buyer, she did not pay for over 6 weeks (numerous requests), out of the blue sent payment via Paypal, and when I refused/returned it and told her that the item was no longer available she left us a negative.

That just ended up souring it for me!

Ebay refused to do anything about her unwarranted negative (she is "no longer registered" by the way), so I just quit selling... it wasn't worth the stress!

 

[Mono~rail]

We have not sold anything since fall 2007 however.

We got a crazy buyer, she did not pay for over 6 weeks (numerous requests), out of the blue sent payment via Paypal, and when I refused/returned it and told her that the item was no longer available she left us a negative.

That just ended up souring it for me!

Ebay refused to do anything about her unwarranted negative (she is "no longer registered" by the way), so I just quit selling... it wasn't worth the stress!

Did you file a non-paying bidder dispute against her?

 

[tasha99]

Same here. You simply can't do it anymore, even if you got the item for free, because the fees kill you. Currently, ebay charges listing plus 5.25% FVF and Paypal charges $.30 plus 2.9%. If you sell an item for $1.00, fees come to about $1.14. You can't be doing that.

I still start at .99 cents. The first few times, it was pretty nerve wracking, but I've learned to quit checking every 5 minutes. I've tried Buy-It-Now at realistic ending prices, and people just don't bid on them. Why someone will bid up to $410 but ignore a $375 Buy It Now is beyond me. I've also noticed if you start at a realistic price, you don't get tons of people watching your auction, and therefore you don't get the bid war at the end. Every category is different though. I do this for electronics and gaming, but when I sell my daughter's doll collection next month, I think I'll be more conservative.

 

[disneysteve]

I still start at .99 cents.

I've also noticed if you start at a realistic price, you don't get tons of people watching your auction, and therefore you don't get the bid war at the end.

You are right about the watchers, though I can't seem to see a correlation between the number of watchers and the final outcome. I've had several auctions recently with 6 or 7 watchers and they still sold to the first and only bidder. I've also had auctions with 2 or 3 watchers that didn't sell at all.

I've pretty much given up on the $.99 start though I have done several $1.99 starts on items that cost me nothing and weren't worth more than a few dollars.

 

[mom2my3kids]

As as buyer I don't mind a small handing fee but when its gets up there I refuse to buy from that seller.